If you could time travel back to 1989, would you take part in the student movement?

JUNE 4, 2024 MARKS 35 YEARS since a student demonstration at Tiananmen Square and a brutal crackdown in its aftermath shocked a generation. On the anniversary of the protest, Radio Free Asia asks our Chinese readers: if you went back to 1989, would you participate? “I would have stepped onto Tiananmen Square because we all know that this country and people are at a critical moment of life and death. If even young people do not stand up, who knows whether or not we would be on a more desperate road?”  — High school student, Qingdao “I was arrested for participating in June 4th, and as a result of a government policy I cannot collect a pension because of it — but I would do it again.”  — Lao jiahuo@teapot_wen “I appreciated the swift suppression of the rioters during the June 4th protest. Otherwise, China would have become another Soviet Union! ”  — Seaskyblue@SeaSkyblue_T “Why bother time traveling when there is already a student movement happening now? You can participate.”  — 福西西@fuxixi521 “I arrived in Beijing on the day martial law was declared. I spent a night on the square and witnessed the clashes near the Great Hall of the People and so on. I cannot say that the majority of students like me were wrong, but I am very glad that it [the protest] failed.”  — myylwx@myylwx