According to the data published in 2020, the number of Chinese people who were born after the year of 1990 is around 520 million, accounting for 37% of China’s population. They together are forming a new reality in this country.And I am one of them. I was born in 1992, the crucial year that the old communist party leader Deng Xiaoping compromised and gave a final call on the Reform and Opening-Up policy.But, firstly, let’s rewind. Three years ago, in 1989, Chinese people were very close to a chance of rebuilding a democratic society after heinous Cultural Revolution and its unbearable economic consequence.At the moment, they were like « fuck it all, I’ve had enough », desperate economically and mentally, they walked onto the street. This is how I understand this event.And here’s my tip for you when communicating with China’s youth. The first thing you need to do is to separate Chinese young people into two groups: those who knows the Tiananmen protest in 1989, and those who doesn’t. You would have totally opposite impression on Chinese young people if you’re lucky enough to come across both of the types.Unfortunately I feel like 80% of them don’t know what happened in that year. This is my personal guess about the segmentation based on my experience, which is of course totally subjective. But I can give you two funny examples about the situation in mainland.I used to work in China’s media industry, and there is a rule within that still goes on till today. Every year around June 4th (the anniversary of Tiananmen 1989), normally a month in advance, all the media would turn to the mode of vigilance. That is to say, the comments section of every article will be closed, and everything posted with a hint of reminding the event will be detected shortly by backstage national security police and the account will be shut down. Every media is trying the best not to get involved with anything with it, or else, the staff or the chief of the staff will lose their jobs. This action has been taken since the year of 1989. A new generation has grown under this seamless administrative implementation over the past 30 years. The irony comes when people have already forgotten about it, however, this action itself still keeps on reminding them what it is for.

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