This year marks the 25th anniversary of the nationwide, student-led democracy movement in China, and the subsequent June 4th military crackdown in Beijing. CDT is continuing our series of original news articles from throughout tumultuous spring of 1989. On May 20, Premier Li Peng declared martial law, and in subsequent days, protesters thwarted the advance of troops into the city center. The May 23, 1989 New York Times reported that the Beijing government was scarcely able to function as crucial services were disrupted by the growing protests. Another New York Times story from the previous day chronicles the exodus of foreign news correspondents out of Beijing as the situation there became increasingly tense.
As the anniversary of the June 4th crackdown approaches, censors are more vigilant about blocking related sensitive words. CDT invites readers to compare a May 2014 list of blocked words on Weibo to those blocked in years past. CDT has also selected and archived our best posts commemorating June 4th from the past ten years.
Documentary filmmaker Ai Xiaoming posted an essay to her blog sharing her admiration and longing for idealistic friends facing prison sentences because of their political activism. CDT translated and published the essay here.
This week, the “Ministry of Truth” issued a directive prohibiting media outlets from reporting on increased security surrounding the May 20-21 CICA summit held in Shanghai.
Finally this week, CDT political cartoonist Badiucao portrays Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin as dotting lovebirds united by a $400 billion gas deal.
Last week, CDT published our second eBook, “Crazy Crab’s Chinese Dream,” a compilation of political cartoons from Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm, one of China’s foremost political cartoonists. The book is now available for download via Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play and in PDF.
