I sidestepped a motor scooter and the Red Guards conducted an orgy rise into the mist. The Chinese call
two bicycles and found haven on the of killing and destruction, the the skyscrapers “cloud scratchers.”
sidewalk. Then I looked behind me people still revere him, though not “Where were you? I thought
at a massive painting of Mao Tse- as much. Mao’s portrait no longer is you were lost,” I heard a voice say.
tung gazing stoically across Beijing’s everywhere, and his little red book, I turned to see our Chinese tour
Tiananmen Square. The Thoughts of Chairman Mao, is guide, Fred, holding a wand above
As the light turned red and traf- far down the list of bestsellers. his head with the Viking River
fi c came to a halt, I looked at the Cruises’ fl ag. Fred was a slender
spot in the street where I had stood Yes, China has changed. man of 40 years with a burr haircut,
and imagined a lone, unarmed man Thousands of Chinese stroll the and he was wearing a pink shirt
standing there defi antly in front of now-peaceful square taking pictures with a Viking logo. “You need happy
a column of Chinese tanks. “Why of the towering Monument to the time?” he asked. Our group of 27
are you here?” he reportedly asked American travelers quickly learned
before he was pulled aside by several
pro-democracy demonstrators. This
China has seven
happy time meant a restroom break.
rebellion ended in the 1989 Tianan-
different languages
“I have a question,” I said. “Dur-
ing the student revolution in 1989,
men Square massacre, in which more and 80 dialects, were you shown the photograph
than 2,000 students, intellectuals,
with Mandarin the
of a man confronting a line of
and labor activists died (though the
Chinese government’s offi cial report
most widely spo-
government tanks?”
listed 200 dead).
ken language, and
Fred eased back a step. “Oh, that’s
very sensitive,” he replied. Finally,
As the light turned green and all seven languages he said, “The picture has never been
traffi c churned forward, I pondered
use the same written
printed or shown on Chinese televi-
the irony of the square’s name: Ti-
characters (40,000
sion. Foreign newspapers and CNN
ananmen means “heavenly peace.”
I could see Mao’s mausoleum,
of them).
and BBC are still not allowed.”
“Perhaps someday that too will
where crowds still shuffl e past his change,” I said. When Fred didn’t an-
embalmed body in its crystal sar- swer, I added, “I feel that one day they
cophagus. Despite the disasters he People’s Heroes, a granite obelisk will build a monument in the center
wrought during his reign as the adorned with revolutionary images. of Tiananmen Square to the thou-
“Red Emperor,” such as the Great Several kites sway lazily, splashes sands of students who were killed.”
Leap Forward, in which 40 million of red in the gloomy sky. Across the In response, he called out to his
peasants died, and the disastrous Beijing skyline, skeletal structures returning group: “Follow me, ev-
1966 Cultural Revolution in which of new buildings and gawky cranes erybody!” He gathered his fl ock of
Americans together and led us to the
entryway of the Forbidden City.
Beijing As we passed under Mao’s por-
Bo Hai
trait, I looked at the shaded eyes and
wondered what really happened to
that guy who challenged the tanks?
CHINA
Yellow Sea
The Forbidden City
Xian
Nanjing
Wrapped in the protective cocoon
of our Viking Cruise organized
THREE GORGES
YANGTZE tour, we entered the gateway to
DAM
Shanghai
YANGTZE
Jingzhou
the Forbidden City. I saw a mul-
Suzhou
Shibaozhai
East China Sea
Mount Jiuhua
titude of Chinese people, mostly
Fengdu
Chongqing
Jingdezhen
Wuhan
THREE GORGES DAM
LESSER THREE GORGES
DONGTING
LAKE
Cruise
Air Guilin
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R 1 0 1
Coach
SSept_china.indd
101ept_china.indd 101 88/11/08 4:25:24 PM/11/08 4:25:24 PM
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