Echoes of Tiananmen Square
In China, discussing the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 remains a political taboo. But Rowena He, a lecturer in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, is determined to shed light on the controversial issue. In the freshman seminar that she is teaching this semester, “Rebels With a Cause: Tiananmen in History and Memory,” He melds the personal with the intellectual by bringing in guest speakers and sharing her own experiences. In the spring of 1989, millions of Chinese students, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens demonstrated throughout the country in an effort to bring about political reform. “Students took to the streets out of hope and trust in the government that it would improve,” He said, explaining that her generation, instilled with values of sacrificing for the nation and the people, was very idealistic. The protests ended, however, when the People’s Liberation Army fired on unarmed citizens and carried out widespread arrests, imprisoning...