CHINA. Beijing. May 23, 1989. During the Tiananmen Square protests, the famous portrait of Chairman Mao looking out over the square from the Forbidden City was splattered with paint.
At 2:00pm, May 23, 1989, three young protesters posted banners on the wall of the Tiananmen gate’s passway. The slogans on the banners read Time to End the Five Thousand Years of Autocracy, Time to End the Cult of Personality. Shortly after, they threw eggs filled with pigment at the Portrait of Mao Zedong on the Tiananmen Gate. The three perpetrators, Yu Dongyue,
Lu Decheng and
Yu Zhijian, received sentences ranging from 16 years in jail to life imprisonment. After decades in jail, where they were tortured (among other human rights violations), the three of them were released on bail and managed to escape the country. All of them managed to obtain political asylum in either the US or Canada.
Chinese Dadao swords, polearms, spears and other weaponry, captured and seized by the Imperial Japanese Army, seen here, stored in Japan for familiarization purposes during training with troops who will be sent to China.
The Chinese, who were split into warring nationalist and communist factions, were often equipped seemingly random equipment. While the Nationalists in the South and West were supported by Allied lend-lease and were supplied with adequate arms and combat training (which was mostly stored until taken over by the PRC, and, ironically, used against the US in Korea), the Communist armies of the North were sparsely supplied by the Soviet Union and relied somewhat significantly on older, home made weapons – with the intention to capture Japanese weapons. It was not until the war against the Nazis turned to the Soviet’s favor that the Chinese communists were able to receive significant assistance in the form of arms and ammo.
URGENT: I beg everyone to keep an eye on HK. Pray for us.
Rumours of crackdown on 31 Aug 2019. Fear that Tiananmen 2.0 will occur. Many are writing #HKLastWords on Twitter and literally prepared to be killed and tortured when they go on streets tomorrow.
Full updated list of arrests in the rest of the post (as of 31 Aug 2019 0300).
a. 3 counts of inciting, organising & participating in unlawful assembly on
b. Arrested at 7.30am on the way to South Horizons MTR, forcefully pushed into 7-seater private vehicle on street in broad daylight by 4 men without warrant. On bail.
5. ARRESTED: Agnes Chow, Demosisto
a. 2 counts of inciting & participating in unlawful assembly
b. Arrested at home in Tai Po. On bail.
6. CHARGED: Ivan Lam, Demosisto chairperson
a. For inciting others into unlawful assembly on Harcourt Rd (siege of police HQ) on 21 Jun
b. Is overseas, will be arrested when back.
7. ARRESTED: Rick Hui, Sha Tin district councillor
8. ARRESTED: Athena Suen, ex-HKU student union president
a. For entering Legislative Council on 1 Jul and for conspiracy to damage properties
