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The Goddess of Democracy:

Memorialization as a Form of Political Protest

By: Julie Sagram

In 1991, on the eve of the second anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, a woman

made of white marble dust was put on display at the campus of the University of British

Columbia (UBC). Bestowed the title of Goddess of Democracy, she commemorates the many

lives lost during the Tiananmen Massacre of June 4th, 1989. Her arrival was met with a ceremony

of three hundred people who wished to witness the erection of this highly symbolic monument,

which continues to stand today “in memory of those who died”.1 It is evident through her history,

however, that this statue is not solely a memorial – it also serves as a politicized object designed

to represent the ongoing protest against the oppression of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The Goddess symbolizes the liberal revolutionary ideals that were crushed by the People’s

Liberation Army (PLA) on June 4th, while standing in defiance against the government-imposed

silence, censorship and collective amnesia that characterize the legacy of this event in China. In

several parts of the world where the memory of the massacre has not been banned but deemed

necessary, this statue has been replicated as an expression of hope for China’s democratization.

This paper seeks to explore the political role and international significance of the Goddess of

Democracy by unravelling the Goddess' history, examining her international imitations, and

discussing how her political connotations spill over in both domestic and international spheres.

1 UBC Goddess of Democracy plaque

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Historical Background

The original Goddess of Democracy was created amidst the Tiananmen Square protests: a

transformative series of pro-democratic protests in 1989 against government corruption and

social inequality. These protests erupted under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, who came into

power following Chairman Mao’s death in 1976 and introduced China to an era of Gaige

Kaifang (Reforms and Openness).2 China became more exposed to international relations, as

demonstrated by Deng’s 1979 visit to the United States and its improved relations with Japan,

and became less opposed to Western cultural influence, as indicated by the lifted ban on Western

literature, art and film.3 The tide of Chinese politics seemed to be turning with a move towards

liberalization; which after a long period of radical oppression under Mao, gave students and

young workers hope for a brighter future in China. Under Deng, China was on the path toward

becoming a global superpower by the 21st century.4 However, despite the promising ideals of the

reforming CPC, inflation and social inequality undermined economic growth and citizens

became frustrated with government corruption, nepotism and incompetence.5 A growing portion

of the population began calling for faster progress on a larger scale, and believed that further

modernization through democratization was necessary to advance the country.

States undergoing modernization in hopes of gaining power and wealth often look

towards the West as a model. Imitating the political structure of Western nations in order to

achieve their level of prosperity was an idea that emerged in China in the late 1800s, when a

remedy for the nation’s relative weakness as a global power was in demand. This notion

2 Anderson, Donna Rouviere, and Forrest Anderson. Silenced Scream: A Visual History of the 1989 Tiananmen

Protests. Rouviere Media, 2009. 68. 3 Langley, Andrew. Tiananmen Square: Massacre Crushes China's Democracy Movement. Compass Point Books,

2009. 27. 4 Ibid. 5 Duiker, William J. Contemporary World History. Cengage Learning, 2014. 258.

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challenged traditional Chinese political thought based on Confucianism, which prioritizes the

role of a benevolent ruler tasked with maintaining public order to ensure peace and productivity.

The principles of democracy, which center around individualism and equality, naturally come

into conflict with the Confucian values of collectivism and hierarchy – however, Confucian

scholars have proposed a compromise.6 Likewise, the democratic movement in China advocated

mostly for a form of Chinese democracy – one that remained within the broad framework of

Marxism and Chinese political thought.7 It is difficult, however, to reconcile the disordered

nature of individual freedom with the traditional Confucian value of harmony, which the CPC’s

policies are based upon.

