Chinese censors have removed a video featuring a People’s Liberation Army soldier boasting about a medal awarded to her father for his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, underscoring the government’s attempts to conceal this dark chapter of its history, as reported by various media outlets and social media posts.
The video, which was uploaded on March 18 to the official account of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force on the video-sharing platform Bilibili, shows a woman dressed in a camouflage uniform displaying a medal she claimed was given to her father for being part of the troops that entered Beijing in early June 1989 to suppress the peaceful, student-led protests in Tiananmen Square.
The woman mentioned how she used to proudly wear the medal as a young girl.
“My father is a retired soldier,” she says, according to subtitles on screenshots published by several media outlets including Taiwan’s Liberty Times newspaper, Radio Taiwan International, and the citizen journalist X account “Mr Li is not your teacher.”
“Here is the medal he was given for defending the capital,” she explains.
The “Defender of the Capital” honor was bestowed upon soldiers and other enforcers of martial law in Beijing, which was mandated by late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping on May 20 and resisted by protesters and hunger strikers, who remained at Tiananmen Square.
‘You’re bragging?’
The video soon attracted comments alluding to the violent crackdown by the People’s Liberation Army on the night of June 3-4, 1989.
“Are you proudly boasting about how the People’s Liberation Army killed our fellow citizens?” one comment read, while another remarked that the medal was more suitable for a “butcher,” as shown in screenshots of the now-deleted video.
“A ‘medal of honor’ earned for massacring unarmed students on behalf of a dictator,” commented another individual.
“You must be pretty ignorant to be proud of this,” another comment said. “Proud of having innocent people’s blood on your hands,” another comment remarked.
Some comments came from supporters of the government known as “little pink,” with one individual expressing that not enough individuals were killed during the massacre.
Chinese censors diligently strive to suppress any mention of “June 4,” “6/4,” or the Tiananmen massacre from the public eye. Last October, censors censored a picture displaying two hugging Chinese athletes inadvertently revealing the numbers “6” and “4” on their uniforms.
The video was reportedly removed on March 18. An archive of the Rocket Force’s Bilibili account captured on that date by the Internet Archive was inaccessible on Thursday.
Part of the machinery
Fang Zheng, who had his legs crushed by a tank during the Beijing crackdown, commented that the soldier has become part of the ruling Communist Party’s oppressive system.
“This little pink soldier is a second-generation perpetrator of the June 4 massacre who has unfortunately become an integral component of the CCP’s brutal apparatus,” Fang told RFA Cantonese.
“As a child, she may not have comprehended the significance of the ‘Defender of the Capital’ medal and may have seen it as an honor bestowed upon her father,” he remarked. “But the Defender of the Capital medal essentially signifies his role in suppressing and massacring individuals.”
Many soldiers in the 27th Army have attempted to conceal their involvement in the event, while others have come forward and revealed their participation.
Lt. Gen. Xu Qinxian served a five-year prison sentence for refusing to lead his 38th army troops into Beijing during the crackdown. The 27th Army carried out the directive after the 38th Army’s failed attempts to enter the city.
Former student leaders recalled anticipating the army to use water cannons and rubber bullets, but declassified diplomatic records from the U.K. indicated that the army was instructed to “spare no one” and employed lethal ammunition, automatic weapons, and armored vehicles to carry out mass killings in Beijing.
‘History written in blood’
Fang highlighted that the government continues to avoid acknowledging the massacre in public to this day.
“The June 4 massacre is a part of history that the Chinese Communist Party cannot confront, leading them to cover up this particular episode,” he stated.
Former 1989 student leader Zhou Fengsuo suggested that the young woman in the video might not have been aware of the events of the early summer of 1989. He mentioned that the June 4th Memorial Hall museum in New York also showcases similar medals as the one seen in the Bilibili video.
“It’s a classic effect of years of indoctrination by the Chinese Communist Party,” Zhou remarked. “However, this history, stained with blood, can still resurface unexpectedly for the world to see.”
“At that time, the government distributed numerous commendations, medals, and watches,” he explained. “In retrospect, these items have become incriminating evidence. By preserving these artifacts in museums, we can perceive the history of the Tiananmen massacre from a different perspective.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.