I was studying in Japan when the 1989 student-led democracy movement broke out in China, culminating in the violent suppression on June 4 of students camped out in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
At the time, Chinese students in Japan wanted to hold a demonstration, but on June 9, then-Chinese premier Li Peng (李鵬) appeared on television, warning Chinese students in other countries not to take part in protests and saying that they would be responsible for any serious consequences if they did so.
He also said that anyone who informed on protesters would be well rewarded.
This made the students responsible for planning the protest rather apprehensive and, after a heated discussion, they phoned the police and reporters to say that the protest march planned for June 10 had been canceled.
Nonetheless, when June 10 arrived, an impressive crowd of people turned up at the student dormitories.
The crowd of people said that the demonstration should go ahead as originally planned, and to hell with Li Peng’s warning.
FOREIGN SUPPORT
Among them were many Japanese people, with children, women and students among them. People of various other nationalities such as British, US, German, French, Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Filipino and Taiwanese also converged on the foreign students’ dormitories.
They were willing to march on behalf of the Chinese students, and they said that even if they could not protest, they could mourn instead.
FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY
A woman with graying hair said indignantly: “We must not let the blood of June 4 be shed in vain. Such things have happened in Japan in the past, but we have come through it. Democracy has to be fought for, and China is no exception. How can you give up at this critical moment? If Japan could do it, why not China? Please don’t let us down.”
Many reporters were arriving on the scene. A group of people who had come to cheer for the students held handmade signs with slogans such as “China needs democracy,” “We support the student democracy movement,” “Who are the executioners of Chinese democracy?” and “[then-paramount leader of China] Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) and Li Peng should resign and apologize for June 4.”
There were signs in Chinese, English and Japanese, written horizontally and vertically, like banners on a battlefield. These supporters’ enthusiasm finally moved the Chinese students, who decided to hold a silent protest march.
The route was short — just 2km from the school to a park, but the procession was orderly, with people joining up as it went along and some unable to hold back tears.
ETHICAL JOURNALISM
The reporters accompanying the march mostly tried to get pictures of fair-haired or dark-skinned foreigners. If they photographed Chinese students, they did so from behind to avoid showing their faces. News of the event was broadcast on television that evening.
June 4 each year reminds me of this protest march that I witnessed while studying in Japan.
The support shown on that day proves that “virtue will not be left to stand alone.”
I also observed the self-discipline of journalists — the fourth estate — in free and democratic Japan. It is people such as these that keep the June 4 candles burning.
Jane Ywe-hwan is an associate professor at National Pingtung University.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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