Tiananmen Square Quotes

• The Chinese leadership hoped that the world would soon forget the Tiananmen Square massacre. Our job in Congress is to ensure that we never forget those who lost their lives in Tiananmen Square that day or the pro-democracy cause for which they fought.

  Tom Lantos

  Leadership, Jobs, Squares

  80 Copy quote

• There are other issues I have felt more emotionally connected to, like China, where I lived and worked for some time. I was living there when Tiananmen Square erupted

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Issues, Squares, Literature

  68 Copy quote

• In 1989, I was on Tiananmen Square with the students, living in their makeshift tents and joining their jubilant singing of the Internationale. In the two decades since, each time that I have gone back, visions from those days seem to return with increasing persistence.

  Ma Jian

  Persistence, Two, Squares

  "The great Tiananmen taboo" by Ma Jian, www.theguardian.com. June 1, 2009.

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• The integrity of China was more important than [the people] in Tiananmen Square.

  Muammar al-Gaddafi

  Integrity, Squares, People

  "Gaddafi urges violent showdown and tells Libya 'I'll die a martyr'" by Ian Black, www.theguardian.com. February 22, 2011.

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• In spring 1989...I saw the buildup of demonstrations from Chengdu to Tiananmen Square. It struck me that fear had been forgotten to such an extent that few of the millions of demonstrators perceived danger. Most seemed to be taken by surprise when the army opened fire.

  Jung Chang

  Spring, Taken, Army

  5 Copy quote

• The same thing will happen in China that happened in Chile. Political freedom will ultimately break out of its shackles. Tiananmen Square was only the first episode. It is headed for a series of Tiananmen Squares. It cannot continue to develop privately and at the same time maintain its authoritarian character politically. It is headed for a clash. Sooner or later, one or the other will give.

  Milton Friedman

  Character, Squares, Giving

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

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• [They let] friendship with the leaders in China obscure our devotion to freedom and democracy when those kids set up in Tiananmen Square, and I think it was wrong.

  William J. Clinton

  Stupid, Humorous, Kids

  4 Copy quote

• Hong Kong has been the place where the memory of Tiananmen Square lives on; Hong Kong people have become more and more committed in their resistance to authoritarian government, and also, not surprisingly, committed to safeguarding their culture and heritage as something distinct and worth preserving.

  Jess Row

  Memories, Squares, Government

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• In February of this year I returned to China to research my next book. The authorities know about the novels of mine that have been published in the west, including the latest one, Beijing Coma, about a student shot in Tiananmen Square, but so far have allowed me to return.

  Ma Jian

  Book, Years, Squares

  "The great Tiananmen taboo" by Ma Jian, www.theguardian.com. June 1, 2009.

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• Deng Xiaoping thought of himself as a great revolutionary and a great reformer. He had dismantled the Chinese communist management of the economy. In my next-to-last conversation with him, which was about six months before Tiananmen Square, he said to me that his aim would be the next phase to reduce the Communist Party to philosophical issues. And I said, "What's a philosophical issue?" And he said, "Well, like if we make an alliance with Russia." Given his view of Russia, that was not the likeliest thing that would ever happen.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Philosophical, Party, Views

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• The influence of the Gang of Four should not be underrated, but it should be noted that 97 or 98 per cent of the population hate them intensely for their crimes. This was shown by the mass movement against the Gang of Four which erupted at Tiananmen Square on April 5, 1976, when the Gang were still riding high, Chairman Mao was critically ill and Premier Zhou had passed away.

  Deng Xiaoping

  Hate, Squares, Riding

  Source: blog.hiddenharmonies.org

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