Twenty years ago I was lugging around a camera bag in Beijing charged with what I viewed to be a sacred duty -- show the truth. The Chinese unrest taking place in 1989 was beyond any individual's ability to grasp at that time and yet there we all were, trying to figure out, describe and report on the thousands of people who suddenly took over the streets in a spasm of passionate desire for, dare I say it, "change." I’m not saying “democracy” because, quite frankly, I’m not sure that was the real common denominator among the protesters. I would say “freedom,” as in the freedom to think and say what you want, was at the top of the list.

Well, we all know what happened next. The words “Tiananmen Square” reminds us of the violent events there, which I personally witnessed.

In the years since, China has gone into economic overdrive and is poised to exert ever growing influence on the world stage. At the same time, its strategy for dealing with its own history and the nature of “truth” itself is stuck in an old fashioned commie time warp.  It’s a kind of Soviet model where people out of favor disappear from pictures and all other forms of the official record.  Under this system, the events of Tiananmen Square on June 4 1989 have been erased. To people under 25 years old, there is no knowledge, or myth that even refers to what happened.   To me, this seems like a dangerous strategy on the part of the Chinese Government. Such an omission is a form of lying and, over time, potentially corrosive. They would serve themselves, their people, and the world at large much better by inviting the truth back to the table.  Allow historians and others a forum to discuss and debate past events and their meaning as we move forward. I believe this strategy would make for a stronger China and one that would be less likely to resort to violence to solve problems in both its internal, and external affairs.  Whether it’s  modernization, Tibet, Taiwan, islands in the South China sea or earthquake response,  more open, and truthful discussions will promote better solutions and strategies.

I am planning to share photographs in this virtual space of events that happened exactly 20 years ago.  Check this space to travel back in time and perhaps revisit your current opinion of the meaning of those events.