In this June 5, 1989 file photo, a Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Cangan Blvd. in Tiananmen Square. The man, calling for an end to the recent violence and bloodshed against pro-democracy demonstrators, was pulled away by bystanders, and the tanks continued on their way. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener, File)From The WNU Editor:
In the mid 1980s I was involved with a number of Canadian businessmen and Chinese officials who were exploring the possibility of developing business projects between China and the West. We formulated the idea of establishing a company called the Canada-China Trade Center, and it was to be used as a focal point for North American and Chinese business. Contracts were signed, and I found myself in China in the summer of 1988.
The experience was surreal .... and one that I will always remember. On the one hand we knew that we were doing something revolutionary, but on the other hand I was witness to the dissent and anger among many of the young .... especially in the Universities. I knew a year before it happened that an explosion was going to happen ... and so did our Chinese hosts.
When the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, I was in Montreal with our Chinese partners. We had just opened our office, but news from China overshadowed what we were just starting to do. In the end, our Chinese associates were glued to the TV during this entire time. The dream for Democracy was broken .... and they knew it. To say that they were depressed is an understatement.
The project collapsed when our Canadian partners bailed out a few weeks later. Our Chinese partners went back home a few months later. And for myself .... I had my experiences and a $100,000 debt.
The Tiananmen Square massacre stopped China's busine
The experience was surreal .... and one that I will always remember. On the one hand we knew that we were doing something revolutionary, but on the other hand I was witness to the dissent and anger among many of the young .... especially in the Universities. I knew a year before it happened that an explosion was going to happen ... and so did our Chinese hosts.
When the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, I was in Montreal with our Chinese partners. We had just opened our office, but news from China overshadowed what we were just starting to do. In the end, our Chinese associates were glued to the TV during this entire time. The dream for Democracy was broken .... and they knew it. To say that they were depressed is an understatement.
The project collapsed when our Canadian partners bailed out a few weeks later. Our Chinese partners went back home a few months later. And for myself .... I had my experiences and a $100,000 debt.
The Tiananmen Square massacre stopped China's busine
The experience was surreal .... and one that I will always remember. On the one hand we knew that we were doing something revolutionary, but on the other hand I was witness to the dissent and anger among many of the young .... especially in the Universities. I knew a year before it happened that an explosion was going to happen ... and so did our Chinese hosts.
When the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, I was in Montreal with our Chinese partners. We had just opened our office, but news from China overshadowed what we were just starting to do. In the end, our Chinese associates were glued to the TV during this entire time. The dream for Democracy was broken .... and they knew it. To say that they were depressed is an understatement.
The project collapsed when our Canadian partners bailed out a few weeks later. Our Chinese partners went back home a few months later. And for myself .... I had my experiences and a $100,000 debt.
The Tiananmen Square massacre stopped China's business/economic development for about 5 years. The resentment and anger against the Chinese central government is still there, but it is muted with the fact that people in China are now more preoccupied with working hard and trying to make ends meet.
Will China find there way .... I do not know. The problems and the resentment that produced the Tiananmen Square protests are still there, and I know that if times get tough some of this resentment will start to become public with much of it directed at the Communist Government. The Chinese Government knows this ..... and because the stakes are now even higher than what they were 20 yeras ago .... their eye on the public pulse is more intense than ever. But this can go only so far .... and I can only hope that the men who now rule China know this.
When the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, I was in Montreal with our Chinese partners. We had just opened our office, but news from China overshadowed what we were just starting to do. In the end, our Chinese associates were glued to the TV during this entire time. The dream for Democracy was broken .... and they knew it. To say that they were depressed is an understatement.
The project collapsed when our Canadian partners bailed out a few weeks later. Our Chinese partners went back home a few months later. And for myself .... I had my experiences and a $100,000 debt.
The Tiananmen Square massacre stopped China's business/economic development for about 5 years. The resentment and anger against the Chinese central government is still there, but it is muted with the fact that people in China are now more preoccupied with working hard and trying to make ends meet.
Will China find there way .... I do not know. The problems and the resentment that produced the Tiananmen Square protests are still there, and I know that if times get tough some of this resentment will start to become public with much of it directed at the Communist Government. The Chinese Government knows this ..... and because the stakes are now even higher than what they were 20 yeras ago .... their eye on the public pulse is more intense than ever. But this can go only so far .... and I can only hope that the men who now rule China know this.