· n the spring of 1989 I was invited to teach During the weeks of enforced idleness “G0dd€sS of I
[ . in the Department of Archaeology at my wife and I had plenty of time to observe and Dcmocracyv statue I
; Peking University, Beijing, China, For that record the growth ofthe student movement.
I¢ purpose my wife and I traveled to Beijing Indeed, most of our students were at least erected by _
II on March 2. We were met at the airport by passively involved, several joined in the hunger demonstrators m
 `i representatives of the university campus. strike, and one was an organizer of sorts. These Ti3H8¥lm€l`| SqU3I`€,
  The university provided us also with meals individuals came often to our apartment, and june 1, 1989 I
'  ` and with money for local transportation, as well through them we kept some track of the course ‘
  as arranging many sightseeing trips for us. of events on campus and in the city. and the
 I Indeed, throughout the whole of our time in tenor of student feeling from day to day. We I
  China we enjoyed to the full the exquisite went nearly every day to see the crowds `
hospitality of the Chinese people. studying big—character posters and listening to I
I I had contracted to teach three classes: speeches on the campus. and twice we went to  
2, North American Indians, on Monday mornings Tienanmen Square to see the demonstrations for  
I from 8:00 to 10:00, Ancient Eqyptian Civilization, ourselves. In the process, we got a great many I
1 on Tuesday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00, and excellent photos of the demonstrations. both on I
Current Theory and Practice in American Anthro— campus and in the city streets. Among other I
I pology, on Friday mornings from 8:00 to 10:00. things we saw and photographed the celebrated I
 · I had about 100 students each in the Monday "Goddess of Democracy" statue. erected in I
Q ' and Friday classes, and about 60 students in the Tiananmen Square by students from the Peking I
,  Tuesday class. Most were graduate students, but Art Institute. Three days after we saw it, it was to  
" i there was a sprinkling also of undergraduates be knocked over and crushed by an army tank. `.
,§  and of faculty from different departments and On the evening of june 5 we had been  
  institutes. My rather rudimentary command of invited to have dinner with an American  
  Chinese was not sufficient for lecturing pur- colleague in one of the big downtown hotels. I
  poses, so I was obliged to lecture in English. The not far from Tiananmen Square. We went by '
 *  Department of Archaeology provided me with bus, as usual, but when the time came for us to I
E  two excellent translators, who translated each of leave the hotel, the streets were so choked with -
  my lectures into Chinese. people that no transport was running. It was i I
  My teaching assignment was intended to rumored that the army was on its way into the   I
  last over 15 weeks, but in reality it lasted only city, and the people were evidently out in   I
II  for seven. The revered, but officially disgraced, numbers to try and stop it or simply to witness i  
  public official Hu Yaobang died on April 15, and whatever would happen. Fortunately, some    
  his death set in motion the escalating series of friends going by on bicycles spotted us. and   I
§§ demonstrations and protests that culminated in rode us home to the university campus (about G   I
  the disaster at Tiananmen Square seven weeks miles from the Square) on the backs of their   I
  later. Big-character protest posters began appear- ' bikes. Although it was a confused and chaotic   I
  ing on the Peking University campus immedi-   moment, we had no particular premonition of   I
  I atley after Hu's death, and the student boycott of   disaster, for we had often seen the streets  
    classes was announced a week later. Although I   _     I
=§   had considerable sympathy with the student     ;    
  I movement (without ever fully understanding         I
$   what it hoped to achieve in any practical way), I         I
I   continued to prepare my lectures and to show    'A  
_  up for each class, feeling that it was not my    
` I place as a foreigner to express public support or      
 I to take part in the movement. I decided that I      
 ` would hold a class on any occasion when ten or      
 A more students showed up, but in fact this     K i  
happened only twice during the six weeks       I
between April 22 and june 2. For all practical   L   i   I
purposes, therefore. my teaching ended on             I
April 21,   5%     F   I
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