This happened 26 years ago today.

In China, these images (and any media featuring the incident) are illegal to view.

Some citizens circumvent that rule by editing the pictures.

These pictures are an important part of human history, and deserve more exposure.

NSFW/NSFL: https://imgur.com/a/q8ZIS

Absolutely NSFL (shows the infamous tank tracks running people over): https://www.aboluowang.com/2008/0529/89034.html

More: https://www.gettyimages.ca/photos/tiananmen-square-1989?family=editorial&phrase=tiananmen%20square%201989&sort=mostpopular#license

More from Vietnamese media: https://www.dkn.tv/the-gioi/the-gioi-do-day/nhung-buc-anh-noi-tieng-di-vao-lich-su-dau-thuong-cua-nhan-loai.html

Description of the things they did

APCs fired at them and ran them over 5 minutes after being told they had an hour to leave.

The APCs ran people over at 65kph/40mph

Previously unarmed troops tried to disperse the protestors. They just got ran over too.

“Students linked arms but were mown down. APCs then ran over the bodies time and time again to make, quote ‘pie’ unquote, and remains collected by bulldozer.  “Remains incinerated and then hosed down drains.”

“27 Army ordered to spare no one,” he wrote.  “Wounded girl students begged for their lives but were bayoneted.

“A three-year-old girl was injured, but her mother was shot as she went to her aid, as were six others.”

1,000 survivors were told they could escape but were then mown down by specially prepared machine gun positions.

Army ambulances who attempted to give aid were shot up, as was a Sino-Japanese hospital ambulance.

A confidential US government file quoted a Chinese military source as saying the Communist regime’s own internal assessment believed 10,454 people had been killed

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We share a lot of wellness blogs. Love blogs. Videos about inspiring stories. That’s all well and good. But all of life isn’t about us and our hearts. Today is the 25th anniversary of an ordinary hero on his way home, holding two bags of groceries, who stopped a line of tanks (see photos) and then was no longer heard from again, ever. Let’s take a moment to honor those who fight for the democracy, the freedom we too often take for granted. Those in Tiananmen weren’t fighting for Capitalism. China has become a consumerist nation, just like US. Those in Tiananmen called for liberty. Instead, they got this.

“25 years ago today a single person, whose identity was never known, stood in front of a line of tanks and became an enduring symbol of defiance.” (macaulay.cuny.edu)

“According to [source], the Tank Man is still in prison to this day…”

25 years ago, officially, nothing happened. Here’s photos to the contrary: (including a photo from last night in Hong Kong):

The full photo of Tank Man wields even greater impact. Note: for all those #Muricans who conflate the United States of America with Capitalism, remember the Chinese students who lost their lives were fighting for rights, for democracy, not for consumerism.

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Also, heartbreaking: “Tonight, 180,000 Hong Kongers commemorated the Tiananmen Massacre…“

 

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A few comments:

Although this version is the most popular, you don’t get quite the sense of just how impressive this was until you see the entire field in play here. http://i.imgur.com/vhX5gja.jpg edit: The above image was shot by Stuart Franklin, titled “Tank Man Long Shot”, see the wiki entry below from user /u/faustas edit2: /u/Duckfang also linked to the video of the stand off. For those that haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching.

Understand while you’re watching this video, hundreds of peaceful protestors had already been killed at this point. No one had any idea what was going to happen to that guy, but I think the entire world was assuming the worst.

“The Tiananmen Square Massacre, June 4th Movement of China (2011) – A documentary about the Tiananmen Square protests, as well as the lead-up to (and including) the massacre. [WARNING: INCLUDES HORRIFIC IMAGERY]”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt5cYU70ujs

A few more comments from Reddit:

I wonder why this image isn’t used as often. I had no idea there was entire army in front of him.

Most people also don’t know that the picture is a still from a video that depicts the man moving to block their way when they tried to go around him then climbing on top of a tank and angrily hammering on the hatch.

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Remembering Tiananmen’s Tank Man, the ‘unknown rebel.’

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