ND Expert: 20 years after Tiananmen marks “tragic end of near triumphant struggle” | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › ND Expert: 20 years after Tiananmen marks “tragic end of near triumphant struggle” ND Expert: 20 years after Tiananmen marks “tragic end of near triumphant struggle” Published: June 03, 2009 Author: Roberta White For the families and friends left to mourn scores of innocent Chinese citizens who were slaughtered two decades ago in Tiananmen Square for calling for government reform, June 4 will be a day filled with anger, sadness and resentment. But there will be no memorial event marking that historic struggle. “June 4 marks the tragic end of a near triumphant struggle of the Chinese people against a corrupt and illegitimate authoritarian state,” says Lionel Jensen, associate professor of East Asian languages and cultures at the University of Notre Dame. “There is an urgency that attends the anticipation in Western journalism of a 20th anniversary memorial insurgency, a long awaited comeuppance for the decades of official denial of the slaughter and the unaccountable turning of the People’s Liberation Army on the people in the Square. However, this dramatic scenario will not be staged in real time,” says Jensen, whose areas of specialty include Chinese nationalism and Chinese religion and thought. The Chinese communist government’s commitment to the rapidly growing national economy – which has raised thousands out of poverty – has overshadowed Chinese citizens’ cry for legitimate rule, according to Jensen. “This is the Party’s answer to the massacre: an offering to the generations living beyond the unspeakable to pursue wealth without much political interference. In the eyes of many, the dream of economic self-sufficiency that was a revolutionary ideal prophesied by the Party’s leaders, has been achieved,” Jensen says. “As long as the government’s diminished legitimacy remains tethered to the desperate, blind retreat from Tiananmen, there will always be a sliver of a chance that there will be a frank public accounting of what transpired. Unfortunately, that accounting will not occur this year.” Contact: Lionel Jensen, 574-631-7699 Jensen.21@nd.edu. Posted In: International Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related September 30, 2022 Nanovic Institute to welcome former President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović September 29, 2022 Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants September 27, 2022 Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis September 14, 2022 Apostolic nuncio to Great Britain to deliver the 2022 Keeley Vatican Lecture September 12, 2022 Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street … in different countries? For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn