Welcome to Tiαnαnmen Square. Note the museum on the east side and the Great Hall of the People to the west. The increasingly skinny old fellow in the glass case in the center used to run the place. Oh yeah, and on Jυne 4, 1989 nothing happened here. It was just another summer day in the Olympic City. Birds chirped. People sang. Deng Xiaoping played a round of bridge with the boys.
That’s basically the take as Harper Collins borrows the CCP’s airbrush and plans to sanitize its newest guidebook on China.
From the BBC Magazine (blocked in China):
Hotels are a must. So are tips on the local cuisine. A few key phrases. Some maps. A list of the best tourist sites and their opening hours. Perhaps some cultural do and don’ts. All are key ingredients of a typical guide book. And yet many also feel the need to offer something more - a grounding in the history of the place that can help flesh out its culture, architecture and art. Take Nuremberg. You could describe the city’s medieval architecture, its beautiful perch on the River Pegnitz and its role in the German Renaissance.
But many travellers might find it strange if you didn’t mention the Nazis’ Nuremberg rallies. At least once. And one might find it a little surprising that HarperCollins is to publish a guide entitled Travel Around China to coincide with 2008’s Beijing Olympics that will make no mention of theTiαnαnmen Square mαssα cre.
I’m not saying that there needs to be a 14-page special pullout section with accompanying “Tαnk Man” DVD and a glossy souvenir pictorial, but the fact that there were demonstrations in the square and that the CCP showed they were willing to use deadly force to quell dissent rates at least a sentence. Maybe even two.
But let’s call this what it is: Harper Collins wants to be absolutely sure that its guidebooks are welcome for sale in the PRC. It’s about money and book sales and the weasel words of Harper Collins editor Phil Friedman show a shocking lack of editorial stones or—for that matter—a knowledge of history.
Editor Phil Friedman - who is working on the book - says people want different things from a travel guide.
“I don’t think talk about the killings is appropriate for a travel guide… Tiαnαnmen Square had thousands of years of history before that occurred. Tiαnαnmen is a feudal site, hugely important historic site. I’m not sure people travelling there would go there because there were shootings.”
First of all, Tiαnαnmen (the gate) has been around in some form since the early 15th century (I have 1420, but sources vary) when the Forbidden City was constructed under the direction of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402-1424). So, it’s more like 600 years and even then it has been changed/renovated/burned down/rebuilt numerous times. Now, there’s always been a space in front of the gate, but the present public square is a far more recent invention—try the 1950s.
Prior to the founding of the PRC, the area in front of Tiαnαnmen (the gate) was about half the size of the Wal-Mart parking lot on steroids it is today. A second gate (see picture), which had various names but was perhaps best known as “China Gate” 中华门, stood midway between the Forbidden City and Qianmen approximately where the Mao-soleum is today. The interior was pretty much off-limits to commoners. South of the China Gate was a thriving bazaar with a grid of market stalls and shops known as the “Chess-Grid Street” (棋盘街).
Starting in 1949, and with technical advice by Soviet designers who drew their inspiration from Moscow’s Red Square, the China Gate and the marketplace were torn down and the space was flattened, paved and expanded into the concrete monstrosity it is today. Rather famously, at 108+ acres, the square is the largest urban public square in the world. Woo-hoo.
(That said, the recent ‘greening’ and decorating of the square is a trend I hope they continue beyond 2008. But given what they have to work with, I’m not holding my breath for any kind of “Extreme Square Makeover” miracles. But, who knows. Maybe Beijing and Moscow can go on Bravo for a special “Socialist aesthetic disasters” episode of ‘Trading Spaces.’)
At the same time, Chang’an Avenue in front of Tiαnαnmen (gate) was also widened to accommodate grand parades and…wait for it…the moving of large military vehicles. Who says the CCP lacked foresight?
