For China, national amnesia has become a ‘state-sponsored sport’. Memories of events deemed sensitive by the state are not just forgotten, they are winnowed out and selectively deleted.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China in December 2017.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Canada’s “progressive trade agenda” with China might have died in the Great Hall of the People earlier this month. But there’s now an opportunity for a serious reconsideration of the relationship.
We need to rethink how we frame discourse about Chinese students who speak out at universities – we seem to have forgotten that argument is a normal part of university study.
Bob Hawke on a 1984 visit to China. His government implemented policies which boosted Asian engagement.
National Archives
The Hawke government in the 1980s is widely considered to be the most competent and effective of recent years. Some may say this is not setting the bar terribly high, but the cabinet papers of 1988-89…
Amid clouds of teargas, the Hong Kong ‘Umbrella Man’ defies police attempts to end the protest.
Wikimedia Commons/Pasu Au Yeung
The haunting image of a masked protester defiantly hoisting two black umbrellas amid a cloud of tear gas flickered across global social media platforms in the seconds and minutes after the Umbrella uprising…
Jian’s case suggests the Chinese government is far from “opening up”.
R. Ian Lloyd/Flickr
Earlier this week, just three days before the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen Square democratic movement, Chinese-Australian artist Guo Jian was taken from his Beijing home by local police. He’s currently…
Peaceful protest was soon to turn bloody.
Lars Laamann
In the early evening of Saturday, June 3 1989, cycling with a couple of friends along the canal to the north of the Yonghegong temple, I witnessed a remarkable display of traditional Beijing folk music…
Chinese artist Chen Guang, a former soldier who served during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, has painted a series of works based on his experience.
Chen Guang/Internet Exhibition
June 4, 2014, marks the 25th anniversary of the bloody military crackdown to end student protests in Tiananmen Square. For weeks, global media coverage had highlighted the protesters’ concerns and greatly…
Most people know from daily experience that memories are vital for their sense of well-being. Memory is the bearer of lavish gifts. It strengthens our capacity for living in the present. Memory brings…
Hands up if you’re on Twitter.
EPA/Al-Masry Al-Youm
In the age of information, we no longer need to leave the house to shape democracy. We’re heading towards a world in which the traditional sites of protest are sitting alongside online forums, which are…
The army massacre of June 4, 1989, in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square should be remembered everywhere.
EPA/Michael Reynolds
An earthy citizen of a country led by politicians and journalists bugged by “boat people”, Chin Jin fits no standard categories. Now the foremost democrat in Sydney’s thriving Chinese community, he first…