As a Canadian, living under martial law is unheard of. We simply do not have such situations that warrant martial law. After 30 years, I still have strong memories and impressions of living under martial law in Beijing, 30 years after the Tiananmen Square killings. Who wrote and rewrote what history is for others to debate. My impressions and memories remain intact, burned into my brain, forever.
As my Chinese teacher said to me in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square incident, history is fluid and can be rewritten. While he nor I believed this at the time, in China this is indeed true. With China’s sophisticated propaganda machine on full throttle, the perception of China, globally and domestically can be changed. This is how China works, and works very effectively.
I picked these up from a student protester on 6-4 after he was beaten up by soldiers
I have had these two mementos for a long time, 20 years, stashed away in an old box. The day after 6-4 I was at the military’s perimeter of the Square with a friend. A student beside me started chastising the soldiers. The soldiers grabbed him, threw him on the ground, beat him up and dragged him away. These two objects fell out of his pocket and I picked them up. Though I am not at all knowledgeable about guns, I knew these were shell casings.
