As the 20’th anniversary of the slaughter of protesting students at Tiananmen Square approaches, my wife Donna sent me this photo from yesterday. Looks peaceful enough now but Chinese authorities are not looking forward to June 5’th. And security will naturally be tight (or I should say tighter, as security in China is always tight.)She took my good Kodak digital camera with high optical zoom, but even so I told her not to point it in the direction of any of those ubiquitous folks in olive green uniform.
Too bad male Amherst town officials could not show such balls.
The first time I went to Tienanmen square was 2004. It looked much like the photo your wife sent you.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about pointing the camera at the soldiers. They're used to being photographed and will gladly pose with you.
Security is not tight in China. Whoever told you that obviously has never been there. For anyone that has traveled there in recent years will tell you, it's harder to get through security at JFK than Beijing. In fact, I can fly in, get my bags and be in a taxi in just under 20 minutes in China, whereas I would need to budget a minimum of 3 hours for New York.
Actually I've been to China twice (my wife more so.) By "tight" security I simply mean they have W-A-Y more military/police than we do.
ReplyDeleteFive years ago, I got along great with them, and last year even better.
But at the moment, I'm here in the US and my wife is over there with Swine Flu concerns and the 20'th anniversary of that awful incident (and tomorrow is our 26'th wedding anniversary).
So yeah, I worry.
Congrats on 26 years Larry.
ReplyDelete-Ryan
Thanks Ryan!
ReplyDeleteNothing in life compares to having a partner you can trust with your life (one who--as you well know--is pretty kick ass in a bad situation)
But I count the moments until she returns (5/30, 7:30 PM)