Prior to the protests of 1989, Deng Xiaoping had already begun hardening his stance

against individual freedom in order to maintain stability. The government had instated laws

against public demonstration in response to the Democracy Wall movement in 1978,8 and

increased the enforcement of existing laws after the pro-democracy protests of 1986.9 Student

leaders of these movements were arrested, and several high-ranking party officials were accused

of “bourgeois liberalization.”10 Most significantly, General Secretary Hu Yaobang was dismissed

in January 1987. His purge from government served only to increase political unrest, since he

was seen as a hero to the democratic movement.11 Eventually, Hu’s sudden death by heart attack

in April 1989 provoked a wave of distress and grief that was great enough to cause a gathering at

6 Schell, Orville. "Liang Qichao: China's First Democrat." In Discos and Democracy: China in the Throes of

Reform. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010. 7 "Chinese Democracy." Tiananmen: The Gate of Heavenly Peace. http://www.tsquare.tv/themes/essay.html. 8 Goldman, Merle. From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political Rights in China. Harvard University Press,

2005. 49. 9 Lu, Yonghong. China's Legal Awakening Legal Theory and Criminal Justice in Deng's Era. Hong Kong

University Press, 1995. 276. 10 Hong, Junhao. The Internationalization of Television in China: The Evolution of Ideology, Society, and Media

Since the Reform. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998. 102. 11 Langley, Tiananmen Square, 30.

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Tiananmen Square, initially as a mourning ceremony.12 It quickly grew into a full-scale

demonstration, due to the increase of anti-government sentiment and added urgency to the

protesters’ demands for freedom of speech, an end to corruption, and democratic elections.

By April 18th, ten thousand protesters were involved; by April 22nd, that number grew to

one hundred thousand. Less than a month later, an estimated one million people were present in

Tiananmen Square.13 It was the largest political protest in Communist China’s history.14 Despite

its scale, the protests were unable to persuade the political elite to consider possible government

reforms.15 While some protesters began resorting to hunger strikes, many began to give up their

fight due to exhaustion. 16 Towards the end of May, there was an atmosphere in the square of lost

hope for democracy in China. In order to strengthen their resolve, the portrait of Mao at

Tiananmen Square was confronted with the erection of the Goddess – in a face-off that would

determine whether a people’s fight for democracy could defeat the long-standing elite-controlled

Communist Party of China.17

The Political Role of the Goddess of Democracy

In hopes of bolstering the movement, students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts were

hired to construct the Goddess of Democracy beginning on May 27th.18 Her form was based on a

12 Wright, Teresa. "Protest As Participation: China's Local Protest Movements." In Mobilizing Dissent: Local

Protest, Global Audience. World Politics Review, 2013. 13 Langley, Tiananmen Square, 32-35. 14 "Timeline: Tiananmen Protests." BBC News. June 2, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-

27404764 15 Schock, Kurt. Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies. University of Minnesota

Press, 2005. 101. 16 Schell, Orville. Mandate of Heaven: The Legacy of Tiananmen Square and the Next Generation of China's

Leaders. Simon & Schuster, 1995. 128-129. 17 Ibid. 130. 18 Simmie, Scott. "The Goddess of Democracy's Short but Enduring Life Began 25 Years Ago." The Star, May 27,

2014.

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sculpture of a man holding a pole, and her feminine characteristics were strategically added.19

Protesters believed that the symbolism of a female deity that alluded to Western folklore, the

Roman Goddess of Liberty,20 would resonate more with international supporters of the

movement. Her resemblance to the Statue of Liberty is indisputable and was deliberately used to

appeal to an American audience.21 The torch in particular is a common symbol of enlightenment,

which “lights the way to freedom, showing us the path to Liberty”.22

Although it was primarily an object of self-expression, the Goddess was intended to gain

more international sympathy, since it had proven to be an excellent source of political pressure

on the Chinese government.23 It was also able to recruit over one million U.S. dollars’ worth of

donations from the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and many other nations in

support of the democratization movement.24 The protesters benefited from the world identifying

with their cause, but were careful to maintain balance, since they did not want to give credence

to the authorities’ theory that the protests were being completely orchestrated by the West. At

first, she was most commonly referred to as the Goddess of Liberty due to her resemblance to the

Statue of Liberty, before given the official title of Goddess of Democracy – which expressed

identification with American values less explicitly.25

19 Dean, Jodi. Cultural Studies & Political Theory. Cornell University Press, 2000. 169. 20 Fischer, David Hackett. Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas. Oxford University

Press, 2005. 234. 21 Weiss, Jessica Chen. Powerful Patriots: Nationalist Protest in China's Foreign Relations. Oxford University

Press, 2014. 228. 22 United States National Park Service. "Frequently Asked Questions About the Statue of Liberty." National Parks

Service. December 4, 2014. http://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/get-the-facts.htm. 23 Stoner, Kathryn, and Michael McFaul. Transitions to Democracy: A Comparative Perspective. JHU Press, 2013.