Since then a lot has happened in the square. Every National Day, the square comes alive with patriotic fervor. It’s really quite an exciting place to be on October 1. The raising and lowering of the flag at sunrise and sunset are Beijing must-sees. Mao gave rousing speeches to giant crowds in the early days of the PRC. During the Cultural Revolution, the area overflowed with earnest young teenagers brimming with revolutionary fervor and a desire to go and get back at that counterrevolutionary teacher who had the audacity to use feudal tools like grades in evaluating their schoolwork. In 1976, thousands filled the square to mourn the death of Zhou Enlai (the demonstration everyone forgets about because it didn’t happen on CNN) until the Mao camp began to get nervous and shut it down violently. And then there was 1989. It wasn’t Nuremberg, but it was bad and it happened, no matter how much the CCP wishes the memory would go away.
Not that China has any problem with displaying gruesome images in the service of patriotic education. This past week marked the anniversary of the Mukden Incident. At the September 18th Museum in Shenyang, the horrors of the Japanese occupation of China are on display in a series of graphic exhibits.
“It’s very important for the next generation to understand history,” said 60-year-old Peng Suren as he walked his grandsons, four-year-old twins, by the gruesome exhibits of severed heads and mangled bodies.
“If they don’t, they will not appreciate the need for our nation to strengthen itself in defence against foreign aggressors.”
The first rooms of the spacious museum depict China as a victim of Japanese aggression, but as the visitor moves towards the exit, he is treated to an interpretation of China as almost the lone victor on World War II in Asia.
The two factors widely credited with ending the war get only cursory treatment.
The Soviet invasion of Japanese-occupied Northeast Asia in the summer of 1945 is mentioned in passing, and America’s nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki not at all.
I’m not criticizing the Shenyang Museum. History education in museums is important even if it sometimes is a little grim and nobody should forget (as some in Japan would like to) about the atrocities committed in China by the Japanese military. I do think some more balance would be nice–i.e. The CCP didn’t defeat the Japanese by themselves, I hear that Harry Truman had a little something to do with it, too–but what really grinds my pistachios is the cherry-picking of history to meet the political demands of the present. (Are you listening, President Bush?)
It should be duly noted that this does not only happen in China. For example, in the southern part of the United States many antebellum historic sites have been accused of “whitewashing history” by removing African slavery from their promotional literature and playing down the slave system when giving their tours. It’s a travesty to show these plantations without highlighting the labor of those who worked on them under the most brutal conditions imaginable just because there are parts of history that some people today feel are ‘icky.’
Harper Collins publishes guidebooks. They’re under no moral obligation to be the bearers of truth and justice in the world. But I do believe that the company does a disservice to their readers by attempting to suck up to the Beijing government just to sell more books for next year’s Olympic Games. When I travel somewhere I want to know all about a place, not just the happy stuff but everything. I don’t need my guidebook dumbed down or sanitized, thank you very much.
h/t: HNN
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Photo top left: Aerial view of the Tiαnαnmen Square.
Photo middle right: Pre-1949 view from Tiαnαnmen (gate) looking south towards China Gate.
Quick note: The use of the Hotspot Shield software really made writing this post easier. I did several online searches for Tiαnαnmen information plus the BBC website. None of it was blocked.
9 responses so far ↓
1 zhwj // Sep 21, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Great post.
I wonder if there’ll be any mention of Tian’anmen as a venue for rallies at all in the HarperCollins book. Or what they’ll do with Tibet, for that matter.
For some tourist spots, the bloody history is intrinsic to the experience of visiting - a visit to Yuanmingyuan is meaningless without knowing about the Anglo-French armies; Marco Polo bridge wouldn’t even be a destination without the Incident.
Do the events of 1989 play a similar role in the understanding of Tian’anmen Square? I have to agree with the BBC’s suggestion that it deserves a mention, “at least once,” in the context of political activity in the Square.
On the other hand, as collective efforts of enthusiasts who sometimes have a substantially incomplete picture of what they’re writing about, guidebooks have never been expected to be complete sources of information. This one repeats an urban legend as fact, that one offers an astonishingly bad translation of a local saying, another one tells you to go 40km out of your way. HarperCollins leaves out a bit of history that you can find elsewhere. It’s crass, and it seems unfair that they’ll be able to take control of the domestic market when other, established guides can’t, but if you’re traveling through China for the first time and you’ve left your LonelyPlanet on the train, it’ll be nice to know that you can walk to the nearest bookstore and pick up a rated directory of hotels, restaurants, and points of interest.
