Down To The Square

Even today, issues of gender that we frequently take for granted in the United States remain issues of equality that challenge China’s move towards modernization. As a thirteen year old girl living in China in 1989, a period of time in China where the waves of Cultural Revolution, even though they felt far removed, were still licking the shoreline. Although the currents of change were already in motion, 1989 was not the year of change for China. If anything, Tiananmen Square was a disturbing event. The recoil from that event was a reassertion of Party control. Although the years following 1989 represent a period of great economic growth and remarkable change, the Party, even in the present post-modern era, continues to hold to dated ideals.

Like many of my peers, I would have certainly felt a desire for reform. But, a desire for reform and the desire for my own security and that of my family would have taken precedence. A young girl growing up, hearing stories about beloved friends and family who vanished into thin air, I would have taken those stories to heart and maintained a healthy suspicion of the Party. To me, the idea of dissent would feel like a suicide mission.

The conflict between self and family preservation and my feelings that it was time to demand change would be compelling enough to dissuade me from actually taking action. Where I might join my compatriots in spirit and soul, I would have to consider my family and my own future and wellbeing. Duty to family is a significant cultural feature. Willingness for self-sacrifice would be balanced with my duty to family. I may be willing to risk myself, but I’d be gambling my family’s security.

In retrospect, as someone looking back from the year 2009, hindsight is 20-20. Where the entire world stood in solidarity with “Tank-man” in 1989, elevating the unknown man to hero status, numerous reports state that Tank-man was arrested, tortured and executed.

Although Tiananmen Square inspired China’s government towards reform, most of the reform has been economic, and the class division, the division between “haves” and “have-nots” is still a disturbing reality. This sharp class division has created a growing schism within the country. Daily riots and public disorder speak to the Party’s inability to meet the needs of her people.

After 1989, China needed wealth and a wider financial base, and certainly many Chinese families enjoyed this wealth and a move into the postmodern world. However, the division was even more sharply demarcated than before, and the “have-nots” were even worse off than before the Cultural Revolution.

While the West may like to believe that there was real reform, the reforms inspired by Tiananmen Square were bittersweet and empty victories for most Chinese families. Economic progress with Chinese Characteristics is creating the problems facing China today.

Although Mao’s little red book promised gender equality in China, “Women represent a great productive force in China, and equality among the sexes is one of the goals of communism. The multiple burdens which women must shoulder are to be eased,” the rhetoric of equality in China, like the gender equality promised through the Communist Manifesto were less than ideal when applied in practice.