"The Gate of Heavenly Peace"

That is what the name “Tiananmen” translated means.

However that is not the image we associate with when we hear that name. The scene I still see so clearly in my minds eye, are the images which have been burned into our psyche that somehow we will never forget. The brain is designed that way and that is what separates us from that of the animal kingdom. The ability to remember and to reason.

This is no truer than the image of the young man standing defiantly in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square as it steadily advanced, rolling over and crushing a human body like a small fragile paper sculpture. I remember watching that scene over and over as it flashed across news tapes for days. It appeared almost surreal watching it without editing. I can still see his arms upraised over his head…and you held your breath in the hope that he would succeed and halt China’s mighty military machine. But the tank did not stop….it just kept rolling. It is strange that even though we are inundated with violence daily through TV. and Videos. - somehow that blatant taking of a human life - remains there in our minds - suspended and poignant.

I remember a very good friend of mine made a 2 month long visit through the cities and provinces of China only a month after the Tiananmen Square riots. Even though she was such seasoned traveler I feared daily for her safety while she was gone. I new that the differences in culture would have no affect on her because like me, we sought such stark culture shocks. For us that is what made travel to a different culture alluring. Somehow though I found her desire to peek through the doors of such a barbaric land almost an act treason. She returned however with pictures and stories of people she met along the way - and their kindness and generosity shone thru in her eyes.

We realized that to turn our back on a county and culture so ancient and colorful was only to ‘cut off our nose to spite our face.’ For what ever reason that the nation of China did not rise up at that moment in time and oust the regime which had perpetrated the crimes of Tiananmen Square - was shocking and surprising to us. How could the people of China accept what had happened. I remember thinking that surely the worlds reaction to that day would bring the mighty wheels of “Red Nation” to a grinding halt. But that never happened.

Time has marched on and soon the horror of 9/11 would push what happened in Tiananmen square to almost oblivion, and the world was in the pursuit of new evil. Afghanistan, Iraq, Osama bin Laden and now we have our latest fear, North Korea.

We wavered and softened and in time we slowly seemed to …..forgive and eventually to forget. Not that the families of those slain students who sacrificed themselves that day, so that even how small it may seem to us, change would come to China. And they have succeeded.

Somehow the deaths of those students that day were not in vain. Communism in China takes almost a back seat today. In efforts to redeem themselves to the world, China eased it’s doors open so that we could experience its mysteries and wonders. It opened slowly and revealed one beautiful treasure at a time - as if saying come and explore the mystery and awe which is the Orient. Never before that awful point in their history, had China welcomed the western world. Silenced was all the communist rhetoric and angry calls about the capitalist pigs which the west was supposed to be, they welcomed us.

Twenty years after China's bloody crackdown on demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the United States is urging the government to come to terms with its violent actions.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement saying the 20th anniversary of the "violent suppression of demonstrations in Tiananmen Square by Chinese authorities" should be a time for reflection on the loss of hundreds of innocent lives and the meaning of events that preceded that fateful day. "A China that has made enormous progress economically, and that is emerging to take its rightful place in global leadership, should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal,"

Today Chinese officials attempted to keep the remembrance of that day to a absolute minimum. Western press is no longer barred from the country and they no longer confiscate film and camera and jail people so much for their freedom of speech. They know the eyes of the west will be on them this day. So plain clothes police and military are gently and politely hindering any images being taken and pushing news crews and photographers out of range of the square with of all things, “Umbrellas” .

This may be the only apology and admittance of what they did was wrong in so many words that we will ever get.

Til later