NEWS: Tian’anmen Square, 25 Years Later (11/14/2014)

Organized by Boston University Center for the Study of Asia (BUCSA), on Nov. 14, Boston University commemorated the 25th anniversary of Tian’anmen Square with a lecture and discussion on the aftermath of the violence which erupted when Chinese soldiers attacked protesters in Beijing in June of 1989.

To this day, no one is sure who he was – the man who stood, eye to barrel, before a convoy of Chinese tanks on a street outside Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square.

But that image – taken by AP photographer Jeff Widener just after the government crackdown that claimed the lives of as many as 1,000 democratic protesters and civilians – has become known worldwide as an enduring depiction of courage.

“I spent last year on leave living in China. I remember speaking with a colleague who was working on an oral history, learning stories she could not publish,” said Robert Weller, professor at the Boston University Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. “She said, I haven’t told the truth since 1989. No one in this country has.”

The talk was moderated by Eugenio Menegon, Director of the Center for the Study of Asia,and presented by Weller, Joseph Fewsmith of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, and Rowena Xiaoqing He of Harvard University. The event was part of the Boston University International Education Week. It was sponsored by Santander Universities and attended by around 50 audience members.

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