Tiananmen 1989 Graphic Novel Provides Rare First-Person Perspective of China's Most Infamous Moment
Jun 09, 2020
Thirty-one years ago, more than one million students stood at Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, China, calling for democracy – the infamous event widely known as the June Fourth Incident, is explored in the upcoming autobiographical IDW graphic novel Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes.
Following the same vein as the challenging but vital graphic novels Springtime in Chernobyl, Burmese Moons, and After the Spring, IDW Publishing is proud to share the eye-opening story of Tiananmen 1989 by first-hand participant Lun Zhang, French journalist and Asia specialist Adrien Gombeaud, and artist Ameziane.
Slated for a June 16, 2020 release, Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes bears witness to China's infamous June Fourth Incident – otherwise known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre – through the eyes of a young sociology teacher, Lun Zhang, that witnessed it all. As tens of thousands of students and concerned Chinese citizens took to the streets demanding political reforms, the world didn’t know what to expect…
Many voices and viewpoints are on display, from Western journalists to Chinese administrators, describing how the hope of a generation was shattered when authorities opened fire on protesters and bystanders. Tiananmen 1989 reveals the tragic moment when contemporary China took shape.
"I am looking forward to the publication of this book, because it depicts such an important moment in history, which I personally witnessed. We put a lot of time into recording the details of what happened on Tiananmen Square in 1989,” says Zhang. “I believe to understand China today, you have to understand how the event has shaped China in the 30 years ensued."
“In an era marked by vast protests against Chinese authority in Hong Kong and the ever-expanding digital surveillance state that threatens the privacy of individuals around the world, now is as important a time as ever to unlock the history of protest and civil unrest within the People’s Republic of China,” explains the book’s North American editor, Justin Eisinger. “The story that Zhang, Gombeaud, and Ameziane create brings this deep history and searing desire for change amongst the country’s youth into sharp focus, revealing a complex world of loyalties and ideologies, strained under the mighty weight of tradition.”
Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes is now available for pre-order. Visit www.comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you.
Over 30 years ago, on April 15th, 1989, the occupation of Tiananmen Square began. As tens of thousands of students and concerned Chinese citizens took to the streets demanding political reforms, the fate of China's communist system was unknown. When reports of soldiers marching into Beijing to suppress the protests reverberated across Western airwaves, the world didn't know what to expect.
Lun Zhang was just a young sociology teacher then, in charge of management and safety service
for the protests. Now, in this powerful graphic novel, Zhang pairs with French journalist and Asia specialist Adrien Gombeaud and artist Ameziane, to share his unvarnished memory of this crucial moment in world history for the first time.
Providing comprehensive coverage of the 1989 protests that ended in bloodshed and drew global scrutiny, Zhang includes context for these explosive events, sympathetically depicting a world of discontented, idealistic, activist Chinese youth rarely portrayed in Western media. Many voices and viewpoints are on display, from Western journalists to Chinese administrators.
Describing how the hope of a generation was shattered when authorities opened fire on protestors and bystanders, Tiananmen 1989 shows the way in which contemporary China shaped itself.
