Tank Man
The Tank Man (also known as the Unknown Protester or Unknown Rebel) is the nickname given to an unidentified individual, presumed to be a Chinese man, who stood in front of a column of Type 59 tanks leaving Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 5, 1989, the day after the government of China had protests. As the lead tank maneuvered to pass by the man, he repeatedly shifted his position in order to obstruct the tank's attempted path around him, and forced the tanks to halt to avoid running him over. The incident was filmed and shared to a worldwide audience. Internationally, it is considered one of the most iconic images of all time.[1][2][3] Inside China, the image and the accompanying events are subject to censorship.[4][5]
"Tankman" redirects here. For the operator of a military tank, see Tank § Crew. For the American wrestler, see Calvin Tankman.
"Tank Man"
Chinese (presumed)
- Unknown Protester
- Unknown Rebel
- Wang Weilin (posited)
Iconic photo of him obstructing tanks during the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
There is no reliable information about the identity or fate of Tank Man; the story of what happened to the tank crew is also unknown.[6] At least one witness has stated that Tank Man was not the only person to have blocked the tanks during the protest,[8] but Tank Man is unique in that he is the only one who was photographed and recorded on video.
Obstruction[edit]
At the northeast edge of Tiananmen Square, along Chang'an Avenue, shortly after noon on June 5, 1989, the day after the Chinese government's violent crackdown on the Tiananmen protests, "Tank Man" stood in the middle of the wide avenue, directly in the path of a column of approaching Type 59 tanks.[9][10][11] Stuart Franklin, who was on assignment for Time magazine, told The New York Times: "At some point, shots were fired and the tanks carried on down the road toward us, leaving Tiananmen Square behind, until blocked by a lone protester."[1] He wore a white shirt and black trousers, and he held two shopping bags.[12] As the tanks came to a stop, the man gestured at them with one of the bags. In response, the lead tank attempted to drive around the man, but the man repeatedly stepped into the path of the tank in a show of nonviolent action.[13] After repeatedly attempting to go around, the lead tank stopped its engines, and the armored vehicles behind it followed suit. There was a short pause with the man and the tanks having reached a quiet, still impasse.
Having successfully brought the column to a halt, the man climbed onto the hull of the buttoned-up lead tank and, after briefly stopping at the driver's hatch, appeared in video footage of the incident to call into various ports in the tank's turret. He then climbed atop the turret and seemed to have a short conversation with a crew member at the gunner's hatch. After ending the conversation, the man descended from the tank. The tank commander briefly emerged from his hatch, and the tanks restarted their engines, ready to continue on. At that point, the man, who was still standing within a meter (yard) or two from the side of the lead tank, leapt in front of the vehicle once again and quickly re-established the man–tank standoff.
Video footage shows two figures in blue pulling the man away and disappearing with him into a nearby crowd; the tanks continued on their way.[13] Eyewitnesses are unsure who pulled him aside. Charlie Cole, who was there for Newsweek, claimed it was the Chinese government agents,[14] while Jan Wong, who was there for The Globe and Mail, thought that the men who pulled him away were concerned bystanders.[15]
Identity and disappearance[edit]
Little is publicly known of the man's identity or that of the commander of the lead tank. Shortly after the incident, London newspaper Sunday Express named him as "Wang Weilin" (王维林), a 19-year-old student[16] who was later charged with "political hooliganism" and "attempting to subvert members of the People's Liberation Army."[17] This claim has been rejected by internal Chinese Communist Party documents, which reported that they could not find the man, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights.[18] One party member was quoted as saying: "We can't find him. We got his name from journalists. We have checked through computers but can't find him among the dead or among those in prison."[18] Numerous theories have sprung up as to the man's identity and current whereabouts.[19]
There are several conflicting stories about what happened to him after the demonstration. In a speech to the President's Club in 1999, Bruce Herschensohn, former deputy special assistant to US President Richard Nixon, alleged that he was executed 14 days later; other sources alleged he was executed by firing squad a few months after the Tiananmen Square protests.[13] In Red China Blues: My Long March from Mao to Now, Jan Wong writes that she believes from her interactions with the government press that they have "no idea who he was either" and that he is still alive somewhere on the mainland. Another theory is that he escaped to Taiwan and remains employed there as an archaeologist in the National Palace Museum. This was first reported by the Yonhap news agency in South Korea.[20]
The Chinese government has made few statements about the incident or the people involved. The government denounced him as a "scoundrel" once on state television, but it was never shown publicly again.[21][22] In a 1990 interview with Barbara Walters, then-General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin was asked what became of the man. Jiang first stated (through an interpreter), "I can't confirm whether this young man you mentioned was arrested or not", and then replied in English, "I think [that he was] never killed."[21] The government also argued that the incident evidenced the "humanity" of the country's military.[23]
In a 2000 interview with Mike Wallace, Jiang said, "He was never arrested." He then stated, "I don't know where he is now." He also emphasized that the tank stopped and did not run the young man over.[24]
Legacy[edit]
In April 1998, Time included the "Unknown Rebel" in a feature titled "Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century".[13] In November 2016, Time included the photograph by Jeff Widener in "Time 100: The Most Influential Images of All Time".[46]
In media[edit]
In the 1999 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song "Stand and Be Counted", from the album Looking Forward, David Crosby sings of his gratitude to Tank Man, whose photograph he had framed and mounted.[47]
A similar scene is depicted in the music video for "Club Foot" (2004) by the English rock band Kasabian.[48]
A fictionalized version of the fates of both the Tank Man and a soldier in the tank is told in Lucy Kirkwood's 2013 play Chimerica, which premiered at the Almeida Theatre from May 20, 2013, to July 6, 2013.[49]
On June 4, 2013, Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblog, blocked terms whose English translations are "today", "tonight", "June 4", and "big yellow duck". If these were searched for, a message appeared stating that, in accordance with relevant laws, statutes, and policies, the results of the search could not be shown. The censorship occurred because a photoshopped version of Tank Man, in which rubber ducks replaced the tanks, had been circulating around Twitter[50]—a reference to Florentijn Hofman's Rubber Duck sculpture, which at that time was floating in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.[51]
In April 2019, Leica Camera released an advert depicting photographers in intense political climates, including 1989 China. The five-minute short ends with a photographer shooting from a hotel window with the Tank Man image reflected in his lens despite the fact that the original photograph was taken with a Nikon camera.[52] Following censorship of the Leica brand on Sina Weibo, Leica revoked the advert and sought to distance themselves from it.[53]