Tank Man

I had a suit tailored last week in Sanlitun and had to go try it on this afternoon for adjustments.  I was riding with two friends, one of whom had invited a Chinese friend to meet us about halfway through the subway ride.  He found us in the last car of the train and was introduced to me as Mike, a university student here in Beijing.

After the tailor’s (the suit was a little tight in the thighs, in case you were wondering), we went to Blue Frog for some later afternoon hamburgers and beers.  If you’re ever in Beijing looking for a hamburger, go to Blue Frog in Sanlitun Village.  I’ve had a few burgers here – these are the best I’ve had yet.  And if you’re trying to save a few bucks, go on Monday after 4pm to get the special buy one get one deal.  The waitress advises to come around 6 or 6:30 – any later and you’ll wait.

Halfway through his beer, Mike said he felt a bit “buzzed” – we had just taught him the term – but noted that my friends and I seemed unaffected by our rather rapid intake. Perceptive…  In any event, I told him that if he was looking for a more colloquial term for someone who could drink quickly and heavily, he should go with “tank.”  The word in Chinese happens to be a loanword, pronounced “tahn-kuh.”

I immediately realized the very likely possibility that the conversation was about to take an awkward turn.  Are you getting the feeling, too?  I mean, what do you think of when you hear “tank” and “China” in the same sentence?

My intuition was correct, and we were shortly thereafter discussing the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989 – one of those “avoid-at-all-costs” topics, along with the other 2 of 3 T’s (Tibet and Taiwan) and the big F (the Falungong).  Mike said that he’d been told that many people might have died that day but that he didn’t really believe it.  They don’t learn about that in school here, and the official government statement is that although some hundreds died over the course of the protests, not one person actually died in Tiananmen Square proper.

One of us told Mike that in the United States, everyone learns about Tiananmen in school, explaining in so many words that it is perhaps the most salient part of Chinese modern history for most Americans.  I suggested that this was in large part due to the infamous Tank Man, immortalized in the iconic photographs and video footage with which I’m sure you’re all quite familiar.  Thanks to Blue Frog Wi-Fi and a slick VPN, the picture was loaded in seconds on an iPhone and handed over to Mike.

As he was looking at the photo, I brought up a Chinese saying: 螳臂当车, derived from a story in which a small insect raises his arm to stop a large cart as it passes in front of him.  Of course, the saying is used to warn someone that they are overrating their own ability and being foolhardy in challenging a much stronger opponent.  He noted the fact and so asked, “Did they run him over?”

We explained that they did not – and that that was precisely the significance.  Even when the tanks tried to move around him, he bravely blocked their path, eventually climbing on top of the foremost tank to speak with the soldiers inside.  Moments later, he was carried off by a group of people, indeed never to be seen or heard from again.

Unfortunately, we will likely never know what happened to Tank Man.  And more unfortunately, neither will a billion Chinese people who lived through it.  But worst of all, I just sat there unsurprised by any of it.