20 years ago....

...this happened.

it's scary to think that a government could do something like this. i can't imagine a *civilized* country literally plowing people with tanks. sorry for my lack of eloquence, but wtf. it's even scarier to think about all of the secrecy that surrounds this thing. it's estimated that upwards to 5,000 people were killed. but who knows? like legit...no one really knows.

The LA times wrote a chilling article about how ordinary today was in Beijing. check it out here.

i can def attest to the article. i visited Beijing 3 years ago in the summer. all i can say was that going to tianamen was awk. i know that's my favorite word to use, but it honestly was awkward. before getting there our government-assigned tour guide just told us he wasn't going to answer any questions and there wasn't going to be talk about anything that might have happened. he was usually a fun and silly guy during the tour, but he was sooo serious on this day.

idk, I kind of expected a memorial or at least a somber mood when we got there. yeah, i was wrong. it was just another tourists' spot with happy tourists walking around taking pictures and chilling in with their matching hats. you would never have guessed that anything horrible had happened here. here are some pics i took...

did you know -- china's google is different. search "tiananmen sqaure" + "june 4th" and nothing will come up. if google here was restricted...idk what i'd do. i love knowing i have access to any info i want...even if it's on some stupid interest of mine.

i don't really have anything philisophical to end this with. but i thought i'd be important to bring up this thing. enjoy your day. holler.


-steph