Musician keeps memory of Tiananmen Square alive

Music is not going to topple the Chinese Communist dictatorship.

More and more, it seems nothing will.

But music is all that Fengshi Yang has.

“China is not getting better,” said the Columbia College music teacher. “It’s getting worse.”

She feels obligated to do what she can: present another commemorative concert in her hometown of Naperville, performed this Sunday by the East Meets West Music Arts chamber orchestra to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, in which Chinese students demanding democracy were slaughtered by their government.

China does what it can to suppress the memory of the massacre, using its complete control of the Chinese online media. There, you can get in trouble for even mentioning “June 4” or “6/4.”

In 2012, when the Shanghai stock market fell 64.89 points at the time of the anniversary, Chinese censors began blocking searches for “index” and “Shanghai stock market.”

China can’t suppress American free speech, yet, but its chilling influence is felt right here in America’s heartland. It has increasingly tried to impose its uncritical nationalism, casting honest history as mere bigotry. Chinese exchange students sometimes push to import the propaganda they grew up on at home to American campuses. I interviewed a neighbor, born in China, who 30 years ago was a student protesting at Tiananmen Square. An American citizen now, he asked me to not only refrain from using his last name, but also his first.

“Call me Tony,” he said, explaining that he has to travel back to China from time to time.

Yang, also an American citizen, is barred from returning: she couldn’t see her ailing father, a Shanghai music professor, before he died in 2012. It is a cruel system, one patriotic Americans should defy, not emulate.

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Yang, who came to this country in 1986 to get her doctorate in music at the University of Chicago has been putting on these concerts since 1990, though this one is particularly significant to her.

“This is 30 years,” she said. “A generation. The world should not forget. There are people who died. Chinese human rights have gotten even worse. I want to use music to remember.”

Music is a gentle weapon to bring to bear against the might of Red China, isn’t it?

“It’s gentle, but it’s a powerful message,” she replied. “About humanity.”

A tricky topic, humanity. It could be argued that the United States has its own democracy problems. That we are having difficulty maintaining our own standards of human rights in the face of growing home-grown despotism, never mind worrying about anyone else.

A valid point.

But acting as tacit co-conspirators to the Chinese whitewash of history doesn’t make us any more free, and seeing how easily the voice of the people is crushed, by tanks and soldiers, aided by surveillance and technology, reminds us of the stakes. Countries can change for the worse. Even ours.

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Yang has seen musicians from her East Meets West Music Arts chamber orchestra bow out of her commemorative concerts, worried about repercussions.

“They were afraid,” she said. “Afraid of the communists — they try to intimidate people. There is pressure.”

Those brave enough to perform at a musical concert in Naperville, despite the wishes of Communist China, will play the debut of Yang’s new vocal composition, “Eternal Spring,” written to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre — where hundreds, maybe thousands died. The true figures are of course unknown.

In addition to music, the writer Ma Jian will read from his novel about Tiananmen Square, “Beijing Coma,” and Fang Zheng, who lost both legs when he was run over by a tank 30 years ago at Tiananmen Square, will offer testimony.

The concert is Sunday, June 2 at 4:40 p.m. at North Central College’s Wentz Hall, 171 E. Chicago Avenue in Naperville. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. Yang hopes several hundred people come, to demonstrate that in some quarters, freedom is still cherished.

“Music is my profession,” said Yang. “I must do it. Our voices need to be heard. The world needs to know. I must keep faith so that we could continue to push for democracy and freedom for China. We have to keep it up. That’s why we need to remember this day, and remind the world: We should not forget.”

Jeff Widener/Associated Press