It has been 20 years since protestors peaceably assembling in a supposedly public square to call for freedom and reform were brutally suppressed by a tyrannical government. The place: China's Tiananmen Square.

Now, one survivor of the infamous 20-year-old Tiananmen Square protest and massacre that followed reminds us very poignantly of what was then, what is now, and on what a peaceful life of freedom depends upon.

Lu Decheng, 46 and a political refugee in Calgary, Canada, remains just as fearless now as he was in 1989 when he and two friends threw eggs and paint on a portrait of Mao Zedong that hung over the entrance to the Imperial Palace. The butcher of Bejing’s regime took it as an affront, and Lu and his friends were charged with “incitement to revolt.” Lu was arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison. After nine years in a Chinese prison camp he escaped to Thailand and applied for and received political refugee status in Canada. He left behind a wife and son, still hostages of the Chinese government.

His companions were Yu Zhijian, who was released from prison in 2001, but can no longer teach and barely survives, and Yu Dongyue, described as a brilliant journalist. He had his skull broken by an iron bar during a beating in prison and was released to his parents, under the condition that they say nothing about what happened to their son, now completely mentally disabled.

Lu credits media exposure and the international pressure on the Chinese government for his companions’ release. The fate of others who survived is unknown — the official Chinese government figure was 241 dead, including soldiers, and 7,000 wounded, but the Chinese Red Cross reported 2,000 to 3,000 deaths, many taking place on the back streets of Beijing where the demonstrators were hunted down. The fate of Wang Weiming the most famous of the protestors — who can ever forget the image of Wang defying the advance of four military tanks? — is still not known but can be easily surmised. But his memory, his courageous actions, and those of many others will not be forgotten if Lu has anything to do with it.

The uprising, Lu points out, was composed entirely of ordinary Chinese citizens — workers, students, and farmers. They, Lu says, were the real hereos who made a differnce and their influence is still being felt. Though, as Lu calls it, the Chinese government response to the protest was "a crime against humanity," the result was international awareness of the danger of unfettered government power. The heroism of the protestors echoes still through the years, as even today the Chinese government works to censor coverage of the anniversary at home and abroad.

In fact, according to Lu, little has changed in China except the facade it shows to the world — the power of the Communist Party remains, and it continues to resist freedom. Lu’s own words tell us:

If you look at the economy you can see how weak it is. The giant rose because of cheap labour and opens up its own markets to extent that makes it more powerful. In economic matters China does not apply the same rules as everybody else; its game is more like to warfare. It seduces Western countries, pits them one against the other, and then beats them: first Japan, then the United States, and so on...

Everyone thinks that China has changed because it transformed its economy, but its goals remain the same, which is to maintain the power of the party and extend its dominion. If the hegemony of the party does not end in China, nothing will really change.

I hope that international community will not fail to keep an eye on China. Only if the China question is solved will there be peace in the world. Let me remind you that the Chinese Communist Party backs North Korea’s dictatorship as well as Vietnam, Venezuela, Sudan, Pakistan and thus Islamic fundamentalism as well.

To see what really happened in China in 1989, visit the cryptome.cn site's archive of photos from the uprising. It also contains photos of rallies and vigils that have occurred since.

Let's remember Tiananmen Square, and the heroes that died there. They were patriots, living and dying for their freedom and for freedom the world over.

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Pat Henry said:

Freedom has a cost Freedom had a cost for America's Founders, too, who knew that signing the Declaration was a death warrant from the tyrannical king (the Declaration was the public witness to his tyranny). Christians today often kowtow to "authority" and cite Romans 13. But the Apostle there limits the just powers of Caesar, as well. For a great and needed study of this theme, see Francis Schaeffer's A Christian Manifesto. For a recent call to renewed involvement in civil government, see Cindy Jacobs, The Reformation Manifesto (published late 2008). The Chinese who opposed godless state oppression at Tianamen were true patriots. Their blood does not lie unnoticed by the Providence in heaven. May we in America still be "the land of the free, and the home of the brave" in the coming difficult years. Hyperbole? Recall that the UN has given numerous awards to China, and the Trilateralists laud their population and central planning policies.

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June 04, 2009
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Peter Steele said:

Communists showing their true colors with Tianamen Square My dying father said in June 1989 that the communists showed their true colors when the Tianamen Square massacre took place but did not know about what Gorbachev did to the Lithuanian people at about that time so we birchers caught them in the act. My late father after witnessing Operation Keelhaul in Bremerhaven, Germany after WWII spent the rest of his life fighting and exposing the Communist Party, USA and the Socialist Party, USA. I asked Ron Robinson of the Young American Foundation and Reagan Ranch to help me get rid of the Communist Party, USA, Socialist Party, USA and the United Nations from New York City as I won't go to the NYC until that is done. I am a Jamestown/Mayflower Society and Son of the American Revolution descendant just like Dad and Carter cost me my father. I am trying my best to put a stop to European style socialism in our Capitalist country as the Reagan Ranch called for Capitalism, God and Freedom.

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June 07, 2009
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Thomas Paine said:

	New World Order Role model China is the role model for the NWO. The elite get everything on the backs of slave labor. Rule with an iron fist. Control the media. Allow the secret government to do as they wish. George Orwell's 1984 in action. It's coming here faster than we can handle.
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June 07, 2009
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archtoplee said:

Thank a vet I think that we can thank those students and ordinary folk in China who stood up to China's version of the Department of Homeland Security and paid a heavy price for their actions! I believe that those brave souls who demonstrated in Tianamen Square 20 years ago bought the world a few more years of freedom. Perhaps we can design a sentiment around what they did for us and use it as a bumper sticker slogan similar perhaps to the one that says:" Thank a Vet For Your Freedom." For truly they deserve our deepest respect and thanks for what they did.

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June 08, 2009
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