Newspapers / East Wind (Asian Students … / Dec. 1, 1993, edition 1 / Page 6
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December 1993 Dreams Never 23, this small, neat, quiet man helped lead 100,000 students and workers in a protest for democracy in China. They demanded re forms. They demanded the removal of Deng Xiaopeng and other Communist leaders. Pro tests in other Chinese cities erupted. Televi sion cameras captured the Chinese army firing on their own people in Tiananmen Square, at the heart of Beijing. An estimated 5,000 died, 10,000 were wounded, and hun dreds were arrested. He doesn’t look the part of the revolu tion leader. Li Lu is a small man, neatly packaged in a dark suit and flowered tie, briefcase in hand. He is soft-spoken and bows forward slightly, the Chinese way, as he shakes your hand. Round wire glasses contribute to the impression that this man is a shy intellectual. There is an accent, but his grammar is as good as any American’s. But over four years ago, at the age of Li was chief student adviser in the demonstrations and the official spokes person for the press. He has spoken to crowds numbering up to half a million. On October 11, 600 or so spilled into the Great Hall to hear him deliver the speech that would kick off the University’s Bicentennial cel ebration. The crowd gave him standing ovations both before and after his speech. UNC, America’s first public univer sity, was established in 1791. China’s first public university was founded in 125 B.C., Li said. But both were built on the principle that with education, anything is possible. They can control your life, but they cannot control your mind. They can kill your body, but they can^t kill your dreams. Ideas never die. Truth lives forever.^^ “In many of today’s societies, such as Communist China, freedom is not allowed in reality, Li said. “But people can be free in their minds. The oppressive regimes can choke every aspect of your life, but they cannot control your mind. The first home of the free spirit is in your mind. But it takes a truly educated mind to be able to light the flame of freedom that lives deeply in our hearts.” He was bom in 1966 in a coal-mining town near Beijing. “For those of you who know modern China, 1966 was the beginning of the Cul tural Revolution, the darkest times of mod- the ht md. ^ yf AMtexkM ft hi wim the fmmom S^nm occomaj. ^ "'Ute mly ihkg they hmdmt&i how mmy mtdim $h$ mnH sa^ Ikjw mmy cmlmm cKedL'" , J Ihe l«pQpagae^ ^ even toher thaij TIjem i$ e «lo«e Irt a of hi the Oto ^ ia»mtjeetatots taficed ^xmt how ftjolish this student was, Shsh said hB Amecteuu hx'ondcastSji. ^udent was as htave> gw^najMa^s 80 ofw c«« jagf aisytoi® because aftaid y the Chinese event as e fiit^ ^ts^npt to ihol the CJdtiese fye^=^n%)5eiieve in he claimed that Aiuedeae televjfeiea stations used Hollywood ^^cneatetheima^on^i^, N>n»nhohewthatt?3©imtdled^ Caiwtnen Equate) now, ^ diey sdh ^ • g when she was iXyeat«oy,$a^td(jew^ioadiecnopisatl^b^^ .Ottoto Sf^ Ihiivetsity when the events reached hote»NXX State studenfe^wl^ had tody dteteh^l^ o^n Mostly Oiinese people ^ke. Wo tsatt^h^ aaronnd the sehool* ^i^hng ^Ovtsrthrow the govmttnent*" ^ '' Commuutst itde, many people hive h^ to leave t^|^4o^'dtedeeadea* .... . y-' ' Sfl- t^anfty h> go to a place whece:m doa’t helottg> Btd onr ' eonwaitted to the mainland;^ ^ \ ^me iKteai situadou in China ever em Communist China,” he said. “Accord ing to my mother, I somehow knew it was safer in the womb, even when I was still a fetus. So I delayed my arrival almost a month. The Cultural Revolution was just a few weeks ahead, and the beginning of a long period of suffering everywhere." His pro-democracy parents and grand parents were denounced as enemies of the jjeople and sent to prisons and labor camps. Li spent his first three years being passed around from family to family and ended up in a child care center until he was adopted at the age of 6. “I was taken in by a kind-hearted coal miner. And it was with him and his wife and five children that I spent the most wonderful, time that I ever experienced in my childhood. For the first time I learned the basic words of mother and father, and understood the basic meanings of home and security and love." But it didn’t last. When Li was 10, an earthquake that would eventually claim some 240,000 lives destroyed his entire adoptive family. By this time, his grandmother, one of the earliest woman educators in China, had been released after serving 20 years in a Communist jail. Li said that she came into his life and inspired him to take a path toward education. Li said his grandmother gave him his first Confucian lesson. “She said, ’Boy, the key is education. With education, a weak man can be strong. With education, there is no limit.'” So he began to read the books banned by the Communist government. “In Com munist China, we don’t have schools only centers for brainwash. I have to find forbid den books to wash my head clear. “Reading forbidden books helped me understand the nature of this totalitarian regime. I realized more and more clearly how mad the society had become. But I also realized how mad I had become in the eyes of Communist society. The regime put political dissidents in psychiatric hospitals and cast them as madmen. The practice continues even today. Three years ago there was one lone student
East Wind (Asian Students Association, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Dec. 1, 1993, edition 1
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