| Tiananmen Square Beijing |
| The 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square by the Chinese Army of hundreds of students and other pro-democracy demonstrators must not be forgotten. The Chinese Communist Party leadership, which still rules this country as a political dictatorship, refuses to take responsibility for these killings that it ordered. Let us remember the victims. |
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| The giant picture of Mao Zaedong, hanging on the Gate of Heavenly Peace, still presides over the huge square across the street. Both the gate and the square share the name Tiananmen, which means heavenly peace. There was no peace here in 1989, but all traces of the massacre were erased long ago. Police are visible in the square and anyone brave enough to protest the government is arrested. |
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| Here is the Gate of Heavenly Peace in a picture taken from Tiananmen Square in 1996. If you compare this with a similar photo on my highlights page taken in 1988, the main difference is the presence of all those cars above. As bikes give way to cars, the result has been massive air pollution in China, also due to heavy reliance upon burning coal. On this day in 1996 the smog in Tiananmen Square was so awful I could photograph it. |
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| In Tiananmen Square, this monument to Mao's revolution is surrounded by heavy smog. You can barely see the Gate of Heavenly Peace a short distance away. |
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| Much closer to the gate, this picture from the square shows little more than terrible smong. And I would encounter the smog again at the Great Wall and other parts of China. Air pollution has become a new monument to China's program of rapid modernization and economic development. |
| If you have a high speed internet connection, watch the Intrepid Berkeley Explorer's free film of this trip, "The Last Emperor's Home Video", by clicking on AdventurePics.com . |
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