In the late evening of June 3, the 28th anniversary commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident was held right in front of the Embassy of China in Washington, D.C., just as the many past commemorations. Together with a dozen of other speakers, Wei Jingsheng, a veteran Chinese human rights activist, made a speech during the commemoration.
He said: We held commemorations here every year. Many people asked me: what’s the point? I said it’s very meaningful. And we should keep doing this, because we are showing the whole world that we haven’t forgotten the day; the day that so many young people sacrificed themselves for freedom and democracy, and for a better life for the next generations in China.
Yet, after 28 years, many Chinese nationals, the young generation in particular, don’t seem to care: no more than 50 people attended the commemoration and young people were much fewer. Even the event’s organizers couldn’t help but ask: why did so few people show up this year?
