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

[RacerX1128]

I heard a rumor that the guy was just absent-mindedly crossing the street and all of a sudden he looks up and this tank is in front of him. he didn't know what to do so he just stood there.......NOT

[dfwgator]

I remember listening to Radio Beijing English service live when the announcers denounced the crackdown, then the next hour they were replaced with another announcer towing the Party line.

I wonder whatever happened to that brave announcer?

[admiralsn]

I used to use him as an example of just that to my HS Government students. Does anyone know how old he was then/is now? I know he was in college, but I wondered an exact age. He should be close to my age.

I asked my students once to imagine themselves in just a few years, standing in front of a line of tanks, willing to die for what they believed in. I don't think any of them really grasped the concept. I don't know that I really did at the time it happened.

[Incorrigible]

Thanks for the news!!

I don't think most Americans understand just how big Tiananmen Square is. When you look at a map of Beijing, it's not apparent that the blocks are nearly 4 times as large as a typical American city block and thus Tiananmen Square seems relatively small.

By my first trip to Beijing in 1996, all was cleared up.  It was the first time I learned about "hot-bed" homes that essentially required those that lived in the house to be out of the house for 2/3rds of the day so others could sleep in the beds they had just been in.  It was then I understood why such a large place like Tiananmen Square was always crowded no matter what time of the day I was there.

In 1996, the count-down clock for the hand over of Hong Kong was erected over one of the government buildings lining the square which made walking on the concrete slabs (many of which I learned had been replaced to remove evidence) a bit surreal.

I correspond with colleagues in China frequently.  We discuss technology, not politics but life seems better for those I'm in contact with.  Is it working out to our benefit though?

 

[StJacques]

". . . Does anyone know how old he was then/is now? I know he was in college, but I wondered an exact age. He should be close to my age. . . ."

admiralsn, you know as much as I do right now. Until I saw this article I thought he was a Beijing University Student, probably at graduate level, in 1989. I would have put him between the ages of 22 and 24 then, so he would be about 39 to 41 right now. But the accuracy of that calculation on my part is really dependent upon how good my original guess is, and who knows?

And I like your idea of presenting him to your students as you described. This guy really demonstrates what it means to be a man.

[neutronsgalore]

"I wonder whatever happened to that brave announcer?"

Very likely his carbon remains are decorating the inside of a crematorium.

[neutronsgalore]

"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."

Probably received a 7.62 Tokarev pat on the back. Or the skull most likely.

[neutronsgalore]

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

Or to allow the hard-liners to discover all of the sympathetic weak-links in the govt and military, so they could be eliminated. One of the things many people wondered about was why more reliable troops that were just as available weren't used until later. Finding out potentially "traitorous" govt officials and military personnel I'm sure held a higher priority than nabbing Tank Man.

[CDB]

And don't forget that the guy to Zhao's immediate LEFT (the guy in the dark "Mao suit" is none other than the PRC's current Premier, Wen Jiabao--one the the biggest political opportunists in modern history.

[beezdotcom]

According a professor who claimed to be his friend, he was the captain of the Mawangduei Archaeology Team of Changsha, Hunan

That explains it...CAPTAIN of the archaeology team. That WAS kind of an "Indiana Jones' thing to do, wasn't it?

[chae]

I was twelve when this happened. I remember not understanding why America wasn't helping these people who just wanted to live like we do. I'm 29 now, and I still don't understand.

[Danae]

WONDERFUL!

Blessings upon him and his family for eternity! What Courage!

[sawmill trash]

" If the next uprising breaks out, it would be far larger than TAM Uprising "

WHEN the next uprising breaks out.

It's only a matter of time before that many people get a belly full.

[Catholic Canadian]

Couldn't have said it better.

[cvq3842]

God bless him.

[an si quau]

The "tank man" deserves all credit for being an inspirational human being possessing both a backbone and a conscience, and willing to use both. Too bad the world doesn't know about another "tank man," Republic of Viet Nam Marine Sergeant Huynh Van Luom. During Hanoi's 1972 blitzkrieg offensive an NVA armor column was about to cross the Dong Ha bridge. Had it crossed the river (a la "Saving Private Ryan" final scene) Hue, Da Nang and all of Military Region I would have been in jeopardy. Sgt. Luom stood on the Dong Ha bridge, faced down the lead NVA tank which was not about to stop, and disabled it with M-72 LAW antitank missle. No reporters were there. Sgt. Luom's act was one of incredible defiant courage; he was at far more risk than the Tiananmen "tank man," yet he remains unknown to the poorly informed US public.
The injustice in all this is disgusting.

[Skooz]

I happy to hear tank man well.

Impressed he archeologist.

He inspire. Brave man.

[Brucifer]

Probably uses a solid titanium wheelbarrow to carry those cajones around.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

I always wondered what had happened to him. One of the great, largely usung heroes of the last 100 years. Proof that the "Little guy" can win in the end.

[Spktyr]

Horatius at the bridge....