A Mysterious Event

                                                        By Jack

       Do you know how many people live in China? It is around 1.3 billion. Do you know how many votes the chairman of China needs to be elected? The answer is zero. Chinese people do not have the authority to decide who can become the leader of China. They don’t have a real democracy in China. Do Chinese people ever strive for democracy? In fact, Chinese people have fought for democracy many times such as the Tiananmen Square protests on June 4, 1989. However, the protests were forcibly suppressed by hardline leaders who ordered the military to enforce martial law in the country’s capital. On June 4, 1989, the troops began to suppress the unarmed civilians trying to block the military’s advance towards Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing by using assault rifles and tanks. After that, Chinese people lost the confidence to fight for democracy. Moreover, although this event is a sensitive event for Chinese history, it has influenced my life in many ways.

First of all, the Chinese government has prohibited all forms of discussion or remembrance of the event, which has influenced me and deprived me of my right to know the truth. In China, I never searched any information about this event. I have lived in China for over twenty years, but I did not clearly know what happened on that day until I came to the United States. After I came to the United States, I could search for a lot of information about this event and watch many historical videos on YouTube. That made me understand more and more about the situation on that day. What’s more, different explanations from other countries also made me confused. The Chinese government has its own explanation about this event, but other countries have different explanations as well. The most important part of history is authenticity. The Tiananmen Square event has affected me to chase the truth.

In addition, The Tiananmen Square protest has caused me to lose the right to express my opinion to the government. As far as I am concerned, I think people have authority to express their opinion to the government if you agree or disagree with its policy. In China, people never express any opinion to the government. Protests and demonstrations are illegal. This has made people discontented to Chinese government and society. Furthermore, like I mentioned above, I cannot vote for who will become the next chairman of the country. In most capitalist countries, people can use their authority to select the leader of the country that can express their opinion about the government policy. For example, the candidates for the leadership position can express their policies they want to implement to the country, and then people can vote for the candidate whose policies conform to their opinion. However, after the Tiananmen Square protest, Chinese people lost their right to express opinion to the government. This is a degenerative event, which has influenced me to lose democracy.

Finally, the Tiananmen Square protest has influenced my worldview and the pursuit of democracy. This event has made me understand that countries around the globe have different explanations of this event. On the other hand, there are also some countries that supported Chinese government. Many countries around the world have various ideas of this kind of event and how they would handle it. I cannot say which one is correct. Recently, there have been protests in Hong Kong that are similar to the Tiananmen Square protest. Hong Kong protestors initiated “occupy central event” which is a fight for democracy and the authority to select the leader of Hong Kong. Citizens of any country should always have the right/freedom to chase democracy is as long as people use a peaceful method.

The Tiananmen Square protest is a very sensitive event in Chinese history, and I still do not clearly understand all the information about this event. However, no matter how difficult it is to chase democracy, I still believe that chasing the truth, expressing opinion to the government, and the pursuit of democracy are always correct. Moreover, I strongly believe that in the future, China will change into a real democratic country, and the Tiananmen Square protest event will no longer be mysterious for Chinese citizens.