- 2 days ago
Antony Thomas searches for the identity of the unknown protester who stood before a column of Chinese army tanks in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, while in the process examining the cultural and technological divides in China and how its government has sought to erase the protests from the country's collective history.
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00:00:30On Frontline, Tiananmen Square, June 1989.
00:00:34People started to scream at us, take pictures, take video, tell the world what's going on.
00:00:41They're killing innocent people.
00:00:43In the wake of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators,
00:00:46one solitary man defied the awesome power of the Chinese state.
00:00:51This man just went out and he said, stop. And the tank stopped.
00:00:55But who was he?
00:00:56In a sense, he stood for the ordinary people.
00:00:58And what happened to him?
00:01:00He just melted into the crowd and he was gone.
00:01:04Tonight, veteran filmmaker Anthony Thomas investigates the fate of this heroic figure.
00:01:10For over a year, we also followed every lead.
00:01:13And explores the bold gamble of China's leaders to quell the spirit of Tiananmen.
00:01:18How do you prevent the fire from spreading?
00:01:21Through their open embrace of capitalism.
00:01:23It is an amazing miracle what has happened since 1989.
00:01:27Tough political repression.
00:01:29If you've ever seen security people manhandle a Chinese citizen, they're really brutal.
00:01:35And strict censorship of the media.
00:01:37But not one single image of tank man.
00:01:40Leading U.S. companies like Google, Yahoo, Cisco, and Microsoft have compromised their duties as responsible corporate citizens.
00:01:49This was not something that we did enthusiastically or not something that we're proud of at all.
00:01:55Tonight on Frontline, the story behind one of the most powerful images of our time.
00:02:00What this young man did was in effect change the world.
00:02:05A search for the meaning and the mystery of the tank man.
00:02:35Tienanmen Square, Beijing.
00:03:01The largest public space in the world, created on an inhuman scale.
00:03:09The monumental public buildings that line the edges and the vast treeless spaces in between speak of the insignificance of the individual before the might of the state.
00:03:22The atmosphere here is edgy.
00:03:25Even with permits and government minders, our filming is constantly interrupted.
00:03:31Soldiers, policemen, men in plain clothes, all demand our papers.
00:03:39The authorities here are afraid of cameras.
00:03:42They know their power.
00:03:44They have hundreds of them trained on Tienanmen Square.
00:03:48Their cameras.
00:03:50Cameras in other hands are considered dangerous and with good reason.
00:03:54This place can be a powder keg.
00:03:59On a June night in 1989, Tienanmen Square was a war zone.
00:04:05The People's Liberation Army fought its way into Beijing from four directions with orders to converge on the square.
00:04:17Unarmed citizens and students faced armoured personnel carriers, tanks, and soldiers armed with semi-automatic weapons.
00:04:29By 5.30 a.m. on June 4th, 1989, the army's mission had been accomplished.
00:04:37Gradually, the dawn came up.
00:04:47In Beijing, you know how misty it is, smoggy.
00:04:50This wasn't a sunrise.
00:04:52This was like a grayness, gradually acquiring some sort of light.
00:04:56Where all this life had been was this quadrangle of tanks facing out.
00:05:02All the students were gone.
00:05:05And I just stood there and I watched.
00:05:08T.D. Olman was staying at this Beijing hotel, which has a commanding view of Shanggan Avenue,
00:05:14the avenue of eternal peace that runs directly into Tienanmen Square.
00:05:19On these balconies, Western reporters and photographers had crouched, often under gunfire,
00:05:26to record the events of the night of June 3rd, 4th.
00:05:31Then, at noon on the 5th, when the army seemed in complete control,
00:05:35something remarkable happened on Shanggan Avenue, immediately below.
00:05:42The tanks danced.
00:05:44It was obscene.
00:05:45It was like an obscene dance.
00:05:46They just didn't roll out.
00:05:48They swiveled around.
00:05:50God knows why they did that.
00:05:53And then the moment came, which has intrigued you and fascinated and moved the world.
00:06:00You stand there.
00:06:01You're looking down.
00:06:01This tank's coming out.
00:06:03It's got its gun up.
00:06:05And this man just went out and he said, stop.
00:06:10It's absolutely extraordinary.
00:06:13You could look at him as unusually brave, but he probably wasn't.
00:06:17He was probably just an ordinary person who was so disgusted at what he had seen for the
00:06:23last few days.
00:06:24And he said, right, that's it.
00:06:25I'm going out and I'm going to just stand in front of that column.
00:06:27The tank did not try to just run him over.
00:06:33It turned to go around him.
00:06:35And then the young man jumps in front of the tank.
00:06:38And then the tank turns the other way and the young man jumps the other side.
00:06:42They do this a couple of times and then the tank turned off its motor.
00:06:46And then it seemed to me that all the tanks turned off their motors because it was really
00:06:53quiet.
00:06:55Standing in front of a column of tanks, no one around him.
00:07:00He was all on his own with his shopping bag in his hand.
00:07:04He climbed on top of the tank, banged on the lid, said, get out of my city.
00:07:08You're not wanted here.
00:07:09We don't know exactly what he said, but it's clear that's what he wanted to say.
00:07:16And I started to cry because I had seen so much shooting and so many people dying that
00:07:22I was sure this man would get crushed.
00:07:24So I remember thinking, I can't cry because I can't see.
00:07:28I want to watch this.
00:07:31During this time, I'm thinking, this guy is going to be killed any moment now.
00:07:35And if he is, I just can't miss this.
00:07:39This is something that he's giving his life for.
00:07:45It's my responsibility to record it as accurately as possible.
00:07:53And then after a while, the young man jumps down and the tank turns on the motor and the
00:07:59young man blocks him again.
00:08:00I thought, he's just going to get crushed.
00:08:05I realized that the public security bureau had been watching us from the other rooftop
00:08:15by binoculars.
00:08:18So I went in and took the film out of the camera and reloaded it into the plastic film can and
00:08:25went into the toilet, took off the top of the toilet and put it in the holding tank, put
00:08:30the toilet top back on.
00:08:32And shortly after that, probably 10, 15 minutes afterwards, the public security bureau broke
00:08:40through the door.
00:08:41They got one other roll of film from the shots that I'd taken from the night before.
00:08:47And they were pretty satisfied they'd cleaned up the situation.
00:08:54About a day and a half later, I worked my way back through the back streets to the Beijing
00:08:59Hotel.
00:09:00And luckily, nobody had flushed the toilet.
00:09:04So one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century was floating in the top of a
00:09:08lounge system.
00:09:08Floating in the top of the toilet and possibly it could have been literally flushed.
00:09:12Images of that extraordinary confrontation became icons of freedom.
00:09:18They have been reproduced on T-shirts and posters ever since.
00:09:23President Bush commended his courage and leaders the world over hailed him.
00:09:28He became an inspiration to millions and he changed lives forever.
00:09:33For all my years conducting investigation of human rights abuses, I never forgot this young
00:09:42man who stand in front of tanks.
00:09:45It's not only me never forgot.
00:09:46The world did not forget him.
00:09:48I spent, you know, years in the labor camp.
00:09:52I confronted the regime also in the labor camp.
00:09:55That image actually played a key role to me.
00:10:01He wanted to change China.
00:10:03But what he did was help to change the Soviet Union.
00:10:07I went to a number of countries in Eastern Europe before the Berlin Wall came down.
00:10:11And I was complimenting their courage.
00:10:16They said, if that kid in China stood in front of those tanks, we can do what we're doing.
00:10:21What this young man did was in effect change the world.
00:10:28Within minutes of his incredible act of defiance, Tank Man was hustled away by whom we do not
00:10:34know and vanished.
00:10:35And still we have no idea of his fate or who he was.
00:10:40But to some it appears he was not a student, more likely an ordinary working man.
00:10:46He didn't look at all like a student.
00:10:48He looked like someone on his way to work or who just knocked off and was on his way home
00:10:54doing the shopping on the way home.
00:10:56In a sense, he stood for the ordinary people.
00:11:03The protests that climaxed with the Tank Man's lonely act of defiance had begun five weeks
00:11:10earlier with a mass student demonstration.
00:11:12And in most Western media, continued to be treated as a student phenomenon.
00:11:17But there's much more to this story.
00:11:24The students had touched a nerve.
00:11:27And soon everyone seemed to be out there protesting against hardship, government corruption and 40 years of repression.
00:11:37In Tiananmen Square and on the streets of Beijing, in cities right across China, there were tens of millions of tank men.
00:11:47Whole swathes of the country were in open revolt.
00:11:55In Beijing, one in ten of the population was joining in.
00:12:00And that includes all the old people, all the little children.
00:12:03So it was massive.
00:12:04There were people in heavy earth-moving equipment.
00:12:13Honey bucket collectors in a tank truck came in.
00:12:16There were pilots.
00:12:18There were hotel workers.
00:12:20It was just a carnival of protest.
00:12:23All the groups were out there with their own banners saying,
00:12:27We are the Beijing journalists.
00:12:29We demand press freedom.
00:12:31We demand the right to tell the truth.
00:12:37You had doctors and nurses and scientists and army people demonstrating.
00:12:43The Chinese Navy was demonstrating.
00:12:46And I thought, this is extraordinary.
00:12:49Because who's left?
00:12:50It's just the top leaders who aren't out there.
00:12:54People thought that the old regime was somehow about to fall.
00:13:02And indeed, it was hard to imagine how it could be otherwise at that moment.
00:13:08For the very first time, press and television were reporting freely and truthfully.
