Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations
Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history.
General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades.
The six-hour video recording of Gen Xu’s court martial hearing the next year sheds light on the rare act of defiance. In the video, Xu said he refused because he did not want to become “a sinner in history”.
Modern journalism headline
For anyone else that is interested in what came of him:
Xu was expelled from the CCP and sentenced to five years in prison. He lived the rest of his life exiled from Beijing and died in 2021 at the age of 85.
A much happier ending than I expected.
Good man. Too bad China kills good people. It’s a horrible empire.
Did they kill him?
He went to prison for 5 years and then lived into his 80s.
A good point. Though I was surprised to read this particular dissident only got 5 years in prison and exile from Beijing.
Seems like standard procedure to higher ups in China. They did something similar to Xi Jinping‘s father when he spoke out against a violent solution for the protests. Too bad Xi learned all the wrong lesson‘s from his dad‘s political exile.
It seems like all empires are horrible to me. Humans suck, especially when they have power
Yeah.
There’s lots of instances throughout history that prove that humans with power suck.
I like to think that it’s because nice people aren’t the type to accumulate power rather than power corrupts nice people who do get power.
I think we make the mistake of letting people govern groups of people that they are too distant from to care about. Leaders are essential, but they have to care about the people they lead. I dont think its actually possible to care about people a thousand miles away the same way as the people in your community. I think this is why the largest countries that are controlled by the fewest people have the most problems. Its a delegation issue essentially.
Literally not an empire. Don’t get your terms mixed!
Then what do you call what they’re doing in Africa?
Qinxian made a decision that saved countless lives, much like Arkhipov in the 60s.
If you’re seeing anti China stories about literally pre Bush times - asks yourself: why?
This is “World News?”. Wtf? No, this is historical shit that belongs in a fucking museum. (Thank you Indiana).
Why are people commenting on China like the last 30+ years hasn’t happened? Does it make us feel good when they are absolutely dunking on us as our incompetent form of governance sends us spiraling to another financial crisis? Seriously. How the fuck is this world news?!
Like, would we be criticizing Germany today if some new photos of the concentration camps were found?
I’m sorry. The fact that we let this shit get posted in “world news” is just pandering to the right wings “war with China” narrative that is completely unjustifiable. Reddit levels of garbage mods.
Interesting comparison to Germany. As you may be aware, there was quite a significant change in government structure right around 1945. While yes - if new evidence from that period were to be released, it would indeed reflect poorly on Germany. But everyone would know it’s news from basically another country. Whereas in China nothing has changed when it comes to the structure of the nation. And they sure as hell did not go through a period of national mourning or apology to reflect on past mistakes.
I’m not sure how this is “anti-China”? it’s historical footage, it seems worthy of news to me
And why compare with events that are 80+ years old ? you’re talking about it like concentration camps and Tienanmen are the same
You know it’s a good article when a dumb tankie is seething in the comments
If you listen carefully you can hear the entire .ml instance buffering while they wait on marching orders to spin this
Wheezing even
Rare footage of chinese General’s dissent being open and available is very interesting news, at least to me.
Maybe you should unsubscribe from worldnews and subscribe to USAnews (or rather please make that community and not annoy us with USA garbage deluge).
In many ways, you’re mostly criticizing as if this was a malicious attempt to hide current USA events and further USA foreign policy narratives. Not really seeing any USA in the article. And the factual happenings are interesting.
I thought this was a pro China story.
