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Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China
In the spring of 1989, millions of citizens across China took to the streets in a nationwide uprising against government corruption and authoritarian rule. What began with widespread hope for political reform ended with the People's Liberation Army firing on unarmed citizens in the capital city of Beijing, and those leaders who survived the crackdown became wanted criminals overnight. Among the witnesses to this unprecedented popular movement was Rowena Xiaoqing He, who would later join former student leaders and other exiles in North America, where she has worked tirelessly for over a decade to keep the memory of the Tiananmen Movement alive.
This moving oral history interweaves He's own experiences with the accounts of three student leaders exiled from China. Here, in their own words, they describe their childhoods during Mao's Cultural Revolution, their political activism, the bitter disappointments of 1989, and the profound contradictions and challenges they face as exiles. Variously labeled as heroes, victims, and traitors in the years after Tiananmen, these individuals tell difficult stories of thwarted ideals and disconnection, but that nonetheless embody the hope for a freer China and a more just world.
This moving oral history interweaves He's own experiences with the accounts of three student leaders exiled from China. Here, in their own words, they describe their childhoods during Mao's Cultural Revolution, their political activism, the bitter disappointments of 1989, and the profound contradictions and challenges they face as exiles. Variously labeled as heroes, victims, and traitors in the years after Tiananmen, these individuals tell difficult stories of thwarted ideals and disconnection, but that nonetheless embody the hope for a freer China and a more just world.
- GenresChinaNonfiction
236 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 29, 2020
看完了这本在豆瓣不会有条目的书。很多很多的感慨，想谢谢作者何晓清老师。记得在九月的一个讲座上她说，“做这个题目是很孤独的，我也一直处于恐惧之中……可是像每年维多利亚的烛光……有一些东西是机枪和坦克无法crash的”。我希望我也可以这样，即使无法远离恐惧，也可以坚韧，不要忘记，不要停止抗争。
她讲到哽咽时，沉默了一会儿，背起了北岛的诗，她平静的面容和哀戚的目光让我难以忘记。
「我是人
我需要爱
我渴望在情人的眼睛里
度过每个宁静的黄昏
在摇篮的晃动中
等待着儿子的第一声呼唤
在草地和落叶上
在每一道真挚的目光上
我写下生活的诗
这普普通通的愿望
如今成了做人的全部代价」
——《结局或开始——献给遇罗克》北岛
她讲到哽咽时，沉默了一会儿，背起了北岛的诗，她平静的面容和哀戚的目光让我难以忘记。
「我是人
我需要爱
我渴望在情人的眼睛里
度过每个宁静的黄昏
在摇篮的晃动中
等待着儿子的第一声呼唤
在草地和落叶上
在每一道真挚的目光上
我写下生活的诗
这普普通通的愿望
如今成了做人的全部代价」
——《结局或开始——献给遇罗克》北岛
July 20, 2020
It took me several months to finish this book. It was not because of the length, but because of the topic itself. Sometimes, I did not feel like reading it.
The text offers three different accounts on the after-Tiananmen experience. The three exiles recollect memories about that very day in a similar way, but how they felt about it during the years to follow is notably unique. To me, this was the most appealing aspect of the book.
The text offers three different accounts on the after-Tiananmen experience. The three exiles recollect memories about that very day in a similar way, but how they felt about it during the years to follow is notably unique. To me, this was the most appealing aspect of the book.
June 28, 2019
my favorite quote - "ironically, we became the best illustration of the two central themes in Communist education - 'sacrifice' and 'idealism'."
i read this book after attending an event at my school commemorating thirty years after tiananmen. the author was one of the invited speakers, and her talk was incredibly moving. overall, i found the event, and this book, to be an important and timely reminder that we are all part of something larger than ourselves. it humanizes the movement and sheds light on important history that has been tragically erased. i also greatly appreciate the author's acknowledgement of her own subjectivity and her honesty about the inevitable shortcomings of a book written on this topic and in this format. her passion and dedication truly shines through. i would definitely recommend this to those interested in reading Chinese history from personal perspectives.
i read this book after attending an event at my school commemorating thirty years after tiananmen. the author was one of the invited speakers, and her talk was incredibly moving. overall, i found the event, and this book, to be an important and timely reminder that we are all part of something larger than ourselves. it humanizes the movement and sheds light on important history that has been tragically erased. i also greatly appreciate the author's acknowledgement of her own subjectivity and her honesty about the inevitable shortcomings of a book written on this topic and in this format. her passion and dedication truly shines through. i would definitely recommend this to those interested in reading Chinese history from personal perspectives.
