Posted on 06/05/2007 6:40:23 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch
One man with courage makes a majority. ~Andrew Jackson
And to this day, we don’t know his name or what happened to him.
You are right that we don’t know his name; but I think we all know what happened to him...
Reagan80
I’ll never forget this moment. That man was like a giant.
An image I will never forget.
One of the bravest acts I have ever witnessed,....the guy was carrying groceries ....incredible.
His name was onebravesoul
The incident took place just a minute away from Tiananmen on Chang'an Avenue, which leads into the Forbidden City, Beijing, on June 5, 1989, the day after the Chinese government began cracking down violently on the protests. The man stood alone in the middle of the road as the tanks approached. He held two bags, one in each hand. As the tanks came to a stop, he appeared to be trying to wave them away. In response, the front tank attempted to drive around the man, but the man repeatedly stepped into the path of the tank in a show of nonviolent action.[1] By looking at these two photographs and using the painted road lines as a reference: it is evident that the tank has moved forward. After blocking the tanks, the man climbed up onto the top of the lead tank and had a conversation with the driver. Reports of what he said to the driver vary, including "Why are you here? My city is in chaos because of you";[1] "Go back, turn around, and stop killing my people"; and "Go away." Video footage shows that anxious onlookers then pulled the man away and absorbed him into the crowd[1] and the tanks continued on their way. A British newspaper also claimed that he had been executed, several days after the incident, but these claims have not been confirmed either.[2]
Little is publicly known of the man's identity. Shortly after the incident, British tabloid the Sunday Express named him as Wang Weilin (王维林), a 19-year-old student; however, the veracity of this claim is dubious. Numerous rumours have sprung up as to the man's identity and current whereabouts, but none are backed by hard evidence.
There are several conflicting stories about what happened to him after the demonstration. In a speech to the President's Club in 1999, Bruce Herschensohn — former deputy special assistant to President of the United States Richard Nixon — reported that he was executed 14 days later; other sources say he was killed by firing squad a few months after the Tiananmen Square protests. In Red China Blues: My Long March from Mao to Now, Jan Wong writes that the man is still alive and is hiding in mainland China.
An eyewitness account of the event published in October 2005 by Charlie Cole, a contract photographer for Newsweek magazine at the time, states that the man was arrested on the spot by the Public Security Bureau.
The People's Republic of China government made few statements about the incident or the person involved. In a 1990 interview with Barbara Walters, then-CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin was asked what became of the man. Jiang replied "I think never killed."[1]
A June 2006 article in the Hong Kong Apple Daily stated that the man is now residing in Taiwan.[3]
They honestly believe that they are making the same daring stand when they assault police, occupy a building, block traffic, or vandalize property in the name of "civil disobedience".
The image should be inspirational -- to the people of China -- not the selfish fools over here who would all run screaming from a tank bearing down on them.
Thanks very much.
Watching it.
There is little if anything else outside my Christianity—if that is—that touches my heart more than Tienanmen.
I was not there. But I was in-country. And, for a time, I had very unusual access to Satellite CNN in literally a closet sized room . . . until it became too dangerous . . . And saying that may be saying too much.
I wonder how many hereon have read THE TIENANMEN PAPERS???
Exceedingly sobering.
Though there was evidently a very strong order not to kill anyone IN Tienanmen Square . . . it was not 100% carried out. And certainly many died on the streets around.
It is very difficult to articulate my love for those people. Usually impossible without tears.
Thankfully, my Univ in the Southern regions handled things much better. But one still understood that there REALLY WAS the threat of civil war.
If the arrogant old farts in Beijing had not been so proud and brittle . . . so tyrannical by nature, training and habit, they could probably have negotiated things away without bloodshed—but NOT Li Peng.
There are many humbling, precious things about that time in my life. I shall never forget them. May God be with so many brave souls and draw them strongly to Himself. Some I still dare not communicate with much at all—for their safety.
Gads I miss that place but especially those people.
Live was still very nitty gritty there—people knew what the real values in life were—relationships.
Now, our greed, flashy bling mentalities etc. have encroached on so much in Asia, including China.
Thankfully . . . through it all . . . there are likely more authentic Christians in China, now, than in the USA. Woe to us on that score . . . except that we are partly responsible for their being a good Christian witness in China.
I join with you in lifting up all of God's children who are in China!
THANKS TONS.
Amen. Few in history have made a bigger statement with one single act of real courage.
There are many brave people in China.
I’d like to think we have a few Americans left who are as willing to stand up against big government as brave as that Chinese man.
bump into d-day
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