2 chriswaugh_bj // Sep 21, 2007 at 9:41 pm
“but what really grinds my pistachios is the cherry-picking of history to meet the political demands of the present.”
But that’s the curse of your profession. In choosing to do history, you condemened yourself to a lifetime of having your pistachios ground by cherry-pickers of history. My job is a hell of a lot easier in that respect- the worst I have to put up with is incompetent mangling of the English language.
3 Hanyu // Sep 22, 2007 at 4:54 am
I roll my eye. Like seriously go bark up another tree will you?
Guide books are fundamentally kind of like promotional materials. They are selling a product that is the travel destinations. They are there to list the good points and, like anyone who’d prefer not to know how cows are slaughtered to become packaged meat, can’t be expected to be an one-stop shop for the “truth.” One needs to exert a little more effort you know? Like actually reading a history book.
Let’s take this from a realistic angle for a min. Which traveler visiting Tiananmen Square needs to be explicitly informed that the massacred happened here. I mean of ALL the things, of ALL the things that an English speaking person wouldn’t know about Tiananmen Square, he would already know about the damn massacre. Go pull any high school drop-out off the street and that’s the only thing he’s know about Tiananmen Square. In fact that’s the ONLY thing anybody knows about China.
What’s next? Politically correct travel tours? Forced to go to some non-descript clearing southeast of some random town in Europe because it is “intrinsic to the history of the place” and be told “here are the mass graves of blah blah blah” and all you see is just dirts. No thank you very much I’d prefer not to know and just enjoy the scenery. If I am spending money travelling I am there to enjoy my time, not taking a history lesson.
4 花崗齋之愚公 // Sep 22, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Hanyu,
Good point about the notoriety of the square, which makes Phil Friedman’s comments all the more asinine. One of the first places my students want to go when they come to Beijing is “the place that had the tanks.”
At the same time, this notoriety also makes it rather disingenous to leave out that which made the square notorious in the first place.
I suppose you are right that some people do want to be as blinkered in their travels as they are when buying meat. Some just feel ignorance is bliss. (Though I know many people who DO want complete information on food saftety when purchasing products. I live in Beijing, after all.) There are those (I’m guessing your one?) who would prefer to watch “American Idol” rather than read a book. I can’t help that. But those of us who are interested in learning should at least have that option and not have Harper Collins decide for us.
Finally, you seemed horrified at “Politically correct travel tours? Forced to go to some non-descript clearing southeast of some random town in Europe because it is “intrinsic to the history of the place” But isn’t a lesson in politics part and parcel of many tourist sites in China? As Zhyj mentioned, how could we appreciate sites such as Yuanmingyuan or Marco Polo bridge without mentioning the bloody events surrounding these places? Should we change the signs in Yuanmingyuan to: “Burned down in 1860. Not sure why”?
China has no problem with history lessons-no matter how bloody-when those lessons fit a standard teleology or dovetail with the political agenda. (I’m not sure you read that far, but I mentioned the 9/18 Museum in Shenyang as an example.)
Thanks for stopping by.
5 無名 - wu ming // Sep 23, 2007 at 2:55 am
i just wish people would mention 1976’s tian’anmen protests once in a while to americans, just to remind them that 1989 wasn’t some freak unprecedented event, but rather the last in a chain of periodic violent struggles over the “right to rebel” and the people’s role in a “people’s republic.”
when we skip from 1969 to 1989 (with perhaps a mumbled offhand remark about some democracy wall thing in 79) in the last lecture or two of china history surveys, we strip a big part of the context of the event.
you’re right about the guide books. now if only we could get american guidebooks and textbooks to mention what went down back in the day (e.g. the tacoma method” was first practiced at the site of one of my favorite pubs, but i heard no mention of it until i heard of the new reconciliation park they’re building), i think we’d start getting somewhere.
more uncomfortable history, everywhere!
6 Hanyu // Sep 23, 2007 at 7:04 am
And is Marco Polo Bridge a very popular travel destination for
people not specifically looking for a history tour? Sad thing is, not every historically notable place is in fact travel-worthy. All mass graves are historically significant, some are travel-worthy, but the rest are not worth you dime or time to visit.
