Goddess of Democracy

The Goddess of Democracy (Chinese: 民主女神; pinyin: mínzhǔ nǚshén), also known as the Goddess of Democracy and Freedom, the Spirit of Democracy (minzhu jingshen^[1]), and the Goddess of Liberty (ziyou nushen^[1]), was a ten metre (33 ft) high statue created during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Goddess of Democracy, from the back of the statue. ... Goddess of Democracy, from the back of the statue. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... alternative Chinese name Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Literal meaning: Tiananmen Incident The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, widely known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in China referred to as the June Fourth Incident to avoid confusion with the two other Tiananmen Square protests and as an act of official censorship...

The statue was constructed in only four days out of styrofoam and papier-mâché over a metal armature by students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The students decided to make the statue as large as possible so the government would be unable to dismantle it. The government would either have to destroy the statue — an action which would potentially fuel further criticism of its policies — or leave it standing. Styrofoam is a trademark name for polystyrene thermal insulation material, manufactured by Dow Chemical Company. ... Papier-mâché around a form such as a balloon to create a pig. ... Armature for a classical pose of a figure holding a lyre. ... Central Institute of Fine Arts (中央美术学院) is a university in Beijing, China. ...

Tiananmen

Impact

Near the end of May 1989 the Democracy Movement in Tiananmen square was faltering, one historian recalls the movement "appeared to have sunk to its nadir. The number of students in the Square continued to decline. Those remaining seemed to have no clear leadership: Chai Ling, tired and disheartened by the difficulties of keeping the Movement together, had resigned from her post…[the Square] had degenerated into a shantytown, strewn with litter and permeated by the stench of garbage and overflowing portable toilets. …Tianamen, once a magnet pulling in huge throngs, had become only an unkempt campground of little interest to citizens, many of whom considered the struggle for democracy lost." It was at this time that the "…a crudely sculpted thirty-three-foot high statue would bestow the struggle for democracy with a memorable symbol. ...it attracted thousands of spectators to the Square and angered the authorities, who condemned it as an "illegal, permanent" structure that would have to be torn down."^[2] Chai Ling Chai Ling (Chinese: 柴玲; pinyin: Chái Líng) (1966-) was one of the leaders in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. ...

Construction

The statue was built by students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts beginning on May 27th at their University. It was built in hopes of bolstering the movement which "seemed to be losing some of its momentum; the students suspected that the government was waiting for them to tire and leave the Square"^[3]. Working out of a sense of emergency expediency, ^[3] to create the model the larger statue would be based on the students reworked “a half-meter high clay sculpture of a man grasping a pole with two raised hands and leaning his weight on it.”^[3] It had been made as an academic exercise demonstrate the effect of the distribution of weight on a piece. “The students cut off the lower part of the pole and added a flame at the top to turn it into a torch; they leaned the sculpture into a more upright position; they changed the man’s face to a woman’s, and otherwise added feminine characteristics to make the him into a her.”^[3] They then transferred the measurements of the model, adjusting them for the larger proportion, to the styrofoam that once carved became the monument.^[3]

Vera Mukhina's Worker and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture influenced the creators of the Goddess of Democracy

While many people have noted its resemblance to the Statue of Liberty, a sculptor present during its construction, Tsao Tsing-yuan, has written that the students decided not to model their statue on the Statue of Liberty because they were concerned that it would be unoriginal and "too openly pro-American." Tsao further notes the influence on the statue of the work of Russian sculptor Vera Mukhina, associated with the school of revolutionary realism. Her piece Worker and Kolkhoz Woman was especially influential for their statue's head and facial features.^[3] Image File history File links Kolkhoznitsa. ... Image File history File links Kolkhoznitsa. ... Worker and Kolkhoz Woman (Russian: ) is a 24. ... For other monuments to freedom, see Monument of Liberty. ... A portrait of Vera Mukhina, the work of Russian artist Mikhail Nesterov The Worker and Kolhoz Woman Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina (Russian: ; July 1, 1889 [O.S. June 19] in Riga — 6 October 1953 in Moscow) was a prominent Soviet sculptor. ... Roses for Stalin, Boris Vladimirski, 1949 For other meanings of the term realism, see realism (disambiguation). ... Worker and Kolkhoz Woman (Russian: ) is a 24. ...

