1989 Tiananmen Square massacre

If the incident 32 years ago has any positive effect, that is, it has inoculated the Chinese people with a political vaccine, helping us acquire immunity from being seriously misled. China underwent a “color revolution,” but wasn’t brought down by it. The leadership of the Communist Party of China has saved the fate of the nation at a critical juncture.

China was the earliest among socialist countries to initiate reforms. Chinese society at that time lacked experience and some intellectuals began to blindly follow Western values, with a group even advocating a thorough Westernization as the ultimate goal of the reforms. Social turbulence took place in such a context and went to extreme under the inducement and manipulation of some political forces

Changes in the world geopolitical landscape in the late 1980s and early 1990s led to a series of consequences. The socialist camp of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe disintegrated in 1991 but China stood steadily. The “color revolution” was aborted in China, and the result became a watershed where China and former socialist countries in Eastern Europe embarked on different development paths.

More than three decades have passed by. Facts speak louder than words. China has embarked on a socialist path with Chinese characteristics and made remarkable progress that amazed the world. It leapfrogged to the world’s second biggest economy with a per capita GDP of over $10,000, from a country that only ranked eighth in the world in terms of GDP and had a per capita GDP of only more than $400. The urban middle classes are rising in China. All cities, villages and people’s livelihood have taken on a completely new look and absolute poverty has been eliminated. While at the same time, the world is full of chaos, with “color revolutions” destroying many countries. All this has made Chinese people see clearly that the path China has chosen is correct.

The Chinese people have the most say about this country and to define what the Tiananmen Square means. The Square nowadays is packed with visitors throughout the year. The flag-raising ceremony held here every day undoubtedly is the one that has attracted the most audiences in the world. The ceremony on October 1, the National Day, is particularly grand, and often attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators.

Tiananmen Square embodies the Chinese people’s confidence and pride in the politics of the country, and it is a symbol of China’s unity as well as the country’s independence and increasing prosperity. The Chinese public’s understanding of the incident 32 years ago has undergone a fundamental change. We laugh at those posturing “commemorative” activities and political stunts orchestrated by outside forces.