Tiananmen Square Run Photo Kicks Up Controversy For Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, In China
While visiting Beijing this week, Mark Zuckerberg’s Tiananmen Square run photo stirred up controversy on his personal Facebook over both the location choice and the fact that he was exerting himself in the notoriously polluted Chinese city. The following message and photo went on his public page Thursday evening.
“It’s great to be back in Beijing! I kicked off my visit with a run through Tiananmen Square, past the Forbidden City and over to the Temple of Heaven.”
“Hey Mark, do you know (of course you do!) the place you jogged pass has hundreds of people being mowed down by tanks and machine guns 27 years ago? I have heard that on a windy day you can still smell the blood blowing in the wind, did you smell that Mark?”
“Pls enjoy your running in Beijing, [Mr. Zuckerberg] but just remember to the Chinese students who had been fought for democracy on that Tiananmen Square and they were killed by the China gov’t which is the communist gov’t.”
Not everyone was quite so shocked at Mark’s lack of acknowledgment of the events that took place at Tiananmen Square. Others felt that Mark simply posting a photo of himself in China, and that it was not necessary for him to turn the brief Facebook message into a political statement — many of these comments came from Chinese citizens themselves.
“Thats the weirdest thing u ever said to a guy who posted pic of himself running.”
“I’m quite sure that Mr. Zuckerberg, as you do, is totally aware of what happened there in 1989. However, he’s not cowardly sitting by a screen typing useless words but trying his best to change this world by working very hard. It will be in your best interests to look forward and get some exercise.”
In 1989, in the wake of the death of liberal reformer Hu Yaobang, the Tianamen Square demonstrations demanded government transparency, freedom of press and speech, and worker-controlled industries. At the beginning, the location of Zuckerberg’s jogging photo served as the meeting place for Hu’s mourners.
By April 25, the Chinese Politburo had decided that the student strikes in Tiananmen Square were getting out of hand. They issued a letter officially condemning them in state-run newspaper People’s Daily. After that, people who weren’t even students began manifesting there. As many as 1 million people filled the public plaza at one time, not to mention the offspring protests that formed in 400 other cities. Opinions were split on the event in the top tiers of Communist Party leadership.
By May 20, Tiananmen Square had its first showing of military strength. The most brutal crackdown took place on June 3 and 4, when the People’s Liberal Army stormed the plaza and first began firing on civilians. Official government numbers say at 241 civilians died, while some international voices say it was much higher — a debate still fiercely waged today. Journalist Jan Wong, who watched the events from her hotel room window, recalled the confrontation to PBS‘s Frontline.
“[A]fter a little while, like 40 minutes, people would gather up their nerve again and would crawl back to the corner and start screaming at the soldiers, and then the commander would eventually give another signal … and they’d shoot more in the backs. And this went on more than half a dozen times in the day.”
Some took the controversy about Zuckerberg’s photo in Tianamen Square much more lightly. The meme-ification of his running stop followed.
Surprising that #MarkZuckerberg didn’t foresee the parodies of his Beijing jog – not to mention the smog! pic.twitter.com/l1RfCShavL
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) March 18, 2016
In addition to the Tiananmen Square running photo controversy, many criticized Mark Zuckerberg for neglecting to wear a face mask while running in the heavily-polluted city, while others joked, and sometimes asserted, that he was only there to get China to allow citizens to access Facebook.
[Image via Kevin Frayer/Getty Images]
