Remembering Liberty's Flame

Sixteen years ago, the Chinese communist government sent in the tanks and troops to slaughter protesters who dared to want freedom. These Chinese built their own Statue of Liberty as a symbol of the liberty they were forbidden to enjoy. The tanks rolled and snuffed the flame of freedom with the blood of thousands. The Chinese government has had little to say in defense of this slaughter.

Some still remember:

China tightened security around Tiananmen Square on Saturday to prevent memorials on the anniversary of the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. But in Hong Kong, tens of thousands of protesters staged a candlelight rally.

Across the Strait, their are free Chinese and Taiwanese who know what those protesters in 1989 wanted.

In Hong Kong, there are Chinese who still remember what it was like to live free and who still try to defend it from the constant erosion by their Peking masters.

Are the lords of Peking right that a booming economy excuses mass murder and repression? Will the Chinese accept the satisfaction of xenophobic nationalism as a substitute for freedom?

Or will they again notice that they are not free? Will they notice that in Hong Kong, Chinese people try to live as if they are still free--and that the rump freedoms of Hong Kong are far greater than those on the mainland? Will the Chinese people notice that on Taiwan, Chinese people vote and protest and carry on like they are free people?

Sometimes I don't know whether I should worry about the communist Chinese or pity them for trying to hang on to their 20th century fascism when freedom is growing in the 21st.

One day, Tiananmen Square will be properly remembered on June 4th in China itself.