00:13:15The virus of freedom quickly spread.
00:13:17You could feel something uncontrollable building.
00:13:23And of course, from there, it moved outward across the country.
00:13:27Uprisings occurred all over China in at least 400 cities.
00:13:31We know this from the Chinese press and from their own military museum.
00:13:35All the way from Mongolia in the northwest down to the southeast near Hong Kong.
00:13:41And from these cities, hundreds of thousands of supporters converged on the capital.
00:13:47The students had started the protest, hoping to cleanse the party of graft and corruption
00:13:53and encourage free speech.
00:13:56They sought reform, not revolution.
00:13:58After all, they were, by and large, the children of the elite.
00:14:01But as the movement spread outwards to the middle classes and then to the workers and peasants, attitudes hardened.
00:14:09The move from student uprising to a worker uprising is what really scared the Chinese government.
00:14:19They felt that they could deal with the students.
00:14:22After all, students had been involved in uprising for many, many years.
00:14:26But where it became dangerous to the stability and to the survival of the Communist Party
00:14:31was when ordinary workers became involved.
00:14:37After all, the Chinese Communist Party had originally used the workers' movement to gain power for itself.
00:14:43In fact, the government was paralysed by infighting between those who advocated peaceful negotiation
00:14:57and hardliners who demanded a crackdown.
00:15:00On May the 19th, Zhang Ziyan, the reformist general secretary of the Communist Party,
00:15:07suddenly appeared in Tiananmen Square to appeal for compromise.
00:15:11It would be his last public appearance.
00:15:17That night, before an audience of party faithful,
00:15:22hardline Premier Li Peng showed the way forward.
00:15:26We must end the situation immediately.
00:15:29Otherwise, the future of the People's Republic will be in grave danger.
00:15:34He completed his address with a declaration of martial law.
00:15:42Troops would occupy the city and put an end to the protests in Tiananmen Square.
00:15:47Never before in the 40-year history of Communist rule
00:15:51had China put its citizens and its army in this situation.
00:15:57It was a massive display of force, 300,000 troops by most counts,
00:16:03countless tanks, APCs, the lot,
00:16:08all converging on the city from every quarter.
00:16:10Beijing's response came as a complete surprise,
00:16:19both to the army and to the government.
00:16:22The people just flooded out and physically, with their sheer numbers,
00:16:27simply blocked the road.
00:16:29Flood tactics, you know, flooding them with people so they couldn't move.
00:16:33The army, at that point, wasn't willing to run over people and shoot people,
00:16:37to their credit.
00:16:39The scene that greeted Myers was just unbelievable.
00:16:42I could see for about a mile in the distance,
00:16:46endless serried ranks of transport trucks,
00:16:50completely surrounded by tens of thousands of people.
00:16:54Young women, middle-aged housewives, elderly, retired workers said,
00:17:00you're not coming in, sorry, this is our city, there's no chaos, leave us alone.
00:17:06So there are three or four major military convoys in the suburbs of Beijing
00:17:11that can't go forward to Tiananmen Square, they also can't withdraw.
00:17:15They had them fixed there and imposed on them a 24, 48-hour street seminar
00:17:21to explain to them why they shouldn't be doing what they're doing.
00:17:24And I witnessed a mother with an infant talk face to face with the soldiers in the truck,
00:17:50telling him it was a very peaceful city and what we did was to just ask for more freedom for the people.
00:18:00So you had these wonderfully touching moments of the people appealing to the army
00:18:05to join them and feeding them and giving them water and saying,
00:18:11you know, it could be your son, it could be your daughter.
00:18:14The citizens were also quite clever.
00:18:18They brought their children and asked them to say to the soldiers,
00:18:21how are you, Uncle Soldier?
00:18:25The soldiers were touched and they said, we won't kill our people.
00:18:30And these sort of doe-eyed, puzzled soldiers, who were mostly country people,
00:18:36weren't experienced with big city life.
00:18:38You know, wondering what was going on here and not wanting to hurt anybody.
00:18:44Four days after the attempted entry, the army withdrew to bases outside the city.
00:18:50Beijing was euphoric.
00:19:00So that ended very well and was a great triumph.
00:19:03But it also was an enormous humiliation for the leadership.
00:19:07They had been thwarted and they had lost face and they weren't going to let it happen again.
00:19:15The party elders feared that the whole edifice of communism was going to collapse,
00:19:19like it was collapsing in the Soviet Union and in other parts of Eastern Europe.
00:19:24They needed to make a stand and a bloody stand to show their population and, in effect,
00:19:29to cow their population back into submission.
00:19:33Over the next ten days, Supreme Leader Deng Xiaoping hatched a new plan.
00:19:40Troops armed with semi-automatic weapons and backed by tanks
00:19:44were drawn from military districts across China.
00:19:47On the night of June 3rd, a huge invasion force coming in again from all directions,
00:20:04but mostly from the west, this time with live ammunition.
00:20:07This time, strict orders, the square must be cleared by dawn on June 4th.
00:20:13The instructions to the troop said, we don't want bloodshed, avoid bloodshed.
00:20:17But the other instruction to the troop, which was ironclad,
00:20:21was that square has to be cleared by 6 a.m.
00:20:27No bloodshed on the one hand, have to clear the square on the other.
00:20:31Here's your tanks, here's your ammunition.
00:20:34And so I think the soldiers were caught in a dilemma.
00:20:36To block the army's advance,
00:20:40the citizens barricaded all the main road bridges and intersections
00:20:43with buses, trucks, heavy earth-moving equipment,
00:20:47anything they could lay their hands on.
00:20:56Mushidi Bridge.
00:20:57In 1989, all traffic entering the city from the west had to cross here.
00:21:03The nearby exit ramp didn't exist.
00:21:06But the apartments were here,
00:21:08homes to senior government bureaucrats
00:21:10who would have a ringside view of a massacre
00:21:13that began in the early evening of June the 3rd,
00:21:16as the crowds manning the barricades on Mushidi Bridge
00:21:20hurled rocks and abuse at the advancing army.
00:21:29Armored personnel carriers came,
00:21:32and they began to ram the buses.
00:21:37Somebody threw some type of gasoline-soaked rug into the buses,
00:21:42and the buses illuminated the fire.
00:21:45Then, sometime after 9.30,
00:21:47you had more soldiers out there,
00:21:49and live fire began.
00:21:51The first rounds of fire catch everybody by surprise.
00:21:54The people in the streets don't expect this to happen.
00:21:57They shot, you know, randomly toward all sorts of directions.
00:22:01Two people, one meter in front of me, were shot down.
00:22:08Angry citizens were everywhere.
00:22:11People just couldn't understand why this country and its army,
00:22:14the people's army,
00:22:15would slaughter its own people,
00:22:17the Beijing citizens.
00:22:18People still pour into the streets.
00:22:21This is the amazing thing.
00:22:22People were just so angry,
00:22:25so furious at what was happening in their city,
00:22:28that they were not going to step back
00:22:30and let the army do what was doing.
00:22:33A young friend standing next to me shouted,
00:22:37overthrow fascism!
00:22:40Then the soldiers started shooting at us.
00:22:43We immediately threw ourselves to the ground.
00:22:45The group of people I was with,
00:22:47they were Chinese people, began to run.
00:22:50I basically hit the dirt
00:22:52and snuggled up against a curb
00:22:54while the shooting was happening.
00:22:57I could see people behind me falling.
00:23:02Troops began to fire in all different directions.
00:23:07Many people, children, women, ordinary people,
00:23:12were shot standing on their balconies
00:23:15looking down at this spectacle.
00:23:16They just raked the buildings with their gunfire
00:23:19and they were shooting people.
00:23:20People were being killed in their own kitchens.
00:23:24Everybody was frightened
00:23:26by this overwhelming use of force.
00:23:29What was amazing was
00:23:30that the army used battlefield weapons.
00:23:33These bullets are the size of a man's thumb
00:23:35and they're encased with this copper
00:23:38sort of soft outer coating
00:23:41that when it's fired, it unfurls
00:23:43and it twists.
00:23:45They're like dum-dums, I guess.
00:23:46They twist.
00:23:47So when they go through the victim,
00:23:49they tear up the victim inside.
00:23:51It's the kind of ammunition an army wants in the field
00:23:54because it creates much damage
00:23:57and incapacitates the other side
00:24:00because of the medical burden
00:24:02of dealing with this kind of casualty.
00:24:04It's not the sort of thing
00:24:05that should be used in an urban setting.
00:24:11Right in front of us,
00:24:12this tall young man,
00:24:14about 20 years old,
00:24:16suddenly fell down.
00:24:18He'd been shot in the chest.
00:24:19Blood was pouring out.
00:24:24We were absolutely shocked.
00:24:26We didn't know how to stop the bleeding.
00:24:29Someone found a bicycle
00:24:30to carry him to the hospital.
00:24:32You had doctors outside
00:24:34involved in mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
00:24:37with red faces from, you know,
00:24:40stained from blood.
00:24:44We saw more than 30 bodies
00:24:47lying on the ground
00:24:48in front of the hospital.
00:24:52All the doctors were in a state of shock,
00:24:54completely lost.
00:24:56I visited three hospitals
00:24:58very close to the Mushidi area,
00:25:01and we were in total shock
00:25:04because of the large numbers of people wounded
00:25:06being brought to these facilities,
00:25:08most of them being brought on bicycle-pulled carts.
00:25:12And all around us,
00:25:13we could hear gunfire.
