Forbidden City

When school lets out, Alex decides to venture over to Tiananmen Square where a million people are gathered. It is like nothing he has ever seen before. Alex knows that his father and Eddie are out there amongst the sea of people, trying to get the story. Although Alex feels a bit claustrophobic, he also wants to talk to people and decides the best way to do so is to pretend to be a reporter. He approaches some students who he finds are eager to talk to Western press members. One student who feels it is best if he doesn’t give his name tells Alex about the student union’s three demands—to be taken seriously and not treated like children; to make the government apologize for act of violence against students; to make the officials stop spreading lies about them in the papers. If the government doesn’t meet these demands, then the students vow to hold a bigger event on May Fourth, a symbolic day, Alex learns, as it was also the date that lead to the Communist Revolution. In spite of himself and a professed disinterest in politics, Alex begins to get excited about what’s going on, proclaiming it is “electric” and “real” (61).

Alex decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and play reporter. He makes a point of connecting with the unnamed student he met in Tiananmen Square, who he begins to call “Hong,” which means red because of the hat the male student wears. When Alex meets up with him again, he is in the company of a young woman whom Alex mentally nicknames “Lan,” which means blue because of the blue jeans she is wearing. Alex gets a sense of the students’ lives, which are micromanaged by the state—they are not supposed to date, are told what to study, and made to go to political study classes each week to keep current on Communist teachings. After this interaction, Alex goes back to the Beijing Hotel where Lao Xu tells the reporters the startling news that two of the Party’s main leaders, Zhao Zi-yang and Deng Xioa-ping, are at odds over the student protests. Alex wonders at first what these means for the students he has gotten to know. Then he “realized it. They were right in the middle” (65), a dangerous place to be.

Alex is now hooked on reporting. He goes with Ted and Eddie each day over to Tiananmen Square, ditching school and instead talking with the protesting students. The protesters are now engaged in a hunger strike. Alex looks for and locates Lan and Hong camped out by the Memorial to Mao. They both look exhausted and weak but are glad to see him. Lan is eventually taken away in an ambulance. She argues with those who help her into the vehicle because she’d rather remain at the demonstration.

Eddie, Ted, and Alex decide to split up when they hear that one of the leaders, Zhao Zi-yang, is coming to speak to the crowd of protestors. Although Alex isn’t able to comprehend everything that is said, he manages to get a film of Zhao’s speech and makes out one critical element: “too late” (73).

When they return back to the hotel, the reporters discover just what it is “too late” for at this point. Lao Xu turns the TV on for them and narrates what they are seeing on the evening news. Li Peng has taken over at the new premier of the country. He has declared martial law. Demonstrations are illegal. So is the spreading of rumors. Foreigners and members of the foreign press will be closely monitored and “if they disobey, measures will be taken” (74). Alex is not exactly sure what all this means, but he knows that life for his father, Eddie, himself, and even Lao Xu, who agrees to stay with them at present, has become exponentially more dangerous.

Privately, the three reporters—Alex, Ted, and Eddie—discuss what they should do about the martial law announcement. They are of the opinion that “the kids have been peaceful and sensible in their demonstration. No one has been hurt. All they want is for their government to listen to them” (77). Eddie agrees that it is too big of a story, one of too great a historical impact, for them to let it go.

They also discuss what to do about Lao Xu. They worry that his continued presence in their life could be misconstrued as helping foreigners break the law. They don’t want to see him land in jail. They decide ultimately the decision rests with Lao Xu. In the meantime, they learn that plainclothesmen have infiltrated the press rooms in China. They need to be very careful about who they talk to and what they say.

Ted learns that satellite broadcasting out of the country has been shut down. He is furious at this overreach of government control. The only option they have is to smuggle out tapes themselves.