The crackdown on the pro-democracy movement is usually referred to in China simply by the date, June 4, and the numbers 6/4 are used to convey the enormity of the tragedy in much the same way Americans refer to the attacks of Sept.

вЂњThis year is the first time that events held in private behind closed doors were banned,вЂќ said Louisa Lim, author of the recently published вЂњThe PeopleвЂ™s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited,вЂќ about the suppression of memories about the event.Д¬ommemorating clearly requires creativity.

Also detained are people who held commemorative events in their homes. People have been detained or placed under house arrest to prevent them from holding activities marking the anniversary.ДЄmnesty International said last week that dozens of people had been confined, including the Beijing-based activist Hu Jia, who threatened to hold a hunger strike to commemorate the anniversary, and the now-elderly parents of the students killed in 1989. Most of the activists organizing such events are overseas, not surprising given that the government has shown zero tolerance for anybody so much as mentioning Tiananmen. вЂњAnd if they canвЂ™t hum, they will show their support just by being there.вЂќ вЂњIf they are too frightened to sing, they can just hum the tune,вЂќ said Wen Yunchao, an activist now in New York. Since it is impossible to hold banners or chant slogans without risking immediate arrest, the organizers suggest that people sing вЂњDo You Hear the People Sing?вЂќ from вЂњLes MiserablesвЂќ - the tune from the finale in which Parisians rise up against tyranny. One activist group, using the website, is calling for people to flock to the square on Wednesday. Wednesday is the 25th anniversary of the day when Communist Party leaders sent the military to clear pro-democracy students from Tiananmen Square.Д®very year, political activists try to commemorate the hundreds if not thousands of people who died in the crackdown, and the Chinese government tries to prevent them, a cat-and-mouse game as classic as вЂњTom and Jerry.вЂќ

These are some of the props in the annual games underway in Beijing as the most sensitive day of the year approaches.

China tiananmen square video