Memories of June Fourth leading up to its 30th anniversary

Some good reporting, essays, and reflections to read about the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, and the bloody crackdown that ensued:

• 30 Years After Tiananmen, a Chinese Military Insider Warns: Never Forget / NYT (porous paywall)
  Jiang Lin, a military journalist at the time of the crackdown, recounts her story to Chris Buckley of the New York Times. “She described her role in spreading word of a letter from senior generals opposing martial law, and gave details of other letters from commanders who warned the leadership not to use troops in Beijing. And she saw on the streets how soldiers who carried out the party’s orders shot indiscriminately as they rushed to retake Tiananmen Square.”
• Why We Remember June Fourth / ChinaFile
  The scholar Perry Link gives over a dozen reasons why it is important to remember June Fourth. “We remember June Fourth because the worst of China is there—but the best of China is there, too.”
• 30 years on, Chinese dissident Wang Dan reflects on the Tiananmen Massacre / AFP
  Also listen to this panel discussion at Harvard featuring Wang Dan and others.
• June 4, 1989: A personal recollection / by Jeffrey Bader in Brookings
• Frankie Huang on Twitter: “Today I’m going to share my dad’s thoughts on China and 6/4, the words he uses most to describe the state of affairs are ‘disappointment’, ‘doubt’ and ‘despair’. His bleak outlook worries me, I’m afraid for his heart. 1/”
• 30 Years Ago: Students Renew Call for Change / China Digital Times
  “This year marks the 30th anniversary of the nationwide, student-led democracy movement in China, and the subsequent June 4th military crackdown in Beijing. To commemorate the student movement, CDT is posting a series of original news articles from 1989, beginning with the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15 and continuing through the tumultuous spring.”
• Hong Kong student unions to host Tiananmen Massacre forum, amid lingering rift with vigil organisers / Hong Kong Free Press
• China wants us to forget the horrors of Tiananmen as it rewrites its history / by Louisa Lim and Ilaria Maria Sala in the Guardian
• China’s robot censors go into overdrive in run-up to Tiananmen anniversary / Reuters
  “Censors at Chinese internet companies say tools to detect and block content related to the 1989 crackdown have reached unprecedented levels of accuracy, aided by machine learning and voice and image recognition.”