Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations

Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history.

General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades.

The six-hour video recording of Gen Xu’s court martial hearing the next year sheds light on the rare act of defiance. In the video, Xu said he refused because he did not want to become “a sinner in history”.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      The US media was heavy handed in reporting the Federal response but deathly quiet reporting the mob violence and killing perpetrated by the rioters.

      Talking about Tianeman while fixating on Tank Man is a bit like only referring to J6 by holding up photos of Ashli Babbitt taken the day before. Or reporting on the LA Riots exclusively from the perspective of the Roof Koreans. Or holding up photos of Iranian girls in swimsuits any time someone mentions the '79 revolution. Or quoting Elon Musk on White Genocide In South Africa. Or doing the “Haitians are eating the dogs and cats” line to explain our modern immigration policies.

      It’s the same right wing propaganda liberals seem to recognize in their own backwards, but refuse to accept could have been applied to poison them against another country’s people.