On the evening of June 4th 1989, American televisions all flashed with images of Chinese tanks rolling through the streets of Beijing, China.

 It was the fifty-first and final day of a two-month-long, student-led protest held in Tiananmen Square, a plaza in Beijing. These students wanted China to become more democratic, and resented the nation’s inflation and political corruption directly caused by the government. The hopeful whisperings of change that circulated in the days and weeks prior were crushed by an invading force of the students' own countrymen into the square, who murdered and injured thousands. Even if unfamiliar with the massacre, you still may recognize the famous photo, titled “Tank Man” (see picture below).

However, one member of the St. Christopher’s community is especially familiar with the event. Amidst the pandemonium in 1989, Upper School Chinese teacher Mr. Jianru Yang watched the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) lay siege to her city from her Beijing apartment. On the day of June 4th, Mrs. Yang was on the outer edges of Tiananmen Square in attendance for the protests with her infant son.

As Chinese troops advanced further into the plaza, like many others, she had to flee the scene with her son. The students occupying the center of the square weren’t so fortunate. Many didn’t get a chance to escape and were infamously shot or apprehended by the PLA.

Exactly thirty-five years later, Mrs. Yang teaches Mandarin Chinese here at STC. Since she emigrated from China, the Chinese Communist Party has continued its suppression of free speech and turned that nation into a total security state. Presently reflecting on the protest, Mrs. Yang said that “most of the people were really with the students” by sharing in beliefs of heightened freedom and a cleaner government. In 2024, as the CCP cracks down on free speech, this hope that China becomes more democratic becomes dimmer. Nevertheless, she is still proud of the economic progress that her original country has made away from the violent episode on June 4th, 1989. She treasures this democracy that exists in the United States, and is grateful for safety after witnessing first-hand the brutal events of Tiananmen Square.