Tiananmen at 30 Event Transcript Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University May 8, 2019 https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/panel-discussion-tiananmen-at-30/ Speakers: Hao Jian, Professor, BeiJing Film Academy Louisa Lim, Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne; Author, The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited Wang Dan, Founder and Executive Director of Dialogue China Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor of History, University of California Irvine Moderator: RoWena Xiaoqing He, Current Member, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton; Author, Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China [Michael Szonyi] - All right, good afternoon. Welcome to the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. My name's Michael Szonyi. I am the director of the Fairbank Center and it is my privilege to introduce today's session marking 30 years since the extraordinary events of May and June of 1989. While We have called today's session "Tiananmen at 30", of course these events occurred not Just at Tiananmen Square or even Just in BeiJing, but in cities all over China. These events culminated, as We all knoW, on June 4th, 1989 in a act of military suppression that took place also not only, or even primarily in the square itself but throughout the city and beyond. Anyone could have predicted that this year, 2019, would be a sensitive year for anniversaries in China. As Jiayang Fan Wrote in The New Yorker this week, for the CCP, "certain anniversaries teeter betWeen "the emblematic and the problematic." As things have unfolded, the year proved far more sensitive for far more anniversaries than We had anticipated. Problematic definitely outWeighed emblematic. Besides the 40th anniversary of the establishment of US-China relations, the 40th anniversary of the TaiWan Relations Act, here at the Fairbank Center We've held events including a commemoration of 40 years of reform and opening up Which we co-hosted and co-organized With the Unirule Institute of Economics and that event, We believe, proved to be one of the very last, if not the very last, public event for that very influential liberal think tank in China. We similarly commemorated the centenary of the May 4th Movement With a tWo-day conference organized by Professor David Wang. Some of you, like me, Were at that conference and I think many of us Who attended that conference were discouraged that, as one of our guests, Jeff Wasserstrom, pointed out in his long NeW York Times op-ed, a century after May 4th, a free and open discussion of that event and its significance remains impossible in China. As With May 4th, so too June 4th. But even in a year of sensitive anniversaries, there's something distinctive about the event We commemorate today because of course there are no commemorations at all of this event-- or no public commemorations of this event at all in China. This is an event that can only be spoken of outside of China. The Fairbank Center at Harvard is home for China studies in all forms, even, and in some Ways especially When the topic is sensitive. We value our commitment to intellectual freedom to pursue questions and research that others might Want us to avoid. It's our responsibility to hold events such as today's, both as an academic endeavor in the face of official suppression in China and as a mark of respect to those Whose lives Were taken or scarred by the events 30 years ago. The importance of our discussions on the CCP's relationship with the Chinese citizenry is only elevated by the context of other human rights crises that are unfolding in China today, in particular the current crisis in XinJiang, reinforces the importance of our persistent pursuit of truth in the face of repression. Let me Just say a couple of Words about the ground rules for today's event. I Will introduce our moderator in a moment and then ask her to introduce the panelists. Today's event is being recorded by the Fairbank Center for future broadcast. Please, for obvious reasons, we ask that there be no additional recording, no private recording on cell phones, and so on, and We Will come and ask you to stop if We observe that happening. In a break from the usual Fairbank Center practice, we will not ask those Who ask questions to identify themselves, so you are perfectly free to ask your questions anonymously and I should also add that Whatever form the ultimate broadcast takes, only the speakers will be recorded for broader distribution so you need have no fears on that score. Let me noW begin today's event by introducing our moderator, Professor RoWena He, currently a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, the author of a book, "Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China", a book Which she completed While she Was a postdoc here at the Fairbank Center. While also at the Fairbank Center, she created the freshman seminar, "Tiananmen in History and Memory", which was an extraordinarily successful and important course that she taught for five years, from 2010 to 2015. She is an old friend of the Fairbank Center. It's our honor to support RoWena's Work. So please Join me in Welcoming RoWena. - [RoWena] Thank you so much, Michael, and I Would like to thank the Fairbank Center for organizing the event. What Michael said Just noW, I'm sure many of us here, like Professor Shi Ruiping in the audience, Who had been in Tiananmen the Whole time in 1989, and Eddie, Who had been reporting for the Wall Street Journal in 1989, I'm sure it means a lot for us to be here today. Also, as Michael mentioned, We alWays have special rules When We organize events for the anniversary. All those years When I organized my student events I made that rule, and probably that's the reality We have to face: We care, We refuse to forget, but then We face all this fear even outside China, and that's a battle, a War against memory that we have been trying to fight against collectively, inside and outside China all these years. So I think that's exactly Why it's so important for us to be here today. Before I introduce the speakers, I also Would like to talk about someone Who has been very important supporting this Work all these years. He's my dear mentor, Professor Rod MacFarquhar, and every time he Would be sitting at the front, supporting and encouraging. He's been a role model for so many of us as Wang Dan told Diana at the dinner Just noW. And noW Rod is gone, but for those of us Who are determined to folloW his steps and his inspirations, we are going to pick up the job. It's hard, it's difficult, it's challenging, it's daunting but he alWays showed us that We should stand up for the principles and not just to understand the Chinese politics, to reconstruct history, but also care about the Chinese people, their lives and China's future. And When Rod, When I told him about this panel he Wrote me: "Excellent neWs." "No longer Will you have to do all the Work "to remember Tiananmen." And I am saving this message to remind myself. I knoW that Rod is not sitting in the front today, but his spirit is With us in this room as alWays. So I Would like to introduce our first speaker, Professor Hao Jian professor from the Beijing Film Academy. I'm sure it's particularly meaningful for Professor Hao Jian to be here today because five years ago, When he organized a private commemoration in his home in BeiJing, right afterWards, five of them Were detained and arrested and many of you, like Pu Ziqiang had lost his freedom after that event. So it's particularly meaningful for us to Welcome him today, to speak for us, freely and openly on this campus for the first time since 1989. Let's Welcome Professor Hao Jian. - [Hao Jian] I'm so glad that Professor Michael Szonyi updated the Chinese situation for you. The first sentence of my speech is, after 30 years, this is the first time to commemorate the June 4th incident in public, for me. I give my sincere appreciation to Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Thank you for holding this open discussion. Thank you to all of you, the audience. Today, I'm happy to have the opportunity to communicate With you and exchange some ideas. The Tiananmen massacre of June 4th, 1989 Was not only a vital milestone in Chinese history, but also a historical turning point for the end of the Cold War. The failure of the Communists Was a tragic example to people from Eastern European Communist countries. It also made people from all over the World knoW more about the violent nature of the Communist totalitarian regime. After 1989, We Chinese people bore immense pressure in every aspect of our social life. Many countries are moving toWards constitutional democracy and social Justice, but China is not. The June 4th incident also changed my understanding of the Chinese regime and my personal life. I Was at Tiananmen Square on June 3rd. Hearing the roar of armored trucks I Worked out of BeiJing Film Academy's tent. Later that night, a student Was shot doWn 20 meters in front of me. When We escaped out of Chang'an Avenue, We Were still chanting slogans and the Whole street Was permeated With smoke from smoke bombs.