This goes back to the purpose of a guide book, which is to detail why a site a “travel worthy” so to speak. It is not there to provide a history lesson. Is getting into a semi-political discourse better service the reader of a guide book?
Let’s say we have four options:
1) Between two guide book with one differs in one extra sentence: “Massacre happened here.”, is one a “better” guide book? It certainly lacks context and provide no value in a complete understanding of the event.
2) What about a guide book that in fact goes into an extensive discussion of the Tiananmen then proceed, as some might prefer, goes on to highlight how evil CCP is and should be overthrown? Totally inappropriate for the purpose of a guide book.
3) A certain “balance” that provide some semblance of sufficient understanding but still invite controversy. This balance, however, will probably already exceed a length that distracts the guide book from its original purpose.
4) Leave the can of worm to other books.
Option 1 and 2 is not very good. Between option 3 and 4, one is no more controversial than the other. However, the inherent controversial nature of option 3 will most likely overwhelms the other non-political “selling points” of Tiananmen Square. Before long it will be less about Tiananmen Square than it is about the Massacre. That leaves option 4 to be the least evil of all in strict context of a “good guide book.”
7 chriswaugh_bj // Sep 23, 2007 at 7:17 am
Hanyu: I don’t think anybody’s asking for politically correct tours to random lumps of dirt miles from anywhere. Nor do I think anybody thinks guidebooks should double as history texts. I do think a good guidebook would provide at least a brief summary of the major events in the history of places of major historical significance. After all:
“One of the first places my students want to go when they come to Beijing is “the place that had the tanks.”"
They’re going to have trouble finding the place that had the tanks if nobody tells them it was Tiananmen Square. I strongly doubt that my sister or youngest brother remember much of the events of 1989- in China or Europe- and I suspect that most people younger than me are just as ignorant.
8 Chris // Sep 24, 2007 at 4:29 am
Guide books aren’t history books. They’re not political treatises. Good ones are more than just advertisements for tourist traps. Most aren’t even that well written (LP Korea, for example). But if you’re going to Tiananmen, you pretty much gotta know about the tank thing.
I’ve yet to find a place I found less interesting after learning even a smidgen more history. Maybe that’s just me. I just finished Julia Lovell’s book, “The Great Wall,” and I’m sure it’s going to add all kinds of depth to seeing the actual thing, whenever I get around to it.
Ideally, a guide book would give a very quick round up of significant events, and then offer suggestions on where to find more information, should the reader be interested. This is easier done online, but still, a web site or a few recommended readings would be really nice in some places where not everyone knows what went down there.
And for anyone thinking Tiananmen is universal knowledge, I’ll point to my friend Kim’s post on the subject:
http://eastweststation.com/blog/2007/05/13/the-three-taboo-t%e2%80%99s/
9 Everlasting // Oct 1, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Hanyu,
Good guidebooks do not serve as lengthy history books. Good guidebooks are not expected to include lengthy expository writing (though I do expect them to be well researched). Neither the author of this blog, nor anyone who has posted here have described the function of a guidebook in such superlative terms.
Good guidebooks describe how to travel, and what sights to see. They also describe why it is those sights are “must-see” places. A guidebook that does not mention the 1989 massacre in its entry for Tiananmen is simply incomplete. It does not do its reader justice by leaving out something that ought to be part of the reader’s contemplative experience.
When I visit a place, I like to contemplate ALL the major events that occurred there. It gives me a greater appreciation of the greatness of history and of human action. Perhaps it’s simply silly of me to take issue with a guidebook, when it doesn’t really serve as a complete “guide.” Perhaps I should have no problem with an incomplete experience.
Or perhaps it is silly to ask why the last major historical event to happen in Tiananmen hasn’t been included?
The author of this blog is doing marvelous job of asking these questions.
I think history is taught through multiple sources, not simply by historians and in history classes. Certain views and narratives are passed down in all forms of consumer culture, from TV dramas, to fiction, to guidebooks. They certainly are not history books, but travel guides, as one of the first and most direct points of contact for a tourist, serve the function of introducing a country’s major sights, and their history.
In that light, it is interesting to note what is included and what is excluded.
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