00:25:15We went into the hospital
00:25:17through the back entrance
00:25:18where the staff goes.
00:25:20There was a smell.
00:25:22My friend said,
00:25:23you smell that?
00:25:24And I said,
00:25:24I smell something sweet.
00:25:26And she said,
00:25:26that's death.
00:25:27That's what you're smelling.
00:25:30People started to scream at us,
00:25:33Pai Densher, Pai Densher.
00:25:34Take pictures.
00:25:35Take video.
00:25:37Tell the world what's going on.
00:25:38They're killing innocent people.
00:25:40Chang'an Avenue cuts right across the city
00:25:45and was the main route
00:25:47of the army's advance
00:25:48from the east and the west.
00:25:50On the night of June 3rd,
00:25:52it was barricaded and defended
00:25:54at every major intersection.
00:25:56From Mushidi all along Chang'an Avenue,
00:26:08it was like a war zone.
00:26:11The debris of battle,
00:26:13the smoke was everywhere.
00:26:17Every time a blockade was knocked down
00:26:19going east from Mushidi,
00:26:23another one would be set up
00:26:24at the next major intersection.
00:26:26So the army had to plow its way through
00:26:28a series of blockades.
00:26:30Sometimes it's breaking through buses and trucks
00:26:32that have been strewn across the street.
00:26:34In other cases,
00:26:35it's breaking through human barriers
00:26:37and they have to be shot.
00:26:38Basically,
00:26:38it was a one-sided pitched battle
00:26:40all the way from the western suburbs
00:26:43until they finally,
00:26:44several hours later,
00:26:46about 1.30 a.m.,
00:26:48began to arrive at Tiananmen Square,
00:26:50which was ground zero.
00:26:52This was the crunch time.
00:26:57We knew the troops had orders
00:26:59to clear the square by dawn.
00:27:03That was the deadline.
00:27:04We heard this roar
00:27:14of male yelling
00:27:17and saw on the steps
00:27:21of the Museum of Revolutionary History
00:27:23and then across the way
00:27:25on the steps
00:27:26of the Great Hall of the People,
00:27:28thousands of soldiers
00:27:29just saw the glint
00:27:30of their weaponry.
00:27:31It was clear to everyone
00:27:34from that point on
00:27:34we were absolutely trapped.
00:27:36You had the military
00:27:37coming in from the west
00:27:38with their tanks.
00:27:39We knew there were tanks
00:27:40coming from the south
00:27:41up the Tiananmen Gate
00:27:42and now on both sides
00:27:44of the square
00:27:44you had hundreds
00:27:46if not thousands
00:27:47of soldiers.
00:27:48And then
00:27:49the firing started.
00:27:53Even at this late stage,
00:27:55many couldn't believe
00:27:56the army was using
00:27:58live ammunition
00:27:58and they stood their ground.
00:28:04And you just hear
00:28:05this thunderous sound
00:28:06of gunfire.
00:28:08All the gunfire
00:28:08kept going.
00:28:09You could see
00:28:10tracer bullets
00:28:11through the sky.
00:28:12There was a battle
00:28:12going on
00:28:13and there were
00:28:13all these civilians
00:28:14and they were the targets.
00:28:18One man was shot down.
00:28:20Someone ran up
00:28:20and dragged that man.
00:28:22I didn't.
00:28:23I just kept running.
00:28:25On my left side,
00:28:26someone was hit in the neck.
00:28:27Everyone was running.
00:28:29There was a lot
00:28:30of shooting.
00:28:30A lot of young people
00:28:31were running
00:28:32towards the military
00:28:33being shot,
00:28:35falling,
00:28:36and then running away.
00:28:37People were running
00:28:38to the square
00:28:39and they were running
00:28:39from the square.
00:28:40And people were
00:28:41racing to the square
00:28:42on bikes,
00:28:43racing out of the square
00:28:44on bikes.
00:28:45The ambulances
00:28:45started to go in.
00:28:47There was a lot of smoke.
00:28:49The lights were on
00:28:50on the square.
00:28:51There was this
00:28:51continual announcement
00:28:52of under the
00:28:54martial law regulations
00:28:55no one should be
00:28:56on the street.
00:28:56If you stay on the street,
00:28:57you will be responsible
00:28:58for what happens
00:28:59to this sort of
00:28:59continual bass beat
00:29:01sort of of that evening
00:29:02was at these announcements.
00:29:04About 4.15 in the morning,
00:29:07suddenly,
00:29:08all the lights
00:29:09in the square went out.
00:29:12Pitch dark.
00:29:14This was very frightening.
00:29:16And then,
00:29:17I heard these horrible
00:29:19crushing sounds,
00:29:21like when tanks run over things,
00:29:23crushing splinter sounds.
00:29:30After about 10 minutes,
00:29:31the lights came on again.
00:29:33But not the normal lights
00:29:35in the square.
00:29:36They stayed off.
00:29:37Instead,
00:29:38they put on
00:29:39the special display lights
00:29:41that lit up
00:29:42the great hall
00:29:43of the people.
00:29:45It was like
00:29:45this gutter dameron effect
00:29:47of the vast cavernous
00:29:49great hall
00:29:50of the people
00:29:50lit up by floodlights.
00:29:53The smoke rising all around.
00:29:55And at that point,
00:29:56we could see
00:29:56just a river of troops
00:29:58flowing out of the great
00:29:59hall of the people
00:30:00onto the steps
00:30:00and deploying
00:30:01in front of the monument
00:30:03to the people's heroes.
00:30:04The students had made
00:30:09their last stand
00:30:10at the monument.
00:30:12They had witnessed
00:30:12the shooting and killing
00:30:14as the army swept
00:30:15through the square
00:30:15towards them,
00:30:17and many expected
00:30:18the same treatment
00:30:18themselves.
00:30:20But they were wrong.
00:30:21The soldiers
00:30:22held their fire,
00:30:24and the students
00:30:24were offered amnesty
00:30:25if they vacated
00:30:27the square at once.
00:30:29Should we stay
00:30:30or should we go
00:30:31was put to a voice vote
00:30:32among the students there.
00:30:33It was clear to me
00:30:35that the stay votes
00:30:36were much, much,
00:30:37much stronger.
00:30:39But Feng Songde,
00:30:40who was a student leader
00:30:41at the time,
00:30:41said,
00:30:42the ghosts have it.
00:30:46From my point of view,
00:30:47the important thing
00:30:49was to avoid
00:30:50more injury and death.
00:30:52So I made the decision
00:30:53to lead the students
00:30:54out of the square.
00:30:583,000 to 5,000
00:31:00students and citizens
00:31:01left the square
00:31:02by the southeast corner.
00:31:08All the students
00:31:10held hands
00:31:10and started singing
00:31:12the Ante-Nationale,
00:31:14and soothed each other
00:31:15with the belief
00:31:16that one day
00:31:16we would be back.
00:31:18I never forget those faces,
00:31:27the young people's faces.
00:31:31They were walking out
00:31:32with their heads held high.
00:31:34They'd finessed
00:31:35their retreat
00:31:37from the square
00:31:38so well.
00:31:39They'd performed
00:31:40so bravely.
00:31:42And finally,
00:31:43they'd made
00:31:44the right decision.
00:31:46There would have been
00:31:46no point staying there.
00:31:48Everyone would have
00:31:48been killed.
00:31:51Reports in the week
00:31:52after June 4th
00:31:53stated that troops
00:31:54had assaulted the monument
00:31:56and massacred
00:31:57all the students
00:31:57on the monument.
00:31:59Thousands of students
00:32:00had been shot down
00:32:00in cold blood.
00:32:02That didn't happen.
00:32:03Had it happened,
00:32:04I wouldn't be here today.
00:32:05Simple as that.
00:32:06The theater of the massacre
00:32:08was by and large elsewhere.
00:32:10It was the rest
00:32:11of the city
00:32:11and that was where
00:32:12the Beijing citizens
00:32:14fought and died.
00:32:18Later that morning,
00:32:20amazing things
00:32:22started to happen.
00:32:22People astonishingly
00:32:25started trying,
00:32:26holding hands,
00:32:28walking up the avenue,
00:32:30trying to re-enter
00:32:31the square
00:32:31in the face
00:32:33of these tanks.
00:32:33These people
00:32:36were frantic.
00:32:37They were nuts
00:32:37out of their minds.
00:32:39And the reason
00:32:39they were out
00:32:40of their minds
00:32:40is that these
00:32:41were the parents
00:32:42of students
00:32:44who had been
00:32:46in the square
00:32:46that night.
00:32:48These parents
00:32:48were running
00:32:49back and forth
00:32:49and they were saying,
00:32:51want to go
00:32:51into the square
00:32:51looking for our children?
00:32:54And an officer
00:32:55came out
00:32:55with a loud hailer
00:32:57and he said,
00:32:58I'm going to count
00:33:00to five
00:33:01and then we're
00:33:03going to fire.
00:33:08Then all the people
00:33:09would realize
00:33:10that the guns
00:33:11were pointed at them
00:33:12and they'd go
00:33:13running past the hotel.
00:33:15And then the soldiers
00:33:16would fire in their backs.
00:33:18I felt like I was
00:33:19watching some terrible opera.
00:33:21And a lot of people
00:33:27went down.
00:33:2830, 40, 50 people
00:33:29are knocked down.
00:33:30Everybody else
00:33:31ran away.
00:33:32I'm lying
00:33:33in the grass
00:33:34thinking this is
00:33:34the worst thing ever.
