Then-five-year-old Hu Yang was too young to be part of the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square that would later be violently crushed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using tanks and guns. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to keep its memory alive.
In front of a local government building in his hometown, the historic northwestern city of Xi’an, Hu held up a placard reading “Don’t forget June 4, put an end to authoritarian rule.”
Hu’s wife captured the protest on June 2, 2022. Through a friend based outside of China, Hu then posted the image on Twitter, a platform banned in China. Hu was hoping to represent pro-democracy voices from inside the country, which he found painfully lacking as a wave of events began around the world mourning the bloodshed on its anniversary….