Co-organizer: Hao Min Cultural Action Association, Taichung
Event & livestream page: https://www.facebook.com/events/228419923071096
Opening Session: China After the White Paper and White Hair Movements
The opening session of the series marking 34 years since the June 4th massacre. June 4th survivor Wu Renhua shared his own experience and set it against the state of contemporary social movements in China 34 years on, comparing the historical trajectories of Taiwan and China and looking at how the White Paper and White Hair movements erupted under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting from how the Chinese authorities responded, the session analysed the differences in civil-society development between China and Taiwan, asked how a democratic Taiwan can make itself count in influencing China, and extended into what China and Taiwan mean today for East Asia and the wider world — and how Taiwan might serve as a base for supporting China’s democratization.
Speakers
- Wu Renhua (lead speaker): Based in Taiwan, he teaches a course on researching the truth of the June 4th incident at Soochow University and National Chung Cheng University. A scholar of historical documents and a participant in and witness to the 1989 democracy movement, he has long been involved in China’s democracy movement and in June 4th archival research. His books include The Bloody Clearing of Tiananmen Square, Declassifying the June 4th Massacre: The Martial Law Troops of the June 4th Incident, and A Day-by-Day Record of the Tiananmen Incident.
- Chung Han-shu (鍾瀚樞) (discussant): Office director of the Environmental Rights Foundation and director of its Center for Fishers’ Rights and Environmental Sustainability, and a director of the Hao Min Cultural Action Association, working to resist China’s annexation of Taiwan and to build social solidarity within Taiwan.