393. 24 Zhang, Liang, Andrew J. Nathan, and Perry Link. The Tiananmen Papers. Public Affairs, 2008. 334. 25 Schell, Orville. The China Reader: The Reform Era. Vintage Books, 1999.

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On May 30th, she was officially

welcomed to the square with the protesters’

cheers and applause (Figure 1). The

unveiling of the Goddess attracted

significant attention and is credited with re-

expanding the movement from ten thousand

to hundreds of thousands of square occupants.26 This paper-mâché, thirty-three-foot tall symbol

of freedom and democracy inspired the crowd and caused many protesters to announce their

revived determination.27 It is also likely that she succeeded in her mission to gain or at least

maintain international sympathy, since Western media took notice and the support continued.28

The Goddess of Democracy also provoked a harsh reactionary response by the government. The

statue was seen as a terrible offense against the honor of the CPC, emphasized by her

confrontational position in the face of Mao, and was “reviled…as desecration”.29

On June 4th, when soldiers were ordered to have the square cleared by 6:00 AM using any

means necessary to clear impediments,30 the Goddess of Democracy was a target, whose fall

would symbolize the irreversible destruction of the democratic movement in China.31 As one

graduate student from the Central Academy of Fine Arts said, “The statue was made so that once

assembled, it could not be taken apart again, but would have to be destroyed all at once.”32 The

26 Katsiaficas, George. Asia's Unknown Uprisings: People Power in the Philippines, Burma, Tibet, China, Taiwan,

Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia 1947-2009.PM Press, 2013. 158. 27 Brook, Timothy. Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement. Stanford

University Press, 1998. 88. 28 Stoners, Transitions to Democracy, 393. 29 Buckley, Chris. "The Rise and Fall of the Goddess of Democracy." New York Times, June 1, 2014.

http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-goddess-of-democracy 30 MacFarquhar, Roderick. The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and Deng. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

457. 31 Fischer, Liberty and Freedom, 725. 32 Ibid.

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protests were seen in a similar way by the Chinese government, and in a matter of hours, the

thousands of occupants of the square were forced out or otherwise killed by the PLA.33 The

statue, the democratic movement, and many protesters were massacred in the early morning of

June 4th, 1989.

Collective Amnesia vs. Memory

The remembrance of the Tiananmen Square Massacre is highly controversial, and

depending on which version of history one subscribes to, the Communist Party of China is either

defended or condemned. Amid the uncertainty and disorder of the days following June 4th,

Chinese authorities popularized their own interpretation of the event, which classified the

democratic protests as “counter-revolutionary riots” that posed the threat of reverting China to

the state of chaos experienced during the Cultural Revolution.34 According to the officials, the

PLA had shown great restraint and dignity in their actions and opened fire only in self-defence.35

These claims are highly contested, along with the preliminary death toll, which was reported by

the Chinese government to be 241, including 23 soldiers.36 Many witness testimonies estimate

the number of protester deaths to be in the thousands.37

After several months, in the early 1990s, the government halted the public retelling of

their story, and began discouraging any public discussion of the “June Fourth Incident”. The

authorities have opted for a systematic process of forgetting – limiting information in education

33 "Timeline: Tiananmen Protests." BBC News. 34 Wasserstrom, Jeffrey. "China's June 4, 1989: Remembered — and Misremembered." Time, June 3, 2010. 35 Lim, Louisa. The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

94. 36 Ibid. 7. 37 Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl WuDunn. Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia. Knopf Doubleday

Publishing Group, 2000.

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and media while monitoring citizens to an extraordinary extent.38 Indeed, the Chinese

government spends more on internal security than national defense, through surveillance and

censorship.39 Despite the small handful of citizens who are attempting to revive the memory of

Tiananmen, government efforts to contain its memory have largely been successful. 40 In a nation

where memory means defiance and the risk of imprisonment, compliance to national amnesia is

certainly the safest choice.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world was publicly outraged by the violent actions of the army

against the peaceful protesters. Leading up to the crackdown, Western media portrayed the

protests as “a heroic struggle by ordinary freedom-loving people against the totalitarian might of

the Chinese government.”41 The Tiananmen Square Massacre provoked serious criticism from

the international community, and the United States and its allies dramatically decreased their

official visits, foreign investment, and foreign lending with China.42 The commemoration of the

victims of the massacre through construction of monuments is another significant way the

Western world has expressed their political standpoint – and the most prevalent form of

memorial is the replication of the Goddess of Democracy.