00:33:37This is hell.
00:33:40But the odd thing
00:33:41was that after
00:33:41a little while,
00:33:42like 40 minutes,
00:33:44an hour,
00:33:44people would gather
00:33:45their nerve again
00:33:46and crawl back
00:33:48to the corner
00:33:49and start screaming
00:33:49at the soldiers.
00:33:51And then the commander
00:33:52would eventually
00:33:53give another signal
00:33:54and the soldiers
00:33:55would raise
00:33:55their rifles again.
00:33:59And the people go,
00:34:00oh my God,
00:34:01and they'd run away
00:34:02and they'd shoot
00:34:03more in the backs.
00:34:04And this went on
00:34:05more than half a dozen times
00:34:08in the day.
00:34:09It was, to me,
00:34:10unbelievable.
00:34:11There then suddenly
00:34:12appeared right there
00:34:14an ambulance
00:34:15and they rush in
00:34:17amongst all the people
00:34:18who were on the ground.
00:34:21and the soldiers
00:34:22opened fire again
00:34:23and mowed them down.
00:34:26The soldiers
00:34:27shot everybody.
00:34:29Doctors, nurses,
00:34:31rescuers.
00:34:32Everybody was being shot at.
00:34:35This was seen
00:34:37by numbers of journalists
00:34:39who will never forget it.
00:34:41This was,
00:34:41this was a real massacre.
00:34:43This was the targeting
00:34:46and the shooting down
00:34:48of totally non-violent
00:34:50innocent civilians.
00:34:51The tactics of overwhelming force
00:34:55that were used
00:34:56had a point.
00:34:57They were meant to shock,
00:34:59terrify and awe.
00:35:00And they did.
00:35:02Terror works.
00:35:04No one knows for certain
00:35:06how many people died.
00:35:08The Chinese Red Cross
00:35:09initially reported 2,600
00:35:12and immediately retracted
00:35:14under intense government pressure.
00:35:16The official figure
00:35:21is 241 dead,
00:35:23including 23 officers
00:35:25and soldiers
00:35:25and 7,000 wounded.
00:35:29All we can be sure of
00:35:31is that by the third day,
00:35:32June the 5th,
00:35:33the army was in complete control.
00:35:37Beijing seemed utterly vanquished
00:35:40until an unknown young man
00:35:43made his astounding gesture
00:35:45of defiance.
00:35:48The symbolism of what he did
00:35:49was overwhelmingly clear.
00:35:53He spoke for the Beijing people.
00:35:56Before June 4th,
00:35:57you had millions of people
00:35:59all over China and the cities,
00:36:01up in the streets,
00:36:03peacefully demanding
00:36:04more rights,
00:36:05freedom, democracy,
00:36:07press freedom,
00:36:08end to corruption.
00:36:10After June 4th,
00:36:11what did you have?
00:36:12You had one man,
00:36:13one sacrificial figure,
00:36:17almost,
00:36:17who took it on himself
00:36:19to speak for everyone else
00:36:21who had been silenced
00:36:22by that time.
00:36:24But what happened
00:36:25to that young man?
00:36:27The only clue
00:36:28comes in the last few seconds
00:36:30when he was hustled away
00:36:31by four men.
00:36:33Their identity is key,
00:36:36but those who witnessed
00:36:37that moment
00:36:37had very different impressions.
00:36:39We don't know
00:36:41who those people were.
00:36:43And, you know,
00:36:44maybe they saved him.
00:36:45Things like that happened
00:36:47all over Beijing
00:36:48in those days.
00:36:48People were wounded.
00:36:49People would pick them up
00:36:50and take them to the streets.
00:36:52People would take people
00:36:53into their homes.
00:36:55I feel very strongly
00:36:56that it was
00:36:56Public Security Bureau people
00:36:58that got him.
00:37:00They were on the rooftops
00:37:01with binoculars
00:37:02and walkie-talkies,
00:37:03and they were controlling
00:37:03the outer areas
00:37:05of the square
00:37:06as you would control
00:37:07any military operation,
00:37:10the high ground.
00:37:11It seemed like
00:37:12they had snatched teams
00:37:13of people
00:37:13they were conducting
00:37:14down below.
00:37:17Even if it wasn't PSB,
00:37:19I seriously doubt
00:37:21he could have gotten
00:37:22past the net of security.
00:37:24Well, if it was the PSB
00:37:26who took him to one side,
00:37:28what would have been his fate?
00:37:30Well, I felt pretty strongly
00:37:32that he was executed.
00:37:36We saw a lot of
00:37:37public executions
00:37:39put on Chinese TV
00:37:41shortly after that.
00:37:43And it was for people
00:37:44that had done
00:37:45far less offenses
00:37:46than embarrassed
00:37:47the government
00:37:48in such a way.
00:37:51In the aftermath
00:37:53of the Beijing massacre,
00:37:55tens of thousands
00:37:56all across the country
00:37:57were arrested.
00:37:59Unknown numbers
00:37:59were executed.
00:38:00Some are still
00:38:01in prison today.
00:38:02China television
00:38:06portrayed these people
00:38:08as counter-revolutionaries,
00:38:10hooligans,
00:38:11and agents
00:38:11of foreign powers.
00:38:13But they never produced
00:38:15the young protester
00:38:16who had become
00:38:17the most powerful symbol
00:38:19of resistance
00:38:20to the regime.
00:38:21Could that possibly
00:38:22be a cause for hope?
00:38:24I don't think they had him
00:38:25or they would have
00:38:25at that stage
00:38:27displayed him.
00:38:28I think that the people
00:38:31who took the tank
00:38:32man away
00:38:32were concerned people.
00:38:35If you've ever seen
00:38:37security people
00:38:38manhandle
00:38:39a Chinese citizen,
00:38:41they're really brutal.
00:38:43They twist your arm,
00:38:44they make you bend over,
00:38:46they punch you
00:38:47a few times,
00:38:47they kick you.
00:38:49So to me,
00:38:50I think he was
00:38:52helped to the side
00:38:54of the road.
00:38:55He wasn't being arrested.
00:38:56Now that raises
00:38:58the intriguing possibility
00:39:00that he's still alive.
00:39:02I think
00:39:03that he is.
00:39:05The fact that
00:39:05we have not heard
00:39:06from him
00:39:07since
00:39:08that amazing incident
00:39:10tells me
00:39:12he's still alive,
00:39:13he's still there,
00:39:14he has not been caught,
00:39:15and he's certainly
00:39:16not telling anybody
00:39:17that he's the man.
00:39:21If Tank Man
00:39:22has survived,
00:39:23where is he now?
00:39:26Since the day
00:39:30he made
00:39:31his heroic stand,
00:39:32his country
00:39:33has changed
00:39:34beyond recognition.
00:39:38Old economic dogmas
00:39:40were cast aside.
00:39:44To attract
00:39:45foreign capital,
00:39:47China's leaders
00:39:47created special
00:39:48economic zones
00:39:49and removed
00:39:51many restrictions
00:39:51on foreign ownership
00:39:53and investment.
00:39:54The results
00:39:55were dramatic.
00:40:00Fifteen years ago,
00:40:01this entire skyline
00:40:03didn't exist,
00:40:04just paddy fields.
00:40:08China's rise
00:40:09is the story
00:40:10of the 21st century,
00:40:12and it is rooted
00:40:13in the events
00:40:14of 1989.
00:40:15This is
00:40:17Deng Xiaoping's
00:40:18great
00:40:19moment of genius.
00:40:22After the massacre
00:40:23of 1989,
00:40:25he in effect said,
00:40:26we will not stop
00:40:27economic reform.
00:40:29We will,
00:40:29in effect,
00:40:30halt political reform.
00:40:32What he basically
00:40:33said to people
00:40:34was,
00:40:35folks,
00:40:36you're in a room.
00:40:38There are two doors.
00:40:40One door
00:40:40says politics,
00:40:42one door
00:40:43says economics.
00:40:44You open
00:40:45the economic door,
00:40:46you're on your own,
00:40:47you can go
00:40:48the full distance,
00:40:49do basically
00:40:49whatever you want,
00:40:50get wealthy,
00:40:51help your family,
00:40:52have a bright future,
00:40:53move forward
00:40:54into a glorious future.
00:40:56You open
00:40:57the political door,
00:40:58you're going to run
00:40:59right into
00:41:00one obstruction
00:41:01after another,
00:41:02and you're going
00:41:03to run into
00:41:03the state.
00:41:05There was a point
00:41:06to that.
00:41:07This was meant
00:41:07to buy the Communist
00:41:08Party a new lease
00:41:09on life.
00:41:11On the one hand,
00:41:12intimidate opposition
00:41:13for a generation,
00:41:14on the other hand,
00:41:15give the people
00:41:15bread and circuses,
00:41:17and the deal is
00:41:19there must be
00:41:20no challenge
00:41:20to one party rule.
00:41:22That's the terms
00:41:23of today's China.
00:41:25That's the deal.
00:41:30And for those
00:41:31who rose against
00:41:32the regime
00:41:32in 1989,
00:41:34principally city people,
00:41:36the deal has paid off.
00:41:37after decades
00:41:42of austerity,
00:41:43they have access
00:41:44to everything
00:41:45money can buy.
00:41:48No dream
00:41:49seems unattainable
00:41:50here,
00:41:51no expense
00:41:51too daunting.
00:41:54And the speed
00:41:56of the change
00:41:56is breathtaking.
