China: 'Tank Man', the Tiananmen Hero...Alive in Taiwan(All Hail to Tank Man!)

Yonhap News (via daum.net) ^ | 06/04/06 | Chung Joon-ho

[TigerLikesRooster]

/begin my translation

'Tank Man,' the Tiananmen Hero...Alive in Taiwan  

 

(Hong Kong= Yonhap News) Chung Joon-ho reporting = The  whereabout of the man who blocked tank (column) during Tiananmen Democracy Protest in 1989 and had become the symbol of the democracy movement has been finally uncovered. His name is Wang Weilin .

Ming-bao of Hong Kong reported on June 4th that Wang escaped to Taiwan fleeing from Chinese authorities' dragnet at the time, and is currently an adviser (on ceramic artifacts and antiques to) Taiwan's National Palace Museum in southern Taiwan.

On June 5, 1989, Wang stood in front of (a column of)  4 tanks entering Tiananmen Square, blocking its advance,  whose photo turned himself into a symbol of the uprising, but had disappeared since then, his whereabout remaining a mystery.

The world media which published the photo all lauded his courage, calling him the great hero of 20th century.

 There has been a rumor that Jiang Zemin who inherited power after the Tiananmen Uprising gave confidential order to track down Wang Weilin and executed him in secret, but it turned out to be false in the end.

 

According a professor who claimed to be his friend,  he was the captain of the Mawangduei Archaeology Team of Changsha, Hunan(my note: Mawangduei is the site of well-known ancient tombs) in early June 1989 when  the pro-democracy demonstrations broke out in the Chinese capital.  He traveled with a union group to Beijing to take part.

Wang Weilin became the member of Beijing Worker's Self-governing Association. On June 5th, he blocked a column of advancing tanks. Afterwards, he escaped Beijing with the help of his colleagues, and hid at some other locations for three years and seven months.

 

Wang Weilin is (not a real name but) an alias he used while working at the archeology team.

After arriving in Taiwan via Hong Kong, he got married there. While he is not in good health, he nevertheless insisted he wanted to convey to Chinese people the ideal of democracy and freedom by revealing his whereabout.

Wang Dan, one of the ring leaders of student movement at the time, proclaimed on the 17th anniversary of Tiananmen Uprising, "The memory of Tiananmen Uprising may be fading, but I am convinced that the day will come when the meaning of Tiananmen Democracy Uprising would come alive again."

Wang Dan was jailed for 10 years after the uprising, and later took political asylum in U.S. in '98. He is now pursuing Ph.D. degree in History at Harvard University. He is still active in promoting democracy and human right in China, including going on hunger strike at the anniversary every year. 

Wang Jun-tao, who also led the democracy protest and a member of Communist Youth League along with Wang Dan, was arrested in '91 for conspiracy to overthrow government, and sentenced to 13 years in prison, and jailed. He went to U.S. in '94. He got his Ph. D. degree at Columbia University recently, according to Asia Weekly. 

jooho@yna.co.kr

 

/end my translation

[Wuli]

It was not the size of his "balls" but the size of his conviction at that moment - that "taking a stand" at that moment was worth risking his life. Many others in Tianamen Square did similarly that day and paid with their lives.

I was in a small Chinese language book store in New York City that day. The staff had little time for the customers. Everyone was listenting to a radio or watching a TV, while talking on a telephone to someone in China, letting them know what was really going on. It was as much as "being there" as was ever possible for me.

You could see and hear the mixture of profound anguish and profound hope in the faces and voices of the Chinese staff as they spoke to their compatriots in China. None of the customers or visitors attempted to turn the staff to conducting the business of the store. No one seemed to miss the fact that something much more important was going on.

[texianyankee]

"I hope it is true. I want to see more confirmation."

Same here. It's hard to believe the ChiComs would let him slip through their claws.

[Valin]

FANTASTIC!
I pray Wang Weilin has a long and happy life.

[Ben Hecks]

According to their website, the National Palace Museum has a southern branch.

http://www.npm.gov.tw/index.htm

[Cinnamon]

how do we know if this is the same man and not a plant by the Commies? *takes red pill*

[AJFavish]

http://www.allanfavish.com/tian.htm

ARMY TROOPS FIRE ON BEIJING CROWDS

by

Allan J. Favish

[This letter to the editor was first published in the Los Angeles Times on June 10, 1989, part II, at page 9. The letter was in response to the Tian An Men massacre by Communist Chinese troops.]

Dear Editor:

Seeing the televised excerpts of demonstrations at the various communist Chinese embassies and consulates throughout the United States, I noticed that the demonstrators appear to be almost exclusively people of Chinese descent. This disturbs me. Although the fight for freedom in communist China is primarily the responsibility of the Chinese people, it is a fight that should be actively supported by all people who cherish freedom.

Personally, I believe that if freedom-loving Chinese citizens are willing to take a bullet in the back at Tian An Men Square, the least I can do is demonstrate in support of their cause in front of the Chinese consulate on a safe street in Los Angeles.

On June 4th I was one of the relatively few Caucasians at the demonstration in front of the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles. A makeshift memorial was assembled consisting of candles, flowers and a makeshift coffin. As I stood near the coffin, a young man of Chinese descent, wearing a black shirt, approached the memorial. On the back of his shirt was the color photograph that appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times showing the Goddess of Democracy statue in Tian An Men Square with the large picture of Mao in the background. After leaving a flower near the candles, the young man placed a small American flag on the coffin and quietly walked away.

My eyes were filled with tears.

Regards,

Allan J. Favish
http://www.allanfavish.com

[Coyoteman]

Interesting, he is an archeologist.

Archaeologists are more than just pretty faces!

[Right Brother]

LET'S NOT FORGET 'OUR' TANK MAN

[AJFavish]

PBS" Frontline Show: "The Tank Man" viewable online at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

[FreeReign]

The were a few Chinese government officials sympathetic to the protestors at that time. Just enough anyway to make the government's reponse disorganized.

Would tank man have gotten away alive without General Secretary Zhao Ziyang.

[FreeReign]

The (should be)--> There

[Joe Boucher]

NOpe, just continue to let the haves have more rights say whe4n they run over peasants.

[VOA]

Interesting, he is an archeologist.

Well, he won't be doing any big digs.
But he is probably busy with those gazillion artifacts that the
Nationalists boxed up and shipped to Taiwan ahead of the Communists.
I forget the travel show, but they showed the museum that displays only
a small fraction of the total artifacts.

[Libertina]

Precisely, I was just about to bring up a map to clear the fogginess. I lived in the mountains near the National Palace Museum, and it was Northern Taiwan, not Southern.

[staytrue]

I would like to know more about the tank driver who refused to run the guy over. I think that took just as much courage as he may be in deep doo doo.

[bvw]

Amen to that.

[tallhappy]

Apart from tanks, I wonder what else this guy eats for breakfast.

Sa bin you tiao.

[tallhappy]

National Place Museum is in Taipei. They are building a new southern branch in Taibao Chiayi.

There are so many works that they are never even close to all being displayed. And, most are stored in central Taiwan in a huge underground climate controlled bunker.

A new branch will allow more to be exhibited.

[Libertina]

Thanks TallHappy...suppose he won't be working at the same place now. But cheers to his conviction and courage.

[taxed2death]

He's certainly got a set of brass ones...