Replicas Worldwide

Imitations of the Goddess were erected as memorials for June 4th beginning as early as

1989. Replicas have appeared repeatedly in Hong Kong and all across North America –

specifically, in the cities of Los Angeles (1989), San Francisco (1994), Arlington (1999),

38 Lim, Louisa, The People's Republic of Amnesia, 208-211. 39 Ibid. 211. 40 Ibid. 41 White, P.R.R. "Evaluative Semantics and Ideological Positioning in Journalistic Discourse – a New Framework

for Analysis." In Mediating Ideology in Text and Image: Ten Critical Studies. John Benjamins Publishing, 2006. 49. 42 Ross, Robert S., Allen S. Whiting, and Harry Harding. "China's Foreign Relations After Tiananmen: Challenges

for the U.S." NBR Analysis, 1990. http://www.nbr.org/publications/issue.aspx?id=143.

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Washington (1989 and 2007), Vancouver (1991), Calgary (1995), and Toronto (1992 and 2012).

Many of these replicas have attracted controversy, and emphasize the Goddess of Democracy’s

significance as a highly politicized symbol. For example, the 1992 statue at York University was

reportedly removed without warning, with speculations linked to Chinese political pressure.43

The replica in Los Angeles was banned by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce from entering the

Chinese New Year parade.44 Another replica was set to be constructed in Taiwan, however, the

president “bowed to political pressure from Mainland China” and cancelled these plans.45 These

instances of censorship and control reveal the fragility and insecurity of the Chinese government,

and indicate the Goddess’ ability to provoke political antagonism.

On June 12th, 2007, a bronze replica in Washington, D.C. was revealed as the Victims of

Communism Memorial. On her pedestal, two politically active statements are inscribed: “To the

more than one hundred million victims of communism and to those who love liberty” and “To

the freedom and independence of all captive nations and peoples.”46 President George Bush

delivered an emblematic speech at her ceremony of unveiling, ending his speech with the words,

“May those who continue to suffer under Communism find their freedom.”47 This caused the

Chinese government to accuse the U.S. of “defam[ing] China”.48 The writing that accompanies

the statue, as well as the speech delivered by President Bush, demonstrate an unmistakable

43 Keung, Nicholas. "What Happened to the Goddess of Democracy?" The Star, August 18, 2011.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/08/18/what_happened_to_the_goddess_of_democracy.html. 44 Chong, Linda. "No 'Goddess' for Chinese New Year Celebrants." Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1990.

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-11/local/me-1088_1_chinese-culture. 45 Rong, Xiao. "Lawsuit Over Canceled Statue." Radio Free Asia, April 25, 2012.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/statue-04252012104711.html. 46 "The Memorial." Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. http://victimsofcommunism.org/initiative/the-

memorial/. 47 Ibid. 48 Falk, Leora. "D.C. Memorial Honors Victims of Communism." The Spokesman-Review, June 13, 2007.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=20070613&id=HrsyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SvMDAAAAIBAJ&pg

=7070,679288.

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attempt to use the Goddess of Democracy to remind the public of the dangers of communism,

while at the same time encouraging democracy abroad and acting defiantly against the will of the

CPC. Although the political dimension of the Goddess is not always made so explicit, the same

implications are still present in every instance of her replication.

The Goddess of Democracy at UBC

The replica at the University of British Columbia was erected on June 3rd, 1991. The

artists, Joseph Caveno and Hung Chung, used white marble dust and epoxy to create this nine

foot tall sculpture of the famous Goddess and modeled it after the replica in San Francisco

(Figure 2).49 A ceremony of inauguration took place

to welcome her arrival, accompanied by speeches

that honored those who died for democracy,

condemned the brutality of the CPC, and expressed

support for the continuation of the democratic

movement in China.50

Unfortunately, monuments tend to lose their

provocative nature over time and become susceptible

to invisibility. The familiarity that spectators develop

with the object, in addition to the persistence and

longevity of the monument genre, creates a

paradoxical connection between commemoration

49 "Outdoor Art Tour." Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. http://www.belkin.ubc.ca/files/outdoor_long.pdf. 50 Ming, Liu Bing. "The Unveiling Ceremony of the Goddess of Democracy Statue." Carnegie Newsletter, August

15, 1990. http://edocs.lib.sfu.ca/projects/chodarr/carnegie_newsletters/1990-08-15.pdf#page=4.