00:42:00The high-speed train
00:42:01from Shanghai airport
00:42:02to the city
00:42:03uses a technology
00:42:05developed in Germany
00:42:06but considered
00:42:07far too expensive
00:42:08to be practical.
00:42:11But it stands
00:42:13as an important
00:42:13symbol of China's
00:42:15aspirations,
00:42:16no matter
00:42:16if the train
00:42:17is often empty.
00:42:20Underpinning
00:42:21these visionary
00:42:21projects
00:42:22is an economy
00:42:23hurtling forward
00:42:24at a staggering
00:42:25rate of 9% a year
00:42:27as China draws in
00:42:28hundreds of billions
00:42:30of dollars
00:42:30of foreign investment.
00:42:31whole production
00:42:38lines have been
00:42:38moved out
00:42:39of the United States
00:42:40and Europe
00:42:41and set up here,
00:42:43turning China
00:42:43into a factory
00:42:44for the world.
00:42:48Thousands
00:42:48of the most familiar
00:42:50Western brands,
00:42:51toys,
00:42:51textiles,
00:42:52electronic goods
00:42:53are now made
00:42:54in China.
00:42:55We do the research
00:42:56and marketing,
00:42:58they actually
00:42:58make the stuff.
00:43:01China has overtaken
00:43:03the United States
00:43:04as the world's
00:43:04largest consumer
00:43:05of coal,
00:43:06steel,
00:43:07meat and grain.
00:43:09Within the past
00:43:09five years,
00:43:10its oil demand
00:43:11has doubled.
00:43:12It is the world's
00:43:13second largest
00:43:14car market
00:43:15and in a decade
00:43:16could be
00:43:17the world's largest.
00:43:21It is an amazing
00:43:22miracle what has
00:43:23happened since 1989
00:43:24and anyone
00:43:26such as myself
00:43:27standing there
00:43:27during those weeks
00:43:29couldn't have imagined
00:43:31in their wildest
00:43:32imagination
00:43:33that come 2006
00:43:35China would be
00:43:38where it is today
00:43:38and the party
00:43:39would still be
00:43:40enthroned.
00:43:43Never in the course
00:43:44of human history
00:43:45has a larger number
00:43:46of people gained
00:43:47more wealth
00:43:48in such a short time.
00:43:50Since 1989,
00:43:51China has seen
00:43:52the emergence
00:43:53of a new middle class
00:43:54estimated at over
00:43:56200 million people.
00:43:59The improvements
00:43:59have been extraordinary,
00:44:01been massive.
00:44:03So I think a lot
00:44:04of people have been
00:44:04willing to accept
00:44:06this deal with
00:44:06the devil
00:44:07to say,
00:44:07all right,
00:44:08things went very badly
00:44:09in 1989,
00:44:10but in a sense
00:44:11we have been rewarded
00:44:12by not asking
00:44:13the government
00:44:14to return to that event
00:44:16and account
00:44:17for the way
00:44:18in which it conducted
00:44:18itself.
00:44:20That social contract,
00:44:23if you will,
00:44:24up to this point
00:44:25has worked quite well
00:44:27for the Communist Party
00:44:28and for the elite
00:44:30and now the new
00:44:31middle class of China.
00:44:34But what about
00:44:35the ordinary men
00:44:36and women
00:44:36on the factory floor,
00:44:38those whose labor
00:44:39keeps this economy
00:44:40on the fast track?
00:44:41If Tank Man
00:44:45were really a worker,
00:44:47where would he be
00:44:48in this new China?
00:44:50Maybe here,
00:44:51if he's lucky.
00:44:53In one of the huge
00:44:54joint ventures
00:44:55with Western corporations
00:44:56enticed into the
00:44:57China market
00:44:58by generous tax
00:44:59concessions,
00:45:00a disciplined workforce
00:45:02and a potential market
00:45:03of 1.3 billion consumers.
00:45:08The average pay here
00:45:10is equivalent
00:45:10to $600 a month.
00:45:13Meagre by Western standards,
00:45:15serious money
00:45:16for an ordinary worker
00:45:17in China.
00:45:19Others are less fortunate.
00:45:21When the old
00:45:22state-owned industries
00:45:23were brought
00:45:23to their knees,
00:45:2530 million people
00:45:26lost their jobs
00:45:27and had to find
00:45:28their place
00:45:29in the new
00:45:29competitive market economy.
00:45:33This state-owned
00:45:35steelworks
00:45:35was saved.
00:45:37It had to be.
00:45:38It was the only
00:45:39real employer
00:45:40in a one-industry town.
00:45:45Under new management,
00:45:47output has increased
00:45:48five-fold.
00:45:50But 40,000 workers
00:45:51have lost their jobs.
00:45:53The company school,
00:45:54the company hospital,
00:45:55the company nursery,
00:45:56all closed down.
00:46:01If Tank Man
00:46:03had worked
00:46:03for a state-owned industry,
00:46:05where might he be now?
00:46:08Seizing his opportunities
00:46:10in the new China
00:46:11or struggling to survive?
00:46:13there really seem to be
00:46:19two Chinas today,
00:46:21China A and China B.
00:46:28China A is big cities
00:46:31where businessmen
00:46:32and foreign governments go.
00:46:33Beijing,
00:46:34Beijing,
00:46:35Guangzhou,
00:46:36Shanghai,
00:46:37Shenzhen,
00:46:38modern,
00:46:39and confronting
00:46:40a lot of the problems
00:46:41that developed countries
00:46:43are facing.
00:46:45Problems of urbanization,
00:46:47too many cars,
00:46:49the rise of criminalization,
00:46:52the education,
00:46:53health system,
00:46:55the judicial system.
00:46:57These are problems
00:46:58for a developed,
00:47:00rich,
00:47:00or getting richer country.
00:47:03And then you have
00:47:04China B,
00:47:06the undeveloped
00:47:07or developing China,
00:47:09which is the vast majority
00:47:11of the country.
00:47:14This China is still very poor,
00:47:17not getting better
00:47:18because all the economic growth
00:47:19is concentrated in cities.
00:47:24They face
00:47:25problems
00:47:26that are really
00:47:28problems from
00:47:29developing countries.
00:47:32Very low education,
00:47:35not enough water,
00:47:37not enough economic resources,
00:47:40not enough infrastructure.
00:47:42It's a profoundly
00:47:43unequal system,
00:47:45and it's a system
00:47:46whose contradictions
00:47:47we see every day
00:47:49are playing out
00:47:50more and more.
00:47:52We are in Anwe province,
00:47:55300 miles
00:47:56and several centuries
00:47:57from Shanghai.
00:48:00It's a dizzying descent
00:48:02from the skyscrapers
00:48:03and freeways,
00:48:05the glittering boutiques
00:48:06and futuristic train,
00:48:08to this.
00:48:08And yet there have been
00:48:18changes here,
00:48:19real changes
00:48:20for the better.
00:48:21Under the old
00:48:22collective system,
00:48:23peasants were virtually
00:48:24slaves of the state.
00:48:26Now they own,
00:48:27or rather lease,
00:48:28their plots
00:48:29and are free
00:48:30to sell their produce
00:48:31on the open market.
00:48:32As a result
00:48:33of these reforms,
00:48:34rural incomes
00:48:35doubled within a decade,
00:48:36but the trouble is
00:48:38that what the state
00:48:39gave with one hand,
00:48:41it has taken away
00:48:41with the other.
00:48:44Education and healthcare,
00:48:46which are the two main
00:48:47benchmarks
00:48:48for the advancement
00:48:50and the progress
00:48:51of a society at large,
00:48:52have totally collapsed
00:48:54in the past 20 years.
00:48:56Education used to be free
00:48:58and accessible
00:48:58for every child in China,
00:49:00but now there's not
00:49:03one kid in China
00:49:04that doesn't have to pay
00:49:06to go to school.
00:49:07And not only
00:49:08the school fees,
00:49:09but the book fees,
00:49:10the heating fees,
00:49:12an array of fees.
00:49:14Children of farmers
00:49:16in rural areas
00:49:16just can't go to school now
00:49:18because they can't afford it.
00:49:19You have to pay
00:49:20and they can't afford
00:49:21to pay healthcare.
00:49:23Something like
00:49:24less than a penny
00:49:25in American money
00:49:27per year
00:49:29in the rural areas
00:49:31is spent on healthcare.
00:49:32It's virtually gone.
00:49:33It's just not there.
00:49:34So if you get sick,
00:49:35you depend on
00:49:37local herbal remedies
00:49:39and folklore
00:49:40or die.
00:49:43It really begs the question,
00:49:45what is in the mind
00:49:47of the Chinese leaders?
00:49:48Is it to make China
00:49:49a rich and powerful country
00:49:51on the international scene?
00:49:53Or is it to try
00:49:55to bring into
00:49:57the 21st century
00:49:59the entire Chinese population?
00:50:02There are almost
00:50:04a billion people
00:50:05in China B,
00:50:06including at least
00:50:07750 million
00:50:08peasant farmers
00:50:09and their families.
00:50:12What's so striking here
00:50:14is not just
00:50:14the sense of timelessness,
00:50:16but the absence
00:50:17of young adults.
00:50:19Zhang Mei has three sons
00:50:21who have all left
00:50:22to work
00:50:22in the industrial areas.
00:50:23she sees them
00:50:25once a year
00:50:26if she's lucky.
00:50:28This little boy
00:50:29is a grandson.
00:50:34Qin Tang also
00:50:36has three sons
00:50:37and a daughter
00:50:37working hundreds
00:50:39of miles away.
