It's June 4th again, 19 years since 1989.
Yet, this year is different from past anniversaries. 2008, like 1989, has been unusually eventful: we had the blizzard that paralyzed southern China at the beginning of the year, followed by the unrest and official crackdown in Tibet in March, then the protests following the Olympic Torch around the globe in April, the denunciations of Beijing throughout the West and the wave of nationalism sweeping through China in response, the Shandong train wreck at the end of April, and of course the earthquake that devastated Wenchuan on May 12.
Looking at corpse-strewn photos from the Sichuan earthquake inevitably recalls to mind the gory scene on Beijing's Chang'an Avenue 19 years ago. These two stunning calamities mark the height of suffering in China in the last 30 years. One was a natural disaster compounded by man-made tragedy, the other the disastrous product of tyranny, and both had repercussions felt throughout China. What had the Chinese people done to bring these torments on themselves?
There is no escaping the fact that the traumas of 1989 and 2008 epitomize the fate of contemporary China, and represent the labor pains of China's historical transformation. Although 1989 is now well into the past, because it concentrated 100 years of the Chinese people's basic appeals, destiny, glory and dreams, and presaged the tremendous changes that arrived in the twentieth century -- the downfall of Communism -- and because it became a turning point of historical transition, it has taken even more weighty historical significance.
The historical consequences of disaster are complicated and diverse. The saying that "much distress regenerates a nation" is an oversimplified and excessively optimistic assessment of the many historical consequences of catastrophe. If perceived only in terms of propaganda potential at the expense of historical truth, it is that much more contentious.
Yet, there is no denying that in terms of the social ambience that precede and follow them, particularly momentous calamities play an enormous role in social psychological change.
We can never forget the charged atmosphere during the protests by millions of citizens in Beijing and other parts of China in 1989. During the student movement at that time, it was said that thieves ceased stealing. More remarkably, we saw aimless university students who only a month or so earlier had been immersed in dating, playing mahjongg and working out ways to leave China, suddenly caught up in the spirit of a tragic political resistance. The two images are so completely different and incongruous as to leave one speechless with amazement.
In 2008 our memories remain fresh of the spontaneous disaster relief and donation collection drives that sprang up after the earthquake and energized a normally apathetic populace, and the compassion miraculously and admirably called forth from China's youthful Me Generation.
History has repeatedly shown that when humanity encounters a disastrous or shocking event, there will be abrupt changes in social psychology and a violent change in the value system. But whether this change is positive or negative depends on the subtle, concealed and mysterious spirit of the times.
People have noted that at these special times, daily life retreats, to be replaced with a kind of "lofty" sensibility. Things that have normally been haggled over suddenly become of no account, and previously derided emotions and spiritual practices suddenly assume an unassailable sanctity. This is the height of cleansing and sublimation brought about by spiritual experience, which I like to refer to as "the religious effect of disaster." Truly, the spiritual awakening brought about by great hardship very much resembles a religious experience. For that reason, there is a genuine spiritual rationale behind regarding June 4th as the Crucifix of modern China. In truth, after June 4th, religious fervor spread throughout China, and in a sense this was a spiritual response to that incident, which engendered a great religious revival.
Might not the extraordinarily violent earthquake around Wenchuan be expected to ferment a similarly widespread religious awakening? Of course, as eventful as 2008 has been already, it is not yet over; the curtain has not yet dropped on this act of history. In two months the Olympics will be hosted in Beijing for the first time to great fanfare. Following after a great baptism by fire, and close on the heels of the 19th anniversary of June 4th, what scene will appear on this enormous canvas? The Beijing government, filled with fear and trepidation, has already begun issuing all manner of unprecedented prohibitions and measures, while the god of history gazes down expectantly on all below.
Nineteen years later, the departed spirits of June 4th, their desires unfulfilled, pace restlessly in heaven. Is it possible that the earthquake's victims have now joined them there?
The Buddha said, all living creatures are equal. But the dead are even more equal than the living. Death is freer than life. For that reason, let us wish them the best, and offer them the sincere prayers of those not yet departed, for China, for humanity, and for their as yet unfulfilled wishes.
Written by Chen Kuide
Translated by Stacy Mosher
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