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and historical indifference.51 However, like the original and her other imitations, she has been the

center of attention at certain momentous points in her life – and it is precisely these moments that

allow for a constructive dialogue between the Goddess and her spectators, resulting in a

negotiated understanding of her symbolism. Monuments are like prisms, which filter, clarify or

distort memory, acting as mediums between the commemorated event and the spectator's

perception.52 Therefore, without an interested and informed audience, memorials designed to be

political objects that urge the remembrance and relevance of a historical event can be rendered

meaningless.53 The legacy of UBC's Goddess of Democracy depends on her audience's

participation as active interpreters, which was most prominent at her time of conception and

provoked the type of political debate necessary for constructing meaning through negotiation.

The Goddess first appeared in Vancouver at an art exhibition in August of 1989 held to

commemorate the events of June 4th. It was decided that this sculpture was worthy of public

display as a memorial, which led the community to debate which location would be most

suitable.54 The Vancouver's Society in Support of the Democratic Movement (VSSDM) argued

that the Goddess should be placed in Vancouver's Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden – a

garden named after the father of modern China. However, the garden's board of trustees

disapproved, because the garden was “not a political forum”, and therefore the statue was

deemed inappropriate.55 Additionally, the CPC had donated more than $500,000 to the building

of the garden, which has caused speculations that the Chinese government had influence in the

51 Carrier, Peter. Holocaust Monuments and National Memory Cultures in France and Germany since 1989: The

Origins and Political Function of the Vel' D'Hiv' in Paris and the Holocaust Monument in Berlin. Berghahn Books,

2005. 15. 52 Ibid. 32. 53 Ibid. 41. 54 Parton, Nicole. "Goddess of Democracy a Hot Lady in Vancouver." The Vancouver Sun, August 22, 1989. 55 Ibid.

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decision.56 Upon the failure of negotiations with the Vancouver Parks Board, the VSSDM

approached the Alma Mater Society of UBC through the Chinese Student and Scholar

Association, and received a warm welcome.57

Once established at UBC, however, her presence continued to create debate among

members of the Chinese community in Vancouver. Some Chinese-Canadians agreed with

Dongquing Wei, the president of the Federation of Chinese Student Scholars of Canada, who

appreciated the statue as an expression of the “outrage of Chinese student scholars to the

massacre” while supporting the endeavor to “protect human rights and promote the

democratization of China”.58 In contrast, opponents of the statue felt offended and dismayed. The

Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) issued an open letter to the Chinese community in

Vancouver’s Sing Tao Daily, describing the erection of the statue as a “dirty political act” and a

“blatant interference with the affairs of another country”.59 The CBA has also expressed concern

that it would “affect the peace of fellow Chinese and the prosperity and stability of

Chinatown”.60 Former professor of Art History at UBC and witness to the Tiananmen Square

Massacre, Hsingyuan Tsao, seems to agree that the statue does not serve a noble purpose, and

holds the view that the statue is painful for some of the Chinese community to look at, since it

“commemorates a failed attempt at achieving what Canada already has.”61 Variation in public

reception of the Goddess of Democracy is inevitable, since monument interpretations depend on

56 Ibid. 57 Farrow, Moira. "Tiananmen Statue site proposed: Society seeks UBC site for the replica of Tiananmen statue."

The Vancouver Sun, October 4, 1990. 58 Abbott, Paul. "Goddess' Position on Campus in Question." Ubyssey, September 21, 1990. Accessed December 13,

2014. http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/compoundobject/collection/Ubysseynews/id/27758/rec/3. 59 Ibid. 60 Ibid. 61 Tsao, Hsingyuan. Interview by Thomas Friedenbach. University of British Columbia, April 7, 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsZftBLK2VQ.

