This June 4 will mark the 23rd anniversary of the brutal crackdownon the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, when hundreds ofdemonstrators were killed by soldiers on the streets of Beijing.Twenty-three is not a special number. In Hong Kong, about 2,100people took part in the annual Tiananmen memorial march, down from8,000 during the 20th anniversary in 2009, organizers told the South China Morning Post . Protesters' signs carried messages calling on China'scentral government to overturn the official condemnation of the1989 protests and exhorting the people of China to not forget. On the mainland, where public discussion of the events from overtwo decades ago is strictly circumscribed, there are signs that the1989 massacre is disappearing down a memory hole. In 2007 anewspaper in Sichuan ran a one-line classified ad paying tribute tothe victims of June 4th, as the crackdown is known in Chinese. Whenthe censorship breakdown was investigated later, one explanation offered was that the newspaper's young advertising clerk had neverheard of the events of June 4th. A full explanation is difficult tocome by when searching the Internet in China. So the clerk boughtthe ad buyer's explanation that June 4 was a "miningdisaster." ( PHOTOS: Remembering Tiananmen Square ) But for every story of someone in China who didn't know aboutthe Tiananmen crackdown, there is one of someone who couldn'tforget. Yesterday the Tiananmen Mothers, a support group of 1989victims' kin, announced that one of the members committedsuicide on Friday. Ya Weilin was 73; his 22-year-old son Ya Aiguowas shot in the head by troops near Gongzhufen in western Beijingon June 3, 1989. In an obituary of the elder Ya, the TiananmenMothers said the retired employee of a state-run nuclear institute hangedhimself in a newly built underground parking garage. Ya hadrecently written a note stating that his grievances over hisson's death hadn't been answered in over 20 years andthat he would "fight to his death," according to hisobituary. Last month Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper reported that Li Yujun, a peddler convicted of arson after the protests,was released after spending 23 years in prison. Li, who was then22, had set fire to a fuel truck in an attempt to block theapproach of People's Liberation Army troops toward the centerof Beijing. In 2009, Human Rights in China compiled a list of 45people, almost all farmers or blue collar workers, who remained inprison on June 4th related convictions. LIST: Top 10 Most Influential Protests. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Imitation Leather Fabric Manufacturer , China Jean Cloth Fabric, and more. For more , please visit TR Suiting Fabric today!
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