The world calls it Tiananmen Square. Orren Wang, who was a graduate student in Chengdu in the spring of 1989, wants you to know it was nationwide. Jenny Beth Martin asks whether he feared for his own safety that year, and he answers with the night the Party lost him.
State media had stopped reporting on the demonstrations in Beijing, but Wang had taught himself English off the radio and had been listening to Voice of America for five or six years. He wrote down what he heard and posted it on the campus bulletin board. On May 19, at about 11 PM, the premier came on television to declare martial law in Beijing. Wang and his classmates did not stay to hear the end of the speech. There were no buses at that hour and it was pouring, so they walked to the city square and chanted slogans until ten the next morning. He lost his voice for two weeks.
Then came June 4, when the army stormed Tiananmen Square. He calls the official toll a complete underestimate, and explains why a student in Sichuan who had been active for months was never arrested: the regime showed some leniency afterward, he had kept a low profile, and nobody knew his name. He also says why the Communist government almost fell that spring, and what the crackdown did to every public gathering in China for years after.
This is the account of a man whose father served the Party as a township official, and who walked out into the rain anyway.
Guest: Orren Wang, CPA, who grew up under communism in China, took part in the 1989 democracy protests in Chengdu, and came to the United States as a student in 1994.
In this segment:
• It's called Tiananmen Square, but it's nationwide
• Voice of America, English learned by radio, and the campus bulletin board
• May 19, 1989: martial law declared on television at 11 PM
• A whole night in Chengdu's city square in the rain
• Two weeks without a voice
• June 4: the army storms Tiananmen Square
• Why he calls the official toll a complete underestimate
• I could have been arrested: the leniency, the low profile, and the name nobody knew
Subscribe for daily analysis from Tea Party Patriots Action, and watch the full episode on The Jenny Beth Show channel.
Survivors of communism or socialism: tell Jenny Beth Martin your story at jenny.beth@teapartypatriots.org. Thirty-three days to Election Day: get out the vote at iwillsaveamerica.com.
jennybethshow.com
teapartypatriots.org
iwillsaveamerica.com
00:00 — Were you concerned about your own safety?
00:16 — I actually wasn't in Beijing: graduate school in Sichuan
00:35 — State media goes silent on Beijing
01:05 — Voice of America, and English learned by radio
01:52 — Posting the reports on the campus bulletin board
02:08 — May 19, 1989: martial law declared at 11 PM
02:59 — Chengdu's city square, in the rain, all night
03:52 — Two weeks without a voice
04:19 — June 4: the army storms Tiananmen Square
04:39 — The official figure, and what he believes
05:00 — How did you get to America? Two more years of school first
05:26 — I could have been arrested: the leniency, and the low profile
05:56 — Nobody knew me
#JennyBethShow #Tiananmen1989 #OrrenWang #SurvivingCommunism #Chengdu #MartialLaw #ChineseCommunistParty #China #Communism #TeaPartyPatriotsAction