Zhou is a well-known activist for human rights in China. He survived the Tiananmen Square massacre and harbors no illusions: today, the situation is worse than ever.
“Violence and fear are the weapons of the Chinese Communist government.” Zhou Fengsuo punctuates the syllables in slow, terse English and gets right to the point. He speaks without hesitation. His eyes are filled with memories. Tiananmen Square, the night between June 3‒4, 1989. Tanks crushed the students who for days had been calling for freedom. They did not expect that denouement, Zhou among them. A student in Beijing’s Qinghua University, he was one of the leaders of the protest.Today he is 56. Born in Xi’an, the capital of the northwestern province of Shaanxi, he lived through it all and saw it all. I ask him: “How many died in that massacre?” He replies: “It is impossible to know. The survivors were swallowed up by prisons. Their families grew old and died. The regime concealed or destroyed evidence.” He is right. Western sources, however, suggest the shocking figure of up to 10,000 casualties. “The government sent elite troops against us,” Zhou says.