When the time came to transport the pieces of the statue to the Square, the State Security Bureau, hearing of their intention declared that any truck drivers assisting them would lose their licenses. The students hired six Beijing carts (similar to a bicycle rickshaw except with a flat cart instead of a passenger area). Four carried the statue segments, and two carried the tools required to install it. The students had leaked a false itinerary of the move to throw off the authorities and moved the statue’s three segments from the Central Academy of Fine Arts to the Square by another route. Students of the other academies assisting in the construction linked arms around the carts for protection in case the authorities arrived.^[2] At dusk on May 29, with fewer than 10,000 protestors remaining in the square the Art Students constructed a bamboo scaffolding and then began assembling the statue.^[1] Troops called in to disrupt the movement and construction of the statue were “stalled en route by Beijing residents.”^[4] By the early morning of May 30, the statue was fully assembled in Tiananmen Square. It broke up the north-south axis of the Square, standing between the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Tiananmen Gate (which it faced looking at its large photograph of Mao Zedong). Whether the students had intended it or not "dozens of television cameras expertly framed the ironic, silent confrontation between Goddess and Chairman."^[1] When the time came for the actual unveiling, On May 30, 1989, two Beijing residents, a woman and a man, were chosen at random from the crowd and invited into the circle to pull the strings that would remove the pieces of red and blue cloth. The crowd burst into cheers and shouted slogans such as "Long live democracy!"^[2] With the construction of the statue "The students, their flagging spirits revived, announced their determination to continue occupying the Square."^[1] While there had been just 10,000 people in the square on the 29th, with its unveiling "As many as 300,000 spectators flocked to the square on 30-31."^[1] Japanese rickshaw (jinrikisha), 1886. ... For the 1989 protest, see Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. ... Monument to the Peoples Heroes The Monument to the Peoples Heroes (Chinese: 人民英雄纪念碑; Pinyin: ), Beijing, is a ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Tiānānmén/Tiananmen (Simplified Chinese: 天安门, Traditional Chinese: 天安門; or the Gate of Heavenly Peace) is the principal entrance to the Imperial Palace Grounds, commonly called the Forbidden City, in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China. ... Mao redirects here. ... is the 150th day of the year (151st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

Statement by its creators

The art students who created the statue wrote a declaration that said in part :

The document was signed by the eight art academies that sponsored the creation of the statue: The Central Academies of Fine Arts, Arts and Crafts, Drama, and Music; the Beijing Film Academy; the Beijing Dance Academy; the Academy of Chines Local Stage Arts; and the Academy of Traditional Music.^[2]

The entire statement was written "in rather crude calligraphy" on a long banner placed near the statue, and was read in its entirety by a female student "with a good Mandarin accent" from the Broadcasting Academy.^[3]

Democracy University

On June 3rd even as the government troops positioned themselves to move on the students, applause erupted from the people gathered around the statue as it was announced there that a Democracy University would now begin classes in the Square with Zhang Boli appointed as its President. Even as classes began by the statue, to the west of the square and at Muxidi thousands of students moved to block the oncoming 27th Army who were armed with tanks, assault weapons, and bayonets. Blood began to be spilled by 10:30 p.m.

Fall of the Goddess

The soldiers were able to fulfill their timeline of reaching the Square on June 4, 1989 by 1 a.m. through the use of tanks and armored personnel carriers. The Goddess of Democracy had stood for only five days before being destroyed by soldiers of the People's Liberation Army in the assault on Tiananmen that would end the Democracy Movement.^[3] The toppling of the Goddess of Democracy was seen by millions across the world on television “pushed by a tank, it fell forward and to the right, so that its hands and the torch struck the ground first, breaking off."^[3] As the statue fell, protestors shouted "Down with Fascism!" and "Bandits! Bandits!"^[5] It was "quickly and easily reduced to rubble, mixing with all the other rubble in the Square. To be cleared away by the Army".^[3] By 5:40 a.m. a negotiated settlement allowed the remaining students to leave by the south-eastern corner of the square. The army had fulfilled its order to clear the Square by 6 a.m. Clashes continued throughout the city and in other towns across China.^[5] Peoples Liberation Army redirects here. ...