00:50:41You just can't
00:50:42make a living
00:50:42from farming here.
00:50:44You have to go away
00:50:46and find work.
00:50:47In recent surveys,
00:50:51the number one reason
00:50:53migrants give
00:50:54for leaving their homes
00:50:55and families
00:50:55is to pay
00:50:57for the education
00:50:58of their children.
00:51:01In March 2006,
00:51:03the government promised
00:51:03to work to remedy
00:51:05the situation
00:51:05by injecting
00:51:06a further
00:51:07$5 billion
00:51:08into the rural economy
00:51:10over the next
00:51:1112 months.
00:51:12That's almost
00:51:14$7 a head.
00:51:15probably not enough
00:51:17to turn back
00:51:18the human tide.
00:51:27Everywhere you look
00:51:29in China,
00:51:30peasants on the move.
00:51:32Flow and counterflow
00:51:34of hundreds
00:51:35of millions
00:51:36of people
00:51:36willing to accept
00:51:38working conditions
00:51:39and wages
00:51:39that give this economy
00:51:41its competitive edge.
00:51:43It is the largest
00:51:44migration in history
00:51:46and the basis
00:51:47of China's
00:51:48industrial strength.
00:52:0040,000 migrants
00:52:02work here
00:52:02in Sanxinchang,
00:52:04a new industrial centre
00:52:05that has grown
00:52:06from a village
00:52:07in less than 10 years.
00:52:09The trend now
00:52:11is for specialisation,
00:52:12one city per product.
00:52:14So China has
00:52:15a sock city,
00:52:16a toothbrush city,
00:52:17an underwear city
00:52:18and here in Sanxinchang,
00:52:20a bidding city,
00:52:21making comforters,
00:52:22pillows
00:52:23and sheets
00:52:23for the world.
00:52:26The Sanxinchang employers
00:52:28are beneficiaries
00:52:29of the post-Tiananmen deal.
00:52:32Some at the top end
00:52:34have exploited
00:52:34party connections.
00:52:35Others have risen
00:52:37from the humblest
00:52:38backgrounds
00:52:39and now own
00:52:40a backstreet workshop
00:52:41or two.
00:52:43What they all share
00:52:44in the betting business
00:52:45is a preference
00:52:46for young female workers.
00:52:51Factory employers
00:52:53like to hire young people
00:52:54because they are
00:52:56more energetic,
00:52:57they are fresh,
00:52:59they can work faster.
00:53:00That's why
00:53:02when they recruit
00:53:03workers,
00:53:04they look at
00:53:05their health.
00:53:06It is very important
00:53:07to make sure
00:53:07that they are
00:53:08strong and fit.
00:53:09You don't want
00:53:10to hire sickly workers.
00:53:13A lot of factories
00:53:15do not even
00:53:16have one day off.
00:53:17That means
00:53:18seven days a week,
00:53:2113 hours a day.
00:53:24Typical pay
00:53:25for migrants
00:53:26working these hours,
00:53:27about $120
00:53:29a month.
00:53:31They work
00:53:32them like this
00:53:33for maybe
00:53:34five,
00:53:36six or seven years
00:53:37and then
00:53:38either they get
00:53:40sick,
00:53:40they get tired
00:53:41and they leave
00:53:42on their own
00:53:43or the
00:53:45factory management
00:53:46will fire them
00:53:47if they are not
00:53:48up to the speed.
00:53:49life for most
00:53:53of these workers
00:53:54is confined
00:53:54to the factory
00:53:55floor
00:53:56and a dormitory
00:53:57in a migrants
00:53:58hostel.
00:54:01Sanxin Chun
00:54:02is encircled
00:54:03with hostels,
00:54:04some of them
00:54:05squalid,
00:54:07others
00:54:07indescribable.
00:54:08We were allowed
00:54:18to film
00:54:18at the modern
00:54:19Jiangsu Dadao factory.
00:54:23Here,
00:54:24top quality bed linen
00:54:25is woven
00:54:26for clients
00:54:27from Russia
00:54:27and the Far East
00:54:28to the United States
00:54:30and the girls
00:54:31who make the stuff
00:54:32sleep 12 to a room.
00:54:34Three of the brightest
00:54:35were taken off
00:54:36the factory floor
00:54:37and were ready
00:54:38and waiting
00:54:39for our interview.
00:54:43Chizhu,
00:54:43age 20,
00:54:44is from Anhui
00:54:45province
00:54:45where we had
00:54:46just come from.
00:54:49Chizhu spoke
00:54:49glowingly
00:54:50of her job
00:54:51at this new
00:54:52modern factory
00:54:53but were these
00:54:54her real feelings?
00:54:56Impossible to know
00:54:57with all interviews
00:54:58monitored by
00:54:59government minders.
00:55:04We're paid regularly.
00:55:05We never have to work
00:55:07after 9pm
00:55:08and the food
00:55:09is much better
00:55:10than anywhere
00:55:10I've worked before.
00:55:14In spite of
00:55:15the heavy presence
00:55:16in the wings,
00:55:17the girls
00:55:18gradually opened up
00:55:19and gave us
00:55:20a glimpse
00:55:20into their real lives.
00:55:27Jinli
00:55:27is from
00:55:28Jiangxi province,
00:55:29500 miles
00:55:30to the south.
00:55:31I'm working here
00:55:34to help my family.
00:55:36Where I come from,
00:55:37all we have
00:55:38is farming.
00:55:40Hong Yen
00:55:41is the veteran
00:55:41of the group
00:55:42at 22.
00:55:49I send all the money
00:55:53I earn back home
00:55:54to pay the school fees
00:55:55for my brother
00:55:55and sister.
00:56:01But what I earn
00:56:02is still not enough.
00:56:07Maybe I'd earn more
00:56:08in another country.
00:56:11And then
00:56:11Chiju opened up.
00:56:16I just wish
00:56:17the pay here
00:56:17was better,
00:56:18that the factory
00:56:19would be developed
00:56:20and improved.
00:56:22But at least
00:56:23it's better
00:56:23than the last place
00:56:24I worked in.
00:56:26When they were busy,
00:56:27we had to work on
00:56:28right through the night.
00:56:30Some of my friends
00:56:31just couldn't keep going
00:56:32and fell asleep,
00:56:33right there
00:56:34in front of the machines.
00:56:40The problems
00:56:41that workers face
00:56:42in China
00:56:42are not just
00:56:43low pay
00:56:43or long hours.
00:56:47Workers have
00:56:47no basic rights.
00:56:48They don't even
00:56:50have the right
00:56:50to negotiate
00:56:51with management.
00:56:53Now exiled,
00:56:55Handong Fan
00:56:56broadcasts
00:56:57a regular
00:56:58phone-in program
00:56:58to mainland China.
00:57:07Today,
00:57:08he's talking
00:57:09to workers
00:57:09who make sofas
00:57:10for a European company.
00:57:13When the workers
00:57:14recently protested
00:57:15a 20% wage cut,
00:57:17their leaders
00:57:17were beaten up.
00:57:19Now some of them
00:57:20are suffering
00:57:21severe health problems.
00:57:23We think it's a glue
00:57:24sprayed in the production process.
00:57:29The Chinese authorities
00:57:31have tried to jam
00:57:32these broadcasts.
00:57:33Hand is considered
00:57:34an enemy of the state.
00:57:36In 1989,
00:57:38he was elected
00:57:39to lead
00:57:40an independent
00:57:40trades union
00:57:41that set up headquarters
00:57:43in Tiananmen Square.
00:57:44When his face
00:57:45appeared on the TV
00:57:46wanted lists
00:57:47broadcast across China,
00:57:49he says he simply
00:57:50walked into a police station
00:57:52and said,
00:57:53here I am
00:57:54and I've done nothing wrong.
00:57:57Brutalized,
00:57:57kept in solitary
00:57:58and then forced
00:57:59to share a tiny cell
00:58:01with prisoners
00:58:01suffering from
00:58:02infectious diseases,
00:58:04Han nearly died.
00:58:07Workers in China
00:58:08are cheated,
00:58:09deceived,
00:58:10not fully informed,
00:58:11and they have no rights.
00:58:16All workers
00:58:17are facing
00:58:17the same situation,
00:58:19whether they are
00:58:20working in
00:58:20privately owned companies,
00:58:22foreign companies
00:58:22or reformed
00:58:23state-owned industries.
00:58:24no statutory pension,
00:58:28no compensation
00:58:29for injury,
00:58:31no sick pay.
00:58:33And because of
00:58:34the long hours,
00:58:35accidents can happen
00:58:36at any time,
00:58:37loss of fingers,
00:58:38even limbs.
00:58:42Another issue
00:58:43is the condition
00:58:43in which they work,
00:58:45handling toxic materials,
00:58:46breathing in toxic dust
00:58:48without any protection.
00:58:51These other people
00:58:52are losers
00:58:53in the China's
00:58:55economic growth.
00:58:58And the population
00:58:59of them are vast
00:59:00and they don't have
00:59:01a voice.
00:59:02They don't have
00:59:03anywhere to address them.
00:59:04They don't have
00:59:04a social mechanism
00:59:06to sort of
00:59:07advocate on their behalf.
00:59:11They don't have
00:59:12a government
00:59:12ever listen to them
00:59:14at all.
00:59:17Migrant workers
00:59:18arriving at the site
00:59:20of the main stadium
00:59:21for the 2008
00:59:23Beijing Olympics.
