Humanitarian China

Chinese residing in every corner of the globe, regardless of their political beliefs and ideology, know what happened at Tiananmen Square in 1989. During May and June each year, Chinese all over the world would hold activities commemorating the June 4th Democracy Movement of 1989. These activities have been going on for twenty years, of which the one held last year in Hong Kong was the largest in scale. Around 150,000 Hong Kong residents participated in the candlelight vigil in the Victoria Park.

"8964" has now become a proper noun with a historical implication. It brings a heart-breaking memory to many and is a taboo for those who cracked down on the Tiananmen Democracy Movement. This fact shows that people have not forgotten this important event in China's history, which is also a great event in the history of the world. The June 4th Incident was a tragedy, a massacre and a heart-breaking event. It will never vanish from our memory and will always be recorded in the human history.

As participants of the June 4th Movement taking place 21 years ago, we witnessed the massacre in Beijing with our own eyes. Year after year in the past two decades we recalled and commemorated "8964". This year our hearts are filled with special emotion. We cannot help sighing at the shortness of life and the insignificance of an individual in the face of complicatedness of things. At the same time we feel strongly that we must exert our utmost efforts in our mission to realize freedom and democracy in China. Only then we won't fail to live up to the martyrs, those under long-term harsh imprisonment and those who have lost their families and their youth for the noble cause.

The universe is in a human's heart and the history touches a human's emotion. When we watch with tender feelings the wounded resulting from the government crackdown on the June 4th Movement, we found the sorrows caused by the massacre are beyond words. Now those who were brutally murdered still cannot rest in peace and the perpetrators of the massacre have not been brought to justice. The tragedy did not end with the massacre. Right after that followed continuous political persecutions of those involved in the June 4th Democracy Movement, which have brought about countless tragedies. Among those suffering from the political persecution, the Tiananmen Mothers are known for their sorrows and sufferings. The mere mention of which would bring great uneasiness to anyone.

Besides, also well known are the Tiananmen Three Gentlemen from Hunan Province. They are Yu, Zhijian, Yu, Dongyue and Lu, Decheng. They were prophets. They knew very well that in order to change China it is imperative to bring an end to the one-party dictatorship. Mao's portrait hanging on the wall of the Tiananmen Gate is the symbol of the authoritarian system. With dauntless spirit and courage they threw paint-filled eggs onto that portrait of Mao, for which they were imprisoned for 8 years, 12 years and 18 years, respectively.

Twenty years after the Tiananmen crackdown, they were granted political asylum one after another from Canada and the United States, and have started their free life since. However, they are still in a difficult situation in terms of their material life even though now living in the land of freedom and prosperity of North America. They sacrificed their precious youth for the noble cause in China and had to leave for a new land completely strange to them. It is not hard to imagine the difficulty they have been experiencing.

Through the activities to commemorate the June 4th Democracy Movement of 1989 year after year, we have come to realize that there exists enormous power in the recollections of the great event. And this power can change reality and make a break-through, thus awakening the power lying deep in our hearts. We also believe that in our recollections there exists specific concern for those persecuted during and after the June 4th crackdown of 1989, and for these three young men of Hunan Province in particular.

Many Chinese in North America know the heroic deeds of Tiananmen Three Gentlemen, which were widely reported by the media around the world. The long period of twenty-one years has made us understand life, in which love warms our hearts, affection makes life eternal, and mutual-concern, commemoration, recollection and hope actually are inherently interconnected into one entity. We call upon everyone to come to help and care about Tiananmen Three Gentlemen, especially the two in hardship, Yu, Zhijian and Yu, Dongyue. When everyone gives them a hand, they are going to make it.