Replicas

President George W. Bush dedicates the Victims of Communism Memorial on June 12, 2007

Replica of statue at the University of British Columbia

The original statue has become an icon of liberty and a symbol of the free speech and democracy movements.^[6] The Chinese government has tried to distance itself from any discussions about the original statue or about the Tiananmen Square protest, and in the case of the Victims of Communism Memorial called the building of a replica an "attempt to defame China."^[6] Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Canadian public research university with campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna. ... For other uses, see Liberty (disambiguation). ... Freedom of speech is the right to freely say what one pleases, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. ... World Movement for Democracy is an international network of organizations which share a common goal of promoting democracy. ... President George W. Bush dedicates the Victims of Communism Memorial on June 12, 2007 The Victims of Communism Memorial is a memorial in Washington, D.C. at the intersection of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues and G Street, N.W., two blocks from Union Station and within view of the...

Several replicas of the statue have been erected worldwide to commemorate the events of 1989:

• A replica erected at a vigil attended by tens of thousands of people in Victoria Park, Hong Kong on June 4, 1996.
• A bronze sculpture was begun in 1989, dedicated in 1994, by Thomas Marsh, leading a group of volunteers. It weighs approximately 600 pounds (272 kg) and stands in Portsmouth Square, in San Francisco's Chinatown.
• A copy at the University of British Columbia, erected by the school's Alma Mater Society.
• A gilded replica stands in the foyer of the Student Centre at York University in Toronto, Ontario.
• A replica stands in Freedom Park an outdoor museum in Arlington, Virginia.
• An unknown artist's fiberglass copy was erected at the University of Calgary in 1995, commemorating students who died in the uprisings six years earlier.
• The Democracy Award given by the National Endowment for Democracy is a small-scale replica of the Goddess of Democracy.
• A 3 meter bronze replica, Victims of Communism Memorial, is in Washington, D.C..

Tsao Tsing-yuan, an advisor to the students who built the original, writes "I myself envision a day when another replica, as large as the original and more permanent, stands in Tiananmen Square, with the name of those who died there written in gold on its base. It may well stand there after Chairman Mao's Mausoleum has, in its turn, been pulled down."^[3] Statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Park Victoria Park (Chinese: 維多利亞公園, pinyin: Wei Duo Li Ya Gong Yuan) is a public park in Hong Kong, named after Queen Victoria. ... Rare, water preserved Greek Athlete 310. ... A Goddess of Democracy statue erected at Portsmouth Square with a playground in the background. ... San Francisco redirects here. ... An intersection of Chinatown in San Francisco. ... The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Canadian public research university with campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna. ... This article is about the Canadian university. ... Replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue at Freedom Park. ... Arlington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia (which calls itself a commonwealth), directly across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. By an act of Congress July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac was returned to Virginia effective in 1847 As of 2000... Bundle of fiberglass Fiberglass (also called fibreglass and glass fibre) is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. ... Arch marking south entrance to campus during the winter. ... The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983, to promote democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress. ... President George W. Bush dedicates the Victims of Communism Memorial on June 12, 2007 The Victims of Communism Memorial is a memorial in Washington, D.C. at the intersection of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues and G Street, N.W., two blocks from Union Station and within view of the... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ... Mao Zedongs Mausoleum The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (Simplified Chinese: 毛主席纪念堂; pinyin: Máo Zhŭxí Jìniàntáng), commonly known as the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong is the last resting place of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Goddess of Democracy

• Goddess of Democracy at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco Chinatown
• Collection of Goddess of Democracy images

References