Dissident revisits 1989 Tiananmen crackdown

Scars of history: Wang rallying pro-democracy activists at Tiananmen Square in 1989. (Right) Today, he lives in Washington and attends Harvard University. — AFP

Germantown: In May 1989, Wang Dan was 20 years old. With a megaphone held up to his thin face, he rallied pro-democracy crowds in Beijing’s Tianan­men Square.

Little more than a month later, after a deadly crackdown by Chin­ese troops, he found himself on the top of the country’s most wanted list.Now, 30 years on, the US-based dissident still remembers those pivotal days when student-led pro-democracy activists demonstrated for weeks – a huge embarrassment for the ruling Communist Party.