Speaking of tanks....

[Roughneck]

... it seems our "Lone Tank Protestor" of Tiananmen Square fame might actually still be alive.

If my Korean friend at a different forum is to be believed:

A few days ago, I found out in an newspaper article that the Chinese hero who stopped tanks in Tiananmen is still living. This is a very surprising news.

Tank Man, or the Unknown Rebel

He was known as an alias of Wang Wei-Lin (王维林). According to Mingbao (明报) and many HK and Taiwanese media, this guy was hidding in China for three years and seven months after the Tiananmen massacre and via Hong Kong successfully excaped to Taiwan in 1993 where he works as an advisor for Taiwanese National Museum (故宫博物馆) in Taibei.

According to news articles, he was the head of an archeological excavation team in Changsa, Hunan just before the Tiananmen massacre. In early June 1989, he went to Beijing to join the student demonstration with his colleagues. One man stand occurred a few day later.

Icon of the Struggle for Freedom

There has been a lot of rumors about him. Some sources said that he was executed by the soldiers just after the Tiananmen massacre. And other sources said that Jiang Ze-Min secretly ordered to his men to find and execute him. All these rumors have proven untrue now.

He has avoided contact with the media so far and is living quietly with his wife and 7 year old son in Taibei.

cheers,

 

[Count Fuckula]

I thought he'd been killed .. I can't ever forget the image of him in front of that tank in Tiananmen Square

 

[jdb67]

He has avoided contact with the media so far and is living quietly with his wife and 7 year old son in Taibei.

If I were he, I would be doing more then "living a quite life".....

I would be trying to get the fuck out of there!!!

 

[AFA]

I heard the story on the news a few months ago.

 

[Red Spyder]

Now that is bravery, to protest against the government in a country that does not have a first amendment, nor any of the other amendments (unlike some hippie wanna be's in this country). I used to have that picture on my desktop at work before they upgraded to new PC's on me.

 

[D-rock]

While that probably took a lot of bravery, I also think he was lucky the lead tank driver actually cared enough not to run over him. It isn't like anybody's opinion of China would have changed much if he did get ran over, even if it was broadcast on television.

 

[squallumz]

... it seems our "Lone Tank Protestor" of Tiananmen Square fame might actually still be alive.

If my Korean friend at a different forum is to be believed:



cheers,

if this is true, im actually quite pleased to hear this. how fucking honorable this man is.

 

[member006]

I thought he'd been killed .. I can't ever forget the image of him in front of that tank in Tiananmen Square

I had thought he had been killed also. I know what you mean about the image. Some visions just burn into the mind never forgotten. I am glad he is still around.

LL:angels:

 

[Iamforever]

I had thought he had been killed also. I know what you mean about the image. Some visions just burn into the mind never forgotten. I am glad he is still around.

LL:angels:

this is the first time ive seen this image. i had only heard about it. but, i know what you mean about never forgotten images.

 

[D-rock]

He was lucky, but he was right. He is a world hero, always will be. I wonder what happened to the footage of Iraqis that stood in front of American tanks rolling into Baghdad.

I think the Chinese were scared shitless. A billion people, and a revolution possible... I think they were scared shitless of what might happen if such a scene were broadcast somehow to the country... a spark to set off a billion strong explosion. Also, I think a lot of the Chinese military were on the side of the Chinese people, and so there's a good chance most tank commanders might have been reluctant to run him over.

He is a hero, and he never held a gun, or killed an innocent, and he was willing to die for what was right, trying to stop what was wrong. To me, that is a hero.

I think the Chinese military is decidedly on the side of the government, like the vast vast majority. Looking at history then and recently it isn't hard to see that. That is why I said it's a good thing the person driving the tank cared about going though him. Obviously all those soldiers that littered their fellow countryman with bullets before and after that didn't see it that way. I doubt the government ever got that scared. Why should it when it knows that whenever some small groups of dissidents pops up it can mow them down like so many blades of grass under a lawn mower. The billion-person revolt didn't happen. The people were ether too scared, too apathetic, or too brainwashed for that to happen. Today it's the same thing. For all he did nothing changed. I guess that is a perfect example of how passive resistance won't work against a regime that just doesn’t give a damn. Bravery and good intentions are just that, bravery and good intentions. They won't win for you. That would be about the equivalent to conducting a hunger strike against the Nazis because you didn't like their policies. Now if half a billion of the Chinese had personal rifles...then....the government might be worried.

 

[alexios]

I'm glad he's ok...and I've got to say, what he did took a huge amount of courage, complete devotion to the cause, and a lack of fear as well as selfishness. That's got to be one of the gutsiest things I've ever seen.