Francois Bougon is a journalist specializing in China and responsible for the international division of Médiapart, and it is in D-Day that he returns to the history of the Chine in the years 1980. He tells us that China was in the midst of economic and political “boiling”.
“The 1980s are years when there is an opening to the outside world […] and some, even within the communist party, are wondering if we shouldn’t democratize China“. High inflation hits the country in 1985, which causes social tensions. The living conditions of the students are very affected, so they begin to “protest in their dormitories”.
The 15 avril 1989, the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu Yaobang, dies of a heart attack. He represented “the one who had risen against the conservatives”, explains François Bougon. His death sparks student protests. THE 27 avril 1989, a million young people gather on the place Tian’anmen (meaning “place of heavenly peace”) in Beijing. They advocate democracy and denounce the Communist Party in place. They meet in this square until june 1989.
A massacre summarized in photos
In the night of June 3 to 4, 1989, the Chinese army sends tanks and heavy weapons to disperse the huge crowd standing in Tian’anmen Square. The students were massacred. According to documents declassified by the British National Archives, 10,000 protesters were killed. This estimate is 50 times higher than that announced by the Chinese government, which had announced 200 deaths.
For the memory of this historic massacre, journalists and civilians took photos on the spot. One of them, “Tank Man” (which illustrates this article) went around the world the day after the tragedy. She was taken by Jeff Widener, American photojournalist. Other photos have also circulated internationally, illustrating the corpses and the wounded. François Bougon explains to us that only these pictures remain to remember this massacre…
“It is a historical period which is tabooand it is a power imposed amnesia. It’s a sensitive moment that’s destined to be erased from the history books. […] You can go to prison for having possibly mentioned Tian’anmen or having written poems on it”, confides François Bougon on RTL.
“Tank Man”: the photo of an anonymous hero
In this photo, we do not know the identity of the man facing the tanks, a plastic bag in hand. “We don’t know what happened, there was a lot of speculation about what he had become, who he was. […] It remains a anonymous hero“explains François Bougon in D-Day. This man represents “a mystery of history” which has become the symbol of freedom in China. This image “is one of the sensitive subjects censored by the Chinese internet police”, adds the journalist.
When photojournalist Jeff Widener takes this photo, the scène is also filmed by CNN, she is photographed from other points of view. In the video of the international media, we see this famous stranger being pulled by the sleeve and disappearing from the field of vision. Flavie Flament’s guest tells us that the Chinese supposed that he was being taken away by the police to be executed.
The photo of “Tank Man” has been used by Chinese communist propaganda to try to upgrade his image. During a 1990 interview with an American journalist, Jiang Zemin (General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party until 2004) he declares: “This photo shows that we showed restraint. The tank could have continued to crush this character, but we didn’t”.
D-Day is the broadcast of major interviews on international, cultural, economic and political news. Every day on RTL from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on a podcast, Flavie Flament receives a news actor and talks with him about a fundamental date in his life.
