A Real Protest at Tian' Anmen Square

Tian' Anmen Square. We have all heard about the student protests in the square in 1989 where the military "allegedly" killed innocent civilians, something the Chinese government vehemently denies.

Would you believe me if I told you that for the brief 1/2 hour we were in square today, a protester set himself on fire? Apparently this doesn't happen too often. The drama surrounding it was intense. Sirens, shouting, people running to see what was going on. I pulled out my video camera and only just started recording when our Chinese tour guide ran up to me and shouted, "no cameras! Put your camera away!"

Apparently the Chinese government doesn't want anyone recording things like this that "don't happen." A few minutes later I whipped it out again and got reprimended again.

"What will happen if I get caught?" I challenged.

"They could take you in and question you and make things difficult. It's just better not to. It's illegal to record things like that."

I certainly don't want to mess with the Chinese government so I put the camera away. (Incidentally when I went to download the video it wasn't there. I think the Chinese government erased it because I would never make a dumb mistake with my camera.)

I never actually saw the guy flare up. I did smell something awful burning, and saw the ambulance take him away. It was quite fascinating to witness something to random, something you might read about in a book. Our Korean tour guide said she's been to the square about 100 times and has never once seen a real demonstration. She said the protester would go to the hospital to get his burns treated and probably be tossed in the slammer for 5 years. The Chinese tour guide said that no one will know what happens to the protester- the Chinese government would never tell them.

It is interesting being in a communist country. In some ways they are moving away from it in the sense that they can work for private companies, but censorship still seems prominent, and freedom of speech is definitely not allowed. When we asked our Chinese tour guide about the student protests in 1989, he said, "we are told something different. We are told that the students killed the soldiers. We are told that the students were bad and their ideas were not right and that they were beating the soldiers." Notice he prefaced it with "we are told", not "this is what happened." (Someone should ask the government how unarmed students could so easily kill armed soldiers.) He also mentioned that for years dirt-poor China was told that they were rich compared to the Western world. It was only in the past twenty five years when Western movies came to China did they realize that this was a lie. There are other examples of this censorship, but alas, I have much to write about. I am not one for organized tours, but having a real local to talk to has been very interesting.

The Chinese who are poor and old and unemployable gather in parks and sing and dance and play music and cards to pass their time. It's such a neat sense of community. They have nothing, yet they seem very happy. It was -7 degrees today, probably colder with the wind chill, and as we were admiring the Temple of Heaven, we saw dozens and dozens having fun and laughing while dancing and playing games in the frigid weather. It's a reminder of the old, but true, cliche: happiness comes from within. I did get some neat video footage of this (and it actually worked) and hope to post it because it captures the culture beautifully.

We also saw the Forbidden City today and went to a tea house and some markets to shop. The days are jam packed full of things to do and see. A few times in busy areas our guide laughed and told us that some of the Chinese from rural provinces were pointing at us saying, "look, real foreigners!" Apparently the rural and poor parts of China have never seen "real" white people; only on television or the movies. If they happen to visit Beijing and see white people, it's a big deal for them. This was obvious today when a couple different times some Chinese people came up to us, laughing and gibbering, communicating to us through motions that they wanted their pictures with us. And they were so excited! It was amusing, really. Probably the closest I'll ever get to being famous.

On this note, you know how we think all Asians look the same? They all think we look the same. I would have thought with our different eye and hair colors that it would be different, but not so. Our tour guide informed us of this, and Meaghan and I have been mixed up several times. I know we look alike, but our hair is way different. They cannot tell us apart at all. Once someone even thought I was Lynae.

Our grand finale for the day was a stunning Chinese theatre show. It was like Broadway, but better, and for a quarter of the price. It was jam packed with Kung Fu-- real stuff as these guys are actually trained in a Kung Fu school. The lights, sets and costumes were spectacular. There was no singing as our Broadway shows have; rather all Kung Fu style dancing, real Kung Fu moves (hi-yah!), acrobatics and gymnastics. It was breathtaking. And for my guy friends, yes we saw them lay on knives, break wood over their heads, and even break a concrete slab that was laying on some guy's abs with a sledgehammer. It was beyond professional and highly entertaining. The Chinese know how to achieve perfection and defy the limits of the human body.

Well my time in Beijing has sadly come to an end. Tomorrow our wake up call is at 4:30am to catch an 8:00am flight back to Pusan. China has exceeded my expectations. It is so rich with culture and history. I think sometimes us North Americans tend to view it as communist, poor, cheap labor, full of people who speak in a language polar opposite to our own...but it's an amazing place. Probably one of the better countries I've been to. And Lynae and I conceded tonight that the food was even better than Thailand (yes, our Chinese guide has been ordering for us and the food is amazing, despite our original mishap on the first night). Happy New Year!