On Tiananmen anniversary, Chinese state media tweets panda pics
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Version 0 of 1. On Wednesday, the world commemorated the 25th anniversary of the events at Tiananmen square, when Chinese tanks and troops cracked down brutally on the nation's student-led pro-democracy movement. Mass protests in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory where certain democratic rights and freedoms are preserved, were particularly epic and powerful. But glance at the English-language Twitter feeds of Beijing's main state news outlets and you get a sense of the conspiracy of silence that still surrounds June 4, 1989, on the mainland. The most eye-catching tweet was the one below, on the existence of psychic, soccer-score predicting panda cubs. A sampling of other tweets follows. Giant #panda cubs in China are making their predictions for the outcomes of the #FIFA World Cup in #Brazil pic.twitter.com/Wgbpfe90Gd— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) June 4, 2014 Giant #panda cubs in China are making their predictions for the outcomes of the #FIFA World Cup in #Brazil pic.twitter.com/Wgbpfe90Gd Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Kuwaiti PM Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah in Beijing on 4th pic.twitter.com/4tHQVdJoGQ— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) June 4, 2014 Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Kuwaiti PM Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah in Beijing on 4th pic.twitter.com/4tHQVdJoGQ On the 25th anniversary of the crackdown on China's pro-democracy movement, there was some hullabaloo in Beijing about government cafeteria conditions: Beijing officers received complaints on canteen hygiene of State Admin of Cultural Heritage but blocked entering pic.twitter.com/MTWArZM39H— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) June 4, 2014 Beijing officers received complaints on canteen hygiene of State Admin of Cultural Heritage but blocked entering pic.twitter.com/MTWArZM39H There was also a terrible stabbing in a provincial city: #Shaoguan knife attack: 2 died, 1 injured; Attacker captured on the spot in Zhenjiang pic.twitter.com/O6NVBOhTg3— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) June 4, 2014 #Shaoguan knife attack: 2 died, 1 injured; Attacker captured on the spot in Zhenjiang pic.twitter.com/O6NVBOhTg3 The Global Times, another Beijing-based state mouthpiece, ran this sort of anodyne message: Xi vows China will promote innovation in engineering http://t.co/04pUYf2xym pic.twitter.com/HzZCLqDiMd— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 4, 2014 Xi vows China will promote innovation in engineering http://t.co/04pUYf2xym pic.twitter.com/HzZCLqDiMd It also trumpeted the decline of the West. First, with gloating about the new Sino-Russian gas pipeline pact, and then mocking the United States' own wasteful energy habits. Sino-Russian gas deal shows center of gravity has shifted from West http://t.co/CzXLbeUvOt pic.twitter.com/T5FyYjsyp6— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 4, 2014 Sino-Russian gas deal shows center of gravity has shifted from West http://t.co/CzXLbeUvOt pic.twitter.com/T5FyYjsyp6 Cartoon: Windmills welcome back US President Barack Obama unveils historic rules to reduce coal pollution by 30%. pic.twitter.com/mhX5Oug6qB— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 4, 2014 Cartoon: Windmills welcome back US President Barack Obama unveils historic rules to reduce coal pollution by 30%. pic.twitter.com/mhX5Oug6qB Then it got a bit weird: Brazilian man undergoes surgeries to look like "more Asian" http://t.co/MWfHwQvZyz pic.twitter.com/59sxLTczEc— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 4, 2014 Brazilian man undergoes surgeries to look like "more Asian" http://t.co/MWfHwQvZyz pic.twitter.com/59sxLTczEc Lastly, the China Daily reported on an interesting act of dissent: Women dancers refuse to stop for students. http://t.co/Vx0Uco8jdk— China Daily USA (@ChinaDailyUSA) June 4, 2014 Women dancers refuse to stop for students. http://t.co/Vx0Uco8jdk |