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an individual's perspective, prior knowledge of the event, and the degree of their personal and

emotional involvement.62

Memorials can also be used in dramatically different ways

than their intended purposes, allowing them to take on different

roles depending on the political intentions of the interpreters. For

example, in February 1997, a series of student demonstrations

against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

conference that took place on campus that year in November used

the Goddess of Democracy as a focal point of protest. There was

an absence of human rights issues on the conference agenda, and

given that several members of APEC are leaders of nations with a

recently bloodstained history, student opposition felt that UBC was hypocritical in their decision

to welcome these “human rights abusers, murderers, and dictators” to the campus.63 Protesters

hung a sign around the Goddess’ neck, urging students to “Remember Tiananmen! Remember

East Timor! No to APEC at UBC! No Mass Murderers at UBC!” (Figure 3), and beneath her on

the ground, someone chalked out a new name for her: The Goddess of Hypocrisy.64 In

September, she was vandalized with lipstick and eyeliner being added to her face, along with

being “gagged”, “bound” and “taped up in plastic” – however, APEC protesters do not take

responsibility for these acts, which were considered particularly outrageous.65 Nonetheless, it is

apparent that the Goddess was taken out of context in order to serve these protests. Her

62 Carrier, Holocaust Monuments and National Memory Cultures, 32. 63 Capler, Nicole. "Democracy Bound and Gagged at UBC." Ubyssey, April 8, 1997.

http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/compoundobject/collection/Ubysseynews/id/31518/rec/1. 64 Ibid. 65 Ibid.

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symbolism was altered to represent the memory of human rights abuses in Asia, rather than

representing the hope for democracy in China.

In October of 2014, another group of activists took interest in the Goddess of Democracy

– decorating her with a yellow umbrella, ribbons, and flowers in support of the recent uprising in

Hong Kong (Figure 4). Students stopped to take photos and admire her beauty in the new context

of the Umbrella Revolution, which allowed for a re-negotiation of her meaning by the

community. Similar to the Tiananmen Square protests, citizens of Hong Kong in September of

2014 protested against the authoritarianism of the Communist

Party of China and demanded democratic rights in response to their

refusal to allow Hong Kong citizens to choose their own Chief

Executive candidates, despite their agreement to preserve the

independent political system of Hong Kong prior to its transfer of

sovereignty.66 The Umbrella Revolution did not end in bloodshed,

however supporters of the Umbrella Revolution in Mainland China

have been censored and imprisoned, and the protesters in Hong

Kong have been forced to give up their fight. Not unlike the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square

Massacre, participants in these events expect to experience intimidation and increased

supervision from Chinese authorities.67 Regardless, the hope for the protesters’ cause in both

Hong Kong and Mainland China lives on, and may provoke future unrest due to the increased

levels of oppression, control and censorship in their everyday lives.

66 "Hong Kong's Democracy Debate." BBC News. October 7, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-

27921954. 67 Westscott, Lucy. "Photos: Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protest Site Dismantled." Newsweek, December 12, 2014.

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Conclusion

The Czech writer Milan Kundera once wrote, “The struggle of man against power is the

struggle of memory against forgetting.”68 This holds true in the case of the Chinese people’s

struggle against the power of the Communist Party, which is characterized largely by refusing to

forget the events of June 4th, 1989, as well as the many “little Tiananmens” that occur on a daily

basis.69 The key to maintaining the Goddess of Democracy’s function as a generator of historical

consciousness is to allow for recurrent debate about her political significance and relevance

today. As long as the Goddess of Democracy occasionally arises as a focal point of dialogue, she

will remain a strongly symbolic figure that stands on the campus of UBC – not only as a

reminder of the massacre and its victims, but as a symbol of the unresolved conflict between the

persistence of authoritarianism in China and supporters of the democratic movement worldwide.

The painful memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China is a wound that has been

improperly bandaged with amnesia, and remains unhealed. The Goddess of Democracy is a

powerful piece of commemorative art with the ability to remedy the indifference towards this

increasingly forgotten event, which has not only transformed Chinese politics, but also the lives

of June 4th victims and their silenced loved ones.

68 Kundera, Milan. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. 4. 69 Lim, People’s Republic of Amnesia. 173.