Tiananmen Revisited Tiananmen Revisited by Stephen Jacques, American Jurist Staff Reporter Staring across the dull gray expanse of Tiananmen Square, it is difficult to picture the square seven years ago, covered with the blood of protesters left in the wake of armored tanks and PLA troops toting machine guns. A concrete plane dotted with red flags surrounded by museums and the monolithic halls which house the Chinese government, Tiananmen Square today is filled not with students handing out pro-democracy leaflets, but by peasant entrepreneurs hocking colorful kites. In seven years time, the cries for freedom may still be muffled, but the rise of capitalism is beginning to speak volumes. As a student spending the summer months surveying the developing rule of law in the People's Republic of China, it was difficult to hear the echoes of the June 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, as they were largely drowned out by the pounding of jackhammers and the rumble of cranes.
Street vendors abound, selling both foreign and domestic goods.
Pepsi is at least an option for the new generation. Even Cindy Crawford stares down from billboards advertising American-made watches. Surrounded by literally thousands of cranes advancing the work of joint ventures between Chinese and foreign investors, it is evident that the people of China, or at least those of coastal China, are beginning to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Now that the people have been given an opportunity to taste what capitalism and a limited free-market society have to offer, it is difficult to imagine them giving back what they have gained without a fight. It seems like the genie has been let out of the bottle, and it will take a great deal more than a few tanks and PLA divisions to put it back.