Posted on 05/30/2009 7:00:46 AM PDT by BGHater
Outside China he is known simply as Tank Man. Inside the country he is not known at all. No trace is to be found of the young man armed only with shopping bags who 20 years ago blocked a column of tanks rolling through Beijing. His defiance became the defining image of the student demonstrations crushed by the People’s Liberation Army.
It was on the morning of June 5 that he appeared from nowhere. A line of 18 tanks began to pull out of Tiananmen Square and drove east along the Avenue of Eternal Peace.
A day earlier, the square had been cleared of students. The provocative plaster Goddess of Democracy statue had tumbled under the tracks of a tank. After seven weeks, the Communist Party was again in control of the plaza that symbolises the heart of its power. The broad road was empty of humanity before the fearsome display of force.
Suddenly a slight figure in a white shirt and black trousers, a shopping bag in each hand, dashed out into the road and stood waiting as the tanks approached. The lead vehicle halted. It was a breathtaking standoff. The lone man stood firm. Would the tank run him down?
It moved right to go around him. The man waved the shopping bag in his right hand then danced a few steps to the left to block the tank again. The tank swerved back left to avoid him. The man waved the bag again and stepped to the right. Both halted. The tank even turned off its engine.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
We don’t who this hero was, but I’m willing to bet you that the tank commander and driver of that first tank were shortly thereafter very thoroughly dead.
We are 'tank man'.
It is a cool photo, and a great ideal. BUT - if Great Leader has his way all we Americans will have will be shopping bags. We know how Tiananmen Square ended. It is a symbol of defiance, but not quite as significant had China had a Second Amendment.
Rumor was that “Tank Man” and the tank commander were shot right after the uprising. “Tank Man” was interrogated first to see why he did it, the secret police could not figure out why he did it.
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Thanks BGHater.No trace is to be found of the young man armed only with shopping bags who 20 years ago blocked a column of tanks rolling through Beijing. His defiance became the defining image of the student demonstrations crushed by the People's Liberation Army.That picture will be remembered and preserved long after the dictator dipwads are dead and forgotten. |
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19 year old Wang Wei was the “Tank Man”.
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