3 Jun
2013
3 Jun
'13
4:03 p.m.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 3, 2013
Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org>
mahajanr(a)rfa.org
Radio Free Asia Releases Interactive e-Book on 1989 Tiananmen Crackdown
WASHINGTON, DC - On the eve of the 24th anniversary of the June 4, 1989,
crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing, Radio Free Asia
released an interactive e-book in Mandarin Chinese, titled
<http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/jiaodianzhuizong/liusi> Tiananmen Incident in
Historical Perspective. Consisting of multimedia content and eyewitness
accounts, the digital-format publication recounts the demonstrations and the
eventual dead-of-night crackdown near Tiananmen Square that left an unknown
number of people dead in China's capital.
"Almost a quarter century later in China, government censors have all but
blotted out the memory of Tiananmen in the mainland," RFA President Libby
Liu said. "For those fortunate enough to have access to uncensored
information, that's as tragic as it is unimaginable.
"With this e-book, we hope to restore for our Chinese audience the real-life
stories and accurate information that is simply missing from China's
official version of what happened in Beijing on June 4, 1989."
The e-book comprises rare video footage, audio recordings, photographs, and
a timeline of events, as well as a detailed account by RFA Executive Editor
Dan Southerland, then the Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post, who
covered the events on the ground with a team of reporters. Also included are
interviews with surviving student leaders, who discuss the demonstrations
that began in mid-April and grew to about a million people in May. The lives
of these leaders since the 1989 crackdown, as well as some of its central
figures, are the subject of the publication's section "Where Are They Now?"
The e-book may be accessed and downloaded from RFA's website for iPads and
tablets, and will be made available on Apple iTunes in the near future.
# # #
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and
publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian
languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media.
RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and
expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information
and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by
an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager
<mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M:
202.489.8021
