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Socialism is Great ! Understanding China isn’t easy with its rather contained and warped ideology; fighting ideas that threaten to break away from the traditional "landlocked mentality" with brute force and the glorified Communist cause that asks of people to submit to government will—no questions asked.
The world was watching, but China couldn’t be bothered. The People’s Liberation Army took it on itself to quell the protest by opening fire, putting to a bloody end to the fight for democracy. A nationwide witch-hunt was launched for those who were part of the movement that incited anti-government sentiments. The ever-defiant Lijia Zhang was in the thick of the protest and mobilised factory workers to speak up in one voice. She recalls vividly: "The whole place was so thick with people that barely a drop of water could have trickled through ... every face was glowing with excitement; every pair of eyes sparkled with hope. Could the patriotism and the will of people once again form a force powerful enough to change history?" Her impassioned speech later lands the police on her doorstep. But she was proud of what she said that day in front of a multitude of protesters—the sense of liberation eliminating the last traces of fear. "Our ancestors told us that every man has a share in the responsibility for the fate of his country ... we workers are supposedly the masters of the nation. But do we have a say in our government? Can we express our views freely? Can we vote for our leaders? No! We have been locked in the shackles of dictatorship for too long. The students bravely went to the street ... the Chinese people have finally stood up! Victory will be with us! Long live democracy!" The book is a memoir of a factory worker, Lijia, who wanted to break the mould, where the length of the hair and the width of the trousers legs are subject to control and where the period police takes away the last shred of dignity. She was not content to have a job at the imposing state-controlled grey building that was all the life people around her knew. Lijia chronicles her life, her ardent pursuit of knowledge and English and her numerous affairs that only strengthened her resolve. From a factory worker to a regular speaker on BBC radio, Lijia’s did triumph. Her no-holds-barred narration opens up a chink into the closed worldview of China and the struggle of people caught between the ideals of Chairman Mao and the growing disenchantment with all things Communist do. Does democracy stand a chance in China, is for her people to answer.
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But
disillusioned by Mao and the principles at the heart of its leaders, her
people want democracy. From time to time there has been a subtle
questioning of the system that later snowballed into the massive
uprising by pro-democracy students at Beijing in 1989 at the Tiananmen
Square. For once, thousands of people dared to be part of the protest
across China.