January 26, 2016
"Milan Kundera describes the struggle of man against power as the struggle of memory against forgetting. Tiananmen as a forbidden memory did not end in 1989. It has never ended. 1989 was just the beginning of an end."
Interesting insights into Tiananmen through interviews. All are insightful some raise questions about changes in recent years.
Yi Danxuan - "[Undergraduate Curriuclum in the United States] ...is more comprehensive, deeper, allows more choices, and is more up to date. And of course you have more personal freedom when attending schools here."
Interesting insights into Tiananmen through interviews. All are insightful some raise questions about changes in recent years.
Yi Danxuan - "[Undergraduate Curriuclum in the United States] ...is more comprehensive, deeper, allows more choices, and is more up to date. And of course you have more personal freedom when attending schools here."
October 30, 2019
**Warning: this text may contain spoilers** "It is true that I am free here. But knowing that people who shared the same experience as I did are still being imprisoned for what they say and write, I can't be happy here, either. I hope I can be a free man---to live a normal life with normal freedom in the land where I grew up."
-Yi Danxuan
"When I was forced ro remove my black armband in 1989, I thought that would be the end of it. Bodies had been crushed, lives destroyed, voices silenced. They had guns, jails, and propaganda machines. We had nothing. Yet somehow it was on that June 4 that the seeds of democracy were planted in my heart, and the longing for freedom and human rights nourished. So it was not an ending after all, but another beginning." -Rowena Xiaoqing He
----------------------------------------------------------
Dropped by my local library just to study, no plans picking up a single book. After personal business, "Tiananmen Exiles" caught my eye and I decided to borrow it. I have no regrets reading. I would really like show gratitude to author Rowena Xiaoqing He for this wonderful book that made me sympathize for the survivors of Tiananmen.
-Yi Danxuan
"When I was forced ro remove my black armband in 1989, I thought that would be the end of it. Bodies had been crushed, lives destroyed, voices silenced. They had guns, jails, and propaganda machines. We had nothing. Yet somehow it was on that June 4 that the seeds of democracy were planted in my heart, and the longing for freedom and human rights nourished. So it was not an ending after all, but another beginning." -Rowena Xiaoqing He
----------------------------------------------------------
Dropped by my local library just to study, no plans picking up a single book. After personal business, "Tiananmen Exiles" caught my eye and I decided to borrow it. I have no regrets reading. I would really like show gratitude to author Rowena Xiaoqing He for this wonderful book that made me sympathize for the survivors of Tiananmen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2020
看完了这本在豆瓣不仅没有条目，连一个字也不让评论的书。很多很多的感慨，想谢谢作者何晓清老师。记得在九月的一个讲座上她说，“做这个题目是很孤独的，我也一直处于恐惧之中……可是像每年维多利亚的烛光……有一些东西是机枪和坦克无法crash的”。我希望我也可以这样，即使无法远离恐惧，也可以坚韧，不要忘记，不要停止抗争。
她讲到哽咽时，沉默了一会儿，背起了北岛的诗，她平静的面容和哀戚的目光让我难以忘记。
「我是人
我需要爱
我渴望在情人的眼睛里
度过每个宁静的黄昏
在摇篮的晃动中
等待着儿子的第一声呼唤
在草地和落叶上
在每一道真挚的目光上
我写下生活的诗
这普普通通的愿望
如今成了做人的全部代价」
——《结局或开始——献给遇罗克》北岛
她讲到哽咽时，沉默了一会儿，背起了北岛的诗，她平静的面容和哀戚的目光让我难以忘记。
「我是人
我需要爱
我渴望在情人的眼睛里
度过每个宁静的黄昏
在摇篮的晃动中
等待着儿子的第一声呼唤
在草地和落叶上
在每一道真挚的目光上
我写下生活的诗
这普普通通的愿望
如今成了做人的全部代价」
——《结局或开始——献给遇罗克》北岛
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews