ChinaMay 16, 2009
For those who may not have seen The Tank Man, I’m posting here as an essential part of Flumesday’s effort to provide the most interesting stories on Tiananmen leading up to the 20th anniversary. The Frontline doc isn’t anything new — it aired in April, 2006 on PBS. But it is, 20 years later, the best source on the history of the “Tank Man,” the brave Chinese man who stopped a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989, immortalized in the iconic photograph. This short film reveals the conflicting theories on the fate of the “Tank Man.” Was he executed days after his stunt, or is he hiding in the Mainland, preserving his legacy as the anonymous symbol for the Tiananmen protesters? A must-see.
Where art thou Flumesday? Sobbing Muslim women scuffled with riot police, and Chinese men wielding steel pipes, meat cleavers and sticks rampaged through the streets Tuesday as ethnic tensions worsened in Western China. Who is there to give us unbiased analysis? Come out Come out wherever you are!!