This English version may have been machine-generated from the Chinese original and may not convey the original meaning accurately.
June has arrived.
This is a heavy month.
37 years ago, on June 4, 1989, the Tiananmen Square incident that shocked the world took place in Beijing. Students and citizens who took to the streets to fight for democracy, freedom, and against corruption were met with military suppression. Many lost their lives, many families were changed forever, and memories of that night have long been blocked and forgotten within mainland China.
This year marks the 37th anniversary of the June Fourth incident.
So when we arrived at Times Square in New York for our 49th action, this night felt a little different from usual.
Once again, 3 people showed up.
The number was small, but the weight this night carried far exceeded the number itself.
The Beginning of June, and the Beginning of Remembrance
Every June, as commemorative events begin around the world, people always find themselves thinking back to those young people of 1989.
Many of them were just as young as the tourists in Times Square today.
They once had futures, had dreams, and believed their country could become better.
Thirty-seven years have passed, and history has not faded away with the passage of time.
On the contrary, it constantly reminds those who come after: freedom does not exist naturally, and democracy has never arrived out of nowhere.
Many rights exist because someone once paid a price for them.
Standing in Times Square tonight, watching the endless stream of people, this is exactly what we thought of.
Remembrance is not only about looking back at the past.
Remembrance is also about reminding ourselves where the future should go.
We Are Chinese, But We Support Taiwan
Times Square was especially lively tonight.
Many people stopped to read our banners, and quite a few exchanged words with us.
Someone asked curiously:
Are you Taiwanese?
We answered:
No, we are Chinese. But we support Taiwan. Stand with Taiwan.
The person nodded in understanding.
Another passerby looked at our banner and shouted out on their own:
Free Taiwan!
We responded:
Free Taiwan!
Such an exchange may last only a few seconds, but it made us feel a kind of resonance that crosses language and nationality.
What was even more special was that one passerby asked if they could take a photo with us.
In our past activities, we often asked others to help take photos for us; but this time, someone actually wanted to become part of the photo themselves.
We don't know where he came from, nor do we know who he will share the photo with afterward.
But I believe that photos containing our banners and slogans will spread further across the internet.
And with each spread, more people will come to know:
that in Times Square, New York, there is a group of people continuously speaking out for democracy, freedom, and Taiwan.
A Relay That Has Never Ended
If the 48th action reminded me of that student from 1989 who said:
It's my duty.
Then the 49th action reminds me of something else:
Some responsibilities do not end simply because time has passed.
37 years can change many things.
They can turn students into elderly people, turn squares into history, and take many people away from this world.
But 37 years still cannot extinguish people's yearning for freedom and democracy.
The people of 1989 completed their own part of the journey.
And those who came after continue to carry the torch forward.
We mourn the departed.
We remember history.
We also hope that one day, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law will truly come to China, so that Taiwan no longer needs to face the threat of force, and so that the Chinese people can freely decide their own future.
This road may still be long.
But the responses that kept echoing through Times Square tonight tell us:
Persistence will, in the end, produce an echo.
The 49th action, recorded here.
Next Monday, the 50th action—we will still be there.