San Francisco’s Tiananmen memorial has been in the park for nearly 30 years now, and many people in the community view it as a symbol of resilience and hope, as well as a reminder that Americans must not take freedom and democracy for granted.
China has also reportedly undertaken efforts to interfere with Chinese Americans’ speech and political activity. These accusations remain unconfirmed for the time being, but they’re consistent with the CCP’s past opposition to the statue, as well as other documented efforts by Beijing to influence democratic governments around the world. According to the source, CCP surrogates are pushing for the Goddess of Democracy statue to be removed for the renovation project-and not returned after the renovations are complete. The sculptor, Thomas Marsh, claims that several weeks ago a source with knowledge of city government contacted him about the upcoming plan to renovate Portsmouth Square Park. The event united Americans and their tradition of defending democratic values with the Chinese people and their desire for freedom.īut the statue’s days in San Francisco may be numbered if Beijing gets its way. Present at the unveiling were Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Frank Wong, founder of the Chinese Democracy Education Foundation, and seven of the “21 most wanted” student leaders from Tiananmen Square. The resulting public outcry against China ensured that the bronze statue would indeed rise in the park, and it was eventually dedicated there on June 4, 1994, the fifth anniversary of the massacre. It was soon revealed that the Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco had been trying to strong-arm the city government into dropping its plans to place the statue in such a prominent location. In July 1989, despite near unanimous local support for erecting a re-creation of the demonstrators’ Goddess of Democracy statue, the effort suddenly faced internal obstacles within San Francisco city government. But the effort to erect the statue was not easy, thanks to Beijing’s pushback. This was a remarkable effort by Americans to help preserve the memory of one of the most important events in modern Chinese history. In 1994, a replica of the Tiananmen Square Goddess of Democracy statue was installed in Portsmouth Square Park in San Francisco’s Chinatown to honor the pro-democracy movement. In other countries, however, memorials abound, including in the United States. This has allowed the CCP to maintain its grip on power and control the narrative of Chinese history. The government’s censorship has prevented many young Chinese people from learning about the events, creating a generation that is largely unaware of what happened in Beijing in 1989.
The effects of the CCP’s efforts to erase the memory of Tiananmen Square are profound. In fact, no one knows who the Tank Man was or what has become of him. The famous “Tank Man” images, which captured the moment when a lone protester stood in front of a line of tanks, have been scrubbed from Chinese history books and are never shown in public exhibitions or media. The CCP has also attempted to erase the physical symbols of the massacre. It also continues to prohibit any public gatherings or protests related to the event and arrests and punishes those, including the Tiananmen Mothers, who attempt to commemorate the protests and crackdown or seek to hold the government accountable for its violent actions. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censors the Internet, blocks social media sites, and bans any public discussion or reporting on the incident. In China, suppression of any discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident is swift and thorough. That brutal campaign to erase any memory of the protests continues today-not just in China but also in the United States and other countries where statues and memorials may be found. The regime destroyed the statue and many other symbols of the movement, and killed an untold number of students and civilians. On June 4, 1989, the Chinese regime launched a brutal crackdown against the protesters. It symbolized the desire of the Chinese people for freedom, democracy, and human rights and soon became a focal point for demonstrators. On May 30, 1989, pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square erected a large statue, called the Goddess of Democracy, that resembled New York’s Statue of Liberty.
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