Tiananmen Square

Today marks 15 years since the Chinese communist government cracked down on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in Bejing. The New York Times reported then that "[b]y ordering soldiers to fire on the unarmed crowds, the Chinese leadership has created an incident that almost surely will haunt the Government for years to come."

Surely true, but it seems that commerce and consumer goods have moved China into a more modern political position, something the democracy movement could not do successfully. Cell phones and cars -- the Chinese "economic miracle" -- may just be better at spawning political change than the famous student who bravely faced off PRC tanks in 1989. Of course, the Bejing government is heavily censoring satellite TV news reports on the Tiananmen anniversary. So what has really changed?

 Posted by glenn