" Pro-democracy demonstrators sit in front of soldiers who are lined up."
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We interviewed a Chinese international student, Kaihua "William" Hou, about his knowledge of the Tiananmen Square incidents. William is an 11th grader who has studied at our school for the past two years. He and his family live outside of Beijing. To the left is a picture of William and below are clips from our interview:
What were you taught in China about the Tiananmen Square Incidents?
"Actually, in our history textbook, there is nothing about the Tiananmen Square, it is kind of a restriction in history, we are not allowed to talk about it."
Have you learned anything different about the incident since you have been in the United States?
"When you come to America you can easily search things. It will appear on Wikipedia, but in China, there’s really no easy way for us to get information on it."
What specifically did your teacher tell you about the incident and was your teacher of age to experience Tiananmen Square?
"She was an international student, so she went outside of the country and was able to get information on it. If she stayed in China, she would have never known."
Do you think the incident had any positive or negative effects?
Do you believe that citizens should have a right to protest against their government?
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We had the chance to interview a Chinese teacher, Yan Jin who was living in Shanghai, China during the Tiananmen Square Incidents. She gave her perspective on how the issues should have been solved,
What is your opinion on the students fighting for freedom?
Do you remember anything from the incidents? Also, did you hear any news or information that you were shocked or scared by because of how close it was to your home?
"I lived in Shanghai, another big city in China, the protests were happening in Beijing, the capital. At the time, there was no internet. The only information you can find is by newspaper and TV. So from the TV, actually most pictures were censored. They show the people are like a riot, very messy, and the true picture you can find on YouTube. I think YouTube would give you very shocking pictures about that and the government could really kill the people because it is a riot and they could kill the people who don't want to leave the Tiananmen Square. So I was very shocked and I think I remember that my dad cried and he said "It's so moved by the students who want to speak the the government. They have the courage and they refuse to eat to have the government pay attention to them, and very few people have this courage to do these things." Not only my father, my classmate also told me her father cried for the young kids, but finally it's done. It was a fail for the students because they don't have the military force to help them. So they tried to find the peaceful way to transform a dictator to a democracy without military force to help, it was very hard."
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I am not a person to easily be brainwashed, so I would think, is the government telling me the truth? |