In-DepthAsia-Pacific

Amid Crackdown, China’s Dissidents Fight to Keep the Spirit of Tiananmen Alive

Amid Crackdown, China’s Dissidents Fight to Keep the Spirit of Tiananmen Alive
Thousands of protesters mourn Chinese labor activist Li Wangyang's death, Hong Kong, June 10, 2012 (AP photo by Vincent Yu).

Editor’s note: The following article is one of 30 that we’ve selected from our archives to celebrate World Politics Review’s 15th anniversary. You can find the full collection here.

When NPR reporter Louisa Lim brought the iconic photograph of “Tank Man”—the young Chinese man who stood before a column of tanks on June 5, 1989, just one day after the massacre at Tiananmen Square—to the campuses of four prestigious universities in Beijing, only 15 of the 100 students she randomly interviewed could identify the picture.

In her book, Lim wrote:

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