00:59:27It's highly unlikely,
00:59:29though,
00:59:30that any of them
00:59:31will be around
00:59:31to watch the games.
00:59:34Migrant workers
00:59:36are subject
00:59:36to strict residency laws,
00:59:39necessary prevention,
00:59:40in the government's view,
00:59:41against mass migration
00:59:42and the creation
00:59:44of urban slums.
00:59:45to remain here legally,
00:59:50migrants must live
00:59:51without their dependents
00:59:53in single-sex hostels.
00:59:55When the job is done,
00:59:56they must find another
00:59:57or move on.
00:59:59this system explains
01:00:03how China has been able
01:00:05to concentrate
01:00:06so much wealth
01:00:08and development
01:00:08in the cities,
01:00:09all these glittering buildings
01:00:11that you see everywhere,
01:00:12all this prosperity,
01:00:14order and cleanliness,
01:00:15because it has denied
01:00:17the very people
01:00:18who built this
01:00:20any enjoyment
01:00:21of the benefits
01:00:22of the cities.
01:00:23So they will come,
01:00:25contribute their work,
01:00:27get paid
01:00:27very menial,
01:00:29very minimal wages,
01:00:31but then
01:00:32they will have to leave
01:00:34or try to
01:00:35lie low
01:00:37in the city
01:00:38because they're not
01:00:38entitled
01:00:39to residency.
01:00:41Although there is
01:00:42no evidence of abuse
01:00:44on the Olympic sites,
01:00:45for construction workers
01:00:47elsewhere in China,
01:00:48it's a very different story.
01:00:50They go to a site
01:00:52and they work and work
01:00:53and they're not paid at all.
01:00:55They are given food
01:00:57because you need to eat
01:00:58before you can work.
01:01:00You know,
01:01:00it's hard labour,
01:01:01but they're not paid.
01:01:03The arrangement is that
01:01:05you'll be paid
01:01:06at the end of the year.
01:01:08Anita Chan
01:01:08has been researching
01:01:09working conditions
01:01:10inside China
01:01:11for 15 years.
01:01:13And if at the end
01:01:15of the year,
01:01:17either the boss,
01:01:18the construction company
01:01:21or the gang boss
01:01:23defaults on you,
01:01:25that means you're not paid.
01:01:27And that is so common.
01:01:31There have been cases
01:01:32of construction workers
01:01:33trying to commit suicide,
01:01:35trying to draw attention
01:01:37by going up to
01:01:38some construction sites
01:01:39and threatening
01:01:39to throw themselves down.
01:01:43A lot of these
01:01:44construction workers
01:01:45are working for
01:01:46the state sector,
01:01:47building government buildings.
01:01:51And in the end,
01:01:52it's the workers
01:01:52who are at the bottom
01:01:54of the heap,
01:01:57and so they're not paid.
01:01:59China's paradox now
01:02:01is that, you know,
01:02:02a larger quotient of people
01:02:03than at any time
01:02:04in the last 50 years
01:02:05have moved forward
01:02:07and are economically
01:02:07better off.
01:02:08But there's a huge number
01:02:10which have really stagnated.
01:02:11What you see in China
01:02:13is this pool of resentments,
01:02:16this growing pool
01:02:17of resentments
01:02:17from the Chinese underclass
01:02:19that is progressively
01:02:21spreading over China.
01:02:25There's a huge amount
01:02:27of tension.
01:02:28It's like a land
01:02:29of a thousand earthquake faults.
01:02:31And one of these faults
01:02:35is between the rich
01:02:36and the poor,
01:02:37between peasants
01:02:39and the party,
01:02:40between corrupt officials
01:02:41and the people.
01:02:49Time is running out.
01:02:51The level of unrest
01:02:52in China is rising.
01:02:54At the end of last year,
01:03:02the public security ministry
01:03:05declared the number
01:03:06of demonstrations
01:03:08was 74,000 nationwide.
01:03:12But the year before,
01:03:14it was 50,000.
01:03:16And this number
01:03:16is increasing.
01:03:17Get out!
01:03:18Get out!
01:03:19Get out!
01:03:20Get out!
01:03:21Get out!
01:03:21Get out!
01:03:24The figure for 2005
01:03:29has risen further
01:03:30to 87,000 incidents.
01:03:34All over China,
01:03:36the pressure is building.
01:03:37Here, peasants
01:03:38defending their land
01:03:39from takeover
01:03:40by a power company
01:03:41are beaten,
01:03:43stabbed,
01:03:43and shot
01:03:44by hired thugs.
01:03:49One incident
01:03:50in June of last year
01:03:52that happened
01:03:52to be recorded
01:03:53by a villager
01:03:54who was able
01:03:55to smuggle
01:03:56his tape out
01:03:56of the country.
01:04:00One incident
01:04:01in June 1989
01:04:03that happened
01:04:05to take place
01:04:06under the very noses
01:04:07of Western cameramen.
01:04:13The challenge
01:04:14of powerful images
01:04:15for an authoritarian state
01:04:17is enormous.
01:04:18How do you stop
01:04:20one person's example
01:04:21becoming an inspiration
01:04:23to others?
01:04:25How do you prevent
01:04:26the fire from spreading?
01:04:37Beidao.
01:04:38The University of Beijing
01:04:40and the most prestigious
01:04:41in all of China.
01:04:42In 1989,
01:04:44Beidao was the nerve center
01:04:46of the student movement
01:04:47that would inspire
01:04:49a popular uprising.
01:04:54Today's undergraduates
01:04:56enjoy all the benefits
01:04:57that have flowed
01:04:58into China A.
01:05:00Largely the children
01:05:01of the elite,
01:05:03they enjoy freedom
01:05:03of travel
01:05:04and a lifestyle
01:05:05many Western undergraduates
01:05:07might envy.
01:05:08But what do they know
01:05:11of their recent history?
01:05:13I'm going to try
01:05:15a little experiment.
01:05:18Show this picture around
01:05:19and tell me
01:05:20what that picture
01:05:21says to you.
01:05:23Pass them around.
01:05:24They were baffled.
01:05:41After a long silence,
01:05:43one of them whispered,
01:05:45Looks like some
01:05:46military ceremony.
01:05:49The boy whispered back,
01:05:5189.
01:05:5189.
01:05:54But the girl
01:05:56made no connection.
01:05:57Does it have any meaning
01:05:59at all?
01:06:04Well,
01:06:04I can see four vehicles.
01:06:09I'm not sure
01:06:10about the context.
01:06:15It might be a parade
01:06:16or something.
01:06:20I really don't know.
01:06:21I'm just guessing.
01:06:24I really can't tell anything
01:06:30from this picture.
01:06:33There's no context.
01:06:37Is this a piece of artwork?
01:06:39Did you make this up?
01:06:42Whatever they might have heard
01:06:43about 1989,
01:06:45it was clear
01:06:46that they had never seen
01:06:47the Tank Man picture.
01:06:48I think it's terribly tragic
01:06:50that Beijing University students
01:06:53who were at the forefront
01:06:55of the May 89
01:06:56democracy movement,
01:06:58several generations
01:06:59of students later
01:07:00have no conception
01:07:02of what happened,
01:07:03don't even know
01:07:05that this incident
01:07:05of the man in front
01:07:06of the tanks
01:07:07ever happened.
01:07:08Tragic indeed,
01:07:09but not surprising.
01:07:11The image was shown
01:07:12once in 1989
01:07:13on China television,
01:07:15rebranded as an example
01:07:17of the army's restraint.
01:07:18But the picture was quickly withdrawn
01:07:20But the picture was quickly withdrawn and never shown again.
01:07:48No one under 20 in China is likely to have seen it.
01:07:52One way the Chinese government has managed to control the dialogue and the discussion of the past is by controlling the media and publishing.
01:08:02And that it's done quite effectively.
01:08:05And it's no accident that this is an area that they are least willing to relent and to compromise in as these other rather amazing reforms go forward in the country.
01:08:18Any regime attempting to combine economic freedom with rigid one party rule is faced with a challenge.
01:08:32How do you allow in all the information necessary to keep a free market economy running while filtering out anything that contradicts the party line and undermines its authority?
01:08:44Press censorship is one thing.
01:08:46But China already has 111 million internet users, monitored by at least 30,000 internet police.
01:08:54For more sophisticated controls, China relies on Western technology.
01:09:01When we in the West search for images of Tiananmen Square on Google, photos of Tank Man pop up immediately.
01:09:10Move through the selection of 18 pages and Tank Man appears again and again.
01:09:16When people in China make the same entry on their Google search engine, they get just three pages featuring maps, architecture, cooking hints and smiling tourists posing in the square.
01:09:34But not one single image of the Tank Man.
01:09:38All the major IT companies in the West have not only embraced the Chinese market, they have bent over backwards to please the Chinese government.
01:09:49They have proposed to tailor their information system to fit the political censorship needs.
01:09:56Yahoo have very early on signed a self-censorship pledge.
01:10:01Google and others have followed.
01:10:04These companies are absolutely capable either of caving into the Chinese or worse, in the case of Yahoo and Cisco, just to take those two, of providing them with the technology to identify people and messages that the Chinese don't like.
01:10:21And we already know that at least one person, a person called Shi Tao, has been arrested in China because of this.
01:10:30Shi Tao was a journalist.
01:10:33His crime? Forwarding to a New York website Chinese government instructions on how their media should cover the 16th anniversary of the Beijing massacre.
