Chicago Sun Times Editorial: Image shows how time has stopped in China

Chicago Sun Times Editorial: Image shows how time has stopped in China
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
June 6, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1609747,CST-EDT-edit07a.article


It's strange how a slight change in perspective can enrich what we know about history.

Take the iconic photo of the lone protester, dubbed the "Tank Man," as he faced down a column of tanks during China's Tiananmen Square protests, whose 20th anniversary was marked last week.

The famous version of the photo is shot from above, from a nearby hotel, with the protester standing just feet from the tanks.

But the New York Times last week, on its Lens blog, published a never-before-seen photo of the same protester, from ground level, taken slightly earlier.

We see Tank Man in the distance, off to the left, standing before the approaching tanks, which have not yet reached him.

That distance between the protester and the tanks forces one to think about time -- the time the protester stood in the road, watching the tanks rumble toward him, wondering if they were going to stop.

We also see three other men in the photo, fleeing frantically.

The newly released photograph underscores the protester's isolation -- and his bravery. But 20 years later, his name and fate are still unknown.

In China, millions of young people have never seen any photos of that day, so effective is the censorship there. And that censorship continued last week, with China looking like a bumbling fool.

Chinese security officers tried to prevent cameramen from CNN and the BBC from getting shots of their reporters with Tiananmen Square in the background.

The officers opened large umbrellas to block the cameras' shots, which left viewers to watch as the reporters tried to scramble frantically around the umbrellas, and as the security officers tried just as hard to catch up.

It was like some deranged song-and-dance number.

Since Tiananmen, Chinese leaders have tried to pacify the Chinese people by letting them make money and snap up the gym shoes, cars and gadgets we take for granted.

So far, that strategy has worked, but it won't forever, not if China wants the full measure of respect on the world stage that economic might alone cannot bring.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged China to provide a complete accounting of what happened in Tiananmen Square and release any prisoners still held.

Chinese officials, predictably, rebuffed her.

But these anniversaries are not going away.

Nor will the images of the "Tank Man," wherever he is today.