Lang Lang Refuses to Honor Tiananmen Square Victims

In January in a concert at the White House the pianist Lang Lang identified himself in the public’s eye with the form of patriotism promoted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At a concert on May 29, he was asked to play a song expressing a different kind of Chinese patriotism, one that speaks for the victims of the CCP. Lang Lang declined.

At the end of a concert held in St. David’s Hall in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, an audience member walked onto the stage holding a bunch of white chrysanthemums.

Mr. Guo Jing, who works in Cardiff, asked if he could request a piece of music. “I would like to request ‘Candle in the Wind’—the memorial tribute to Princess Diana.”

Lang Lang replied that this piece of music was very nice.

Guo then said, “I would like to dedicate this song to those souls who were killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre, in order to pay homage to them.” On June 4, 1989 the CCP used troops to suppress the democracy movement based on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Thousands are believed to have died.

Lang Lang turned visibly pale and quickly asked security to have Mr. Guo removed.

At the banquet held by President Obama for CCP leader Hu Jintao, Lang Lang played the anti-American song “My Motherland.” The song has been a staple of CCP propaganda since the 1950s and has been used to promote Chinese nationalism.

In a blog post soon after the performance, Lang Lang justified his choice by saying, “Playing this song praising China to heads of state from around the world seems to tell them that our China is formidable, that our Chinese people are united; I feel deeply honored and proud.”

Helping the Chinese People

Afterwards, Guo spoke with The Epoch TImes about his appearance on stage. “I had planned to present a banner at the concert with words like ‘A musical genius who played at the White House has become a flatterer to the CCP and is willing to be a puppet.’” Guo says he abandoned this plan, because he thought Lang Lang is still a young man.

The white chrysanthemums he carried were not for Lang Lang, but instead were meant to remember those Chinese people killed by the communist regime. White is the traditional color for mourning in China.

"Eighty million innocent souls—ah, they are still wandering at the gate of heaven. They have not yet got justice, and so their souls cannot rest in peace," Guo said.

“The Chinese regime has made the international community keep silent about its poor human rights record by having offered huge sums of money and economic interests,” Guo added.

“I do not want to be famous. I want the international media to express concern about China. I am not afraid of the communist regime, but one person’s strength is limited. I want to ask the media to help the Chinese people to speak out about their needs.”

“The Chinese people nowadays are deeply poisoned by the Communist Party culture. They, including my own family members, have been hopelessly brainwashed. My mother used to dance the loyalty dance [a dance showing loyalty to CCP Chairman Mao Tse Tung during the Cultural Revolution] when she was young. Now the poor old woman is forced to dance the ‘harmonious dance,’” Guo said with regret. Building a “harmonious society” is the goal of Hu Jintao’s ideology.

“I often talk to the young Chinese students here about June 4, about the Cultural Revolution, about Lin Zhao and Zhang Zhixin. But the students ask me, ‘who are they?’ They are not interested in history, let alone in looking back.”

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