01:10:44Yahoo supplied all the necessary information to the Chinese government,
01:10:49including the time the email was sent, the IP address, and the corresponding PC he used.
01:10:56Shi Tao was arrested and put in jail for 10 years.
01:11:04In February 2006, representatives of Yahoo, Google, Cisco and Microsoft appeared before a congressional committee accused of being accomplices of oppression.
01:11:17Leading US companies like Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Microsoft have compromised both the integrity of their product and their duties as responsible corporate citizens.
01:11:28We have determined that we can do the most for our users and do more to expand access to information if we accept the censorship restrictions required by Chinese law.
01:11:37Our decision to create a presence, any presence, inside of China was a difficult one.
01:11:42Self-censorship, like that which we are now required to perform in China, is something that conflicts deeply with our core principles.
01:11:50If this Congress wanted to learn how to censor, we go to you.
01:12:00The company that should symbolize the greatest freedom of information in the history of man.
01:12:07This was not something that we did enthusiastically or not something that we are proud of at all.
01:12:14No one had tougher questions to answer than Yahoo.
01:12:18Women and men are going to the Gulag and being tortured as a direct result of information handed over to Chinese officials.
01:12:25When Yahoo was asked to explain its actions, Yahoo said that it must adhere to local laws in all countries where it operates.
01:12:34The Xitao case. The facts of the Xitao case are distressing to our company, our employees and our leadership.
01:12:41When Yahoo China in Beijing was required to provide information about a user who we later learned was Xitao, we had no information about the identity of the user or the nature of the investigation.
01:12:57At the time the demand was made for information in this case, Yahoo China was legally obligated to comply with the requirements of Chinese law enforcement.
01:13:06My response to that is, if the secret police a half century ago asked where Anne Frank was hiding, would the correct answer be to hand over the information in order to comply with local laws?
01:13:22It is that aspect, direct cooperation between Western corporations and the Chinese police that is of greatest concern.
01:13:29China have a national program, so called Golden Share Program. It means try to upgrade and modernize the police control system.
01:13:42Posing as a provider of surveillance technology and database management, exile dissident Harry Wu contacted local police authorities across China.
01:13:50He says that time after time he was told he was too late. They already had the latest technology from the American corporation Cisco.
01:14:00Cisco signed a contract with the provincial security department one after the other one.
01:14:07In their proposal, they say very clear that we will help you make your work more effective.
01:14:20Patrol car to patrol car connection. Patrol car to police station connection.
01:14:26Include the voice identification.
01:14:31The image identification. The fingerprints identification.
01:14:35They're training Chinese police to control the country, control the people.
01:14:43Cisco declined an interview, but issued a written statement.
01:14:48Cisco sells identical products worldwide.
01:14:51It is the customer, not Cisco, who determines how the specific capabilities will be used.
01:14:57But Harry Wu wonders whether Cisco is violating the law.
01:15:01The Americans have the law since 1989, not allowed to sell any products to China about the detective or crime control.
01:15:15The law forbids the sale of any crime control or detection instruments or equipment to China.
01:15:21Cisco says that this means equipment such as shotguns, police helmets and handcuffs.
01:15:28Networking products are not covered by this legislation.
01:15:32Under pressure from Harry Wu and Congress, the administration and the State Department are now re-examining the rules under which technology companies should operate in China.
01:15:42But the technology is already there.
01:15:51It has helped make Tank Man disappear.
01:15:54And if another should emerge, that technology could facilitate a swift arrest.
01:15:59But in 1989, this lone defiance was an enigma, and the world's press wanted a name for the hero.
01:16:13After three weeks of speculation, news broke.
01:16:16He was named in an English Sunday newspaper as Wang Wei Lin, the 19-year-old son of a Beijing factory worker.
01:16:25Journalist Alfred Lee claimed that friends of the young man said they'd spotted him shaven-headed and paraded on state television.
01:16:34Following his world exclusive, Alfred Lee was congratulated by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the name he gave the Tank Man has been used by journalists and commentators ever since.
01:16:48I published the name Wang Wei Lin after speaking to three excellent contacts that I had in Beijing.
01:16:56These contacts were very close to what was happening in Tiananmen Square at the time.
01:17:01I knew that once his name had come into the public domain, the Chinese authorities wouldn't be able to do anything to him.
01:17:11They couldn't execute him. It would have brought outrage from the world.
01:17:18Experienced China journalists are deeply skeptical about the story and the name Wang Wei Lin.
01:17:24I didn't believe it because, you know, it's great to have a scoop, but if no one can follow it, if no one can match it, then it doesn't exist.
01:17:36None of the resident correspondents in Beijing, many of whom are fluent in Chinese and have many sources, many connections, all kinds of information, no one could match it.
01:17:46I also took into account that the journalist who reported the story was not a resident foreign correspondent in Beijing.
01:17:54Five days after Alfred Lee's story broke, the London Evening Standard cited American intelligence reports confirming that 19-year-old Wang Wei Lin was dead.
01:18:04The article was attributed to the Standard's Beijing correspondent, John Passmore.
01:18:11Do you recall that article?
01:18:13Not at all. And now you tell me that it was American intelligence sources.
01:18:17I know it couldn't have been me writing it because I didn't have any American intelligence sources.
01:18:22I had British diplomats who helped me, but not Americans.
01:18:26So you don't have any evidence that he was executed?
01:18:30No, I never knew who he was or what happened to him.
01:18:33I mean, is that usual? Because it's your name there.
01:18:36Is it usual that reports are attributed to a journalist but actually wasn't written by him?
01:18:42Oh, absolutely. It looks so much better if you've got a man out in Beijing and he's written this report.
01:18:48But the report may have come from anywhere.
01:18:50Sometimes it's done out there, sometimes it's done in the office.
01:18:53But I don't remember it, I'm afraid.
01:18:54Well, I remember cobbling a lot of stuff, but not this one.
01:19:00Do you think that's a comment both on China and on journalism?
01:19:05When access is forbidden, we fill the gaps.
01:19:09Oh, yes. Yes, you must have something to fill the gap.
01:19:11The Chinese have a saying, they call it news from the footpath.
01:19:14And it was the rumour mill.
01:19:16And, of course, Beijing was actually full of rumours.
01:19:19As for generations, I suppose, Chinese people had had their news from the next door,
01:19:23neighbour, because the government said it wasn't going to give them any.
01:19:27And, yes, this sort of thing would have gone round the city like wildfire.
01:19:30The honest answer, as far as the Tank Man is concerned, is that we don't really know who he was or what he was.
01:19:37And I think because of China, we'll probably never know.
01:19:40Probably not.
01:19:42I, um, followed the paper trail of the reports that appeared in the Western press, naming him as Wong Wei Lin.
01:19:51The reports that he'd been executed, I looked into these, and I just concluded at the end of that investigation that we actually had no idea what this man was called, what his real name was.
01:20:02And we had even less idea of what had happened to him. He'd simply disappeared.
01:20:08There's been only one crack in the wall of silence.
01:20:12In 1990, Jiang Zemin, the man who would soon be president of China, was asked point blank by Barbara Walters.
01:20:20What happened to the young man?
01:20:23I think this young man will be not killed by the Tank.
01:20:27No, but did you arrest him? We heard he was arrested and executed.
01:20:32Well, I can't confirm whether this young man you mentioned was arrested or not.
01:20:38You do not know what happened to him?
01:20:40But I think never, never killed.
01:20:45You think he was never killed?
01:20:46I think never killed.
01:20:47This was the last official statement ever made on the subject.
01:20:53Every year at the anniversary, I got phone calls, I have interviews requests, I have journalists, I have teachers, I have students, asking me, asking my organisation, where is him? Who is him? How is him now?
01:21:10But until now, today, I don't have an answer.
01:21:14For over a year, we also followed every lead, speaking to anyone who claimed to know the young man's name or his fate, until like those who had followed the trail before us, we came to understand that it is the mystery that gives the Tank Man his enduring power.
01:21:32He didn't need a name.
01:21:33He didn't need a name.
01:21:34He didn't need a name.
01:21:35He spoke for the masses, the many who had been silenced on June 4th.
01:21:44He was all of them.
01:21:46He didn't need a name.
01:21:48He still doesn't need a name, because the point he made, everyone got it, everyone heard it.
01:21:52It will endure long after this regime has become history.
01:21:58Our journey in search of Tank Man brought us face to face with that other great mystery, China itself.
01:22:06Can the leadership's great gamble of economic reform and political repression succeed?
01:22:11Or will the spirit of Tank Man inevitably rise again?
01:22:18The power of that story is not getting weaker because of the time, because we don't know who he is.
01:22:26It's actually getting stronger.
01:22:28That ultimate spirit of freedom will last longer than the strength of tanks and machine guns.
01:22:41In the long frame of history, it's the human freedom, courage, dignity will stay and prevail.
01:22:51That picture will testify that forever.
01:22:58NoMoreии
01:23:20NoMoreии
01:23:23Next time on Frontline, from behind the battle lines in Iraq, the inside story of the insurgency.
01:23:34Their strategy.
01:23:35Al-Qaeda is the main beneficiary of this war.
01:23:39Their tactics.
01:23:40They would bring in fighters, organize them into cells.
01:23:43And their internal divisions.
01:23:46Frontline takes you inside the Iraqi insurgency.
01:23:53To water Frontline's The Tank Man on videocassette or DVD, call PBS Home Video at 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
01:24:23chapter 5.
01:24:25The Tank Man on videocassette or DVD, call for actionator or DVD, call for actionator.
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