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Tank

Submission   21,947

Part of a series on 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests. [View Related Entries]


About

Tank Man refers to the unidentified protestor who stood in front of a line of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Tiananmen Square, China. Photographs of the man's act of civil disobedience have become world-renowned for their historical import and political messaging with many considering them to be among the most important photographs of all time. Due to its prevalence in culture, it has also been subject to many forms of parody, both in popular culture and online.

Origin

On June 5th, 1989, just one day following the Tiananmen Square protests, which ended by way of violent government intervention, a line of tanks drove down the thoroughfare of Tiananmen Square and were blocked by a lone man holding a shopping bag. The man's blockade seemed to work for a short time, as the tanks halted, giving the man time to climb aboard the tank, seemingly speak with the driver, and get down. After a short back and forth, the man was detained and taken away--however, it is unclear who removed the man from the avenue.

Photographs of the man have become the subject of great reverence. The most used version is the one taken by Jeff Widener
(shown below, left). Other photographers, such as photographers Stuart Franklin and Arthur Tsang, also received much acclaim for their work capturing the event(shown below, center and right, respectively).[1]


Spread

While the man's identity has never been made public by witnesses, Chinese officials or the man himself, the Sunday Express reported that Tank Man's identity was 19-year-old student Wang Weilin.[2]

The moment has since been parodied numerous times in popular culture. On January 31st, 1999, the moment was parodied in the first episode of the American animated sitcom Family Guy (shown below, left).

On December 31st, 2002, the fast-food chain restaurant aired a commercial that parodied the event, replacing the subjects with a cow and several farming vehicles (shown below, left).[3] The following year, on March 9th, 2003, the American animated sitcom The Simpsons parodied the event, as well, in the episode "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" (screenshot below, right).[4]

NOONE

On September 17th, 2005, YouTuber Daniel Rodriguez Herrera uploaded a video of the confrontation to YouTube. In 14 years, the video received more than 4 million views (shown below).

Three years later, Flickr user Balakov posted a variation of the photograph using LEGO block toys.[5] Within 11 years, the post received more than 300,000 views (shown below, left).

In the years since, the image has been subjected to numerous photoshops, editing the image and replacing the tanks with various other objects. The following year, on June 3rd, 2009, Imgur[6] user TIHZ_HO added a version replacing the tanks with images of the character "Hello Kitty." The post received more than 1,500 views in 10 years (shown below, right).

www.
Tihz Ho The first Official Chinese Government Version of the event The person who suggested it was later shot

Big Yellow Duck

On May 2nd, 2013, one of Hofman’s 54-foot high yellow inflatable ducks was launched in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor (shown below, left). On May 15th, the sculpture mysteriously deflated (shown below, right), which resulted in the hashtag “#bigyellowduck” rising to the top searched keyword on the Chinese microblogging and social networking site Weibo.

Sina Weibo user Weiblog subsequently posted a photoshopped version of the 1989 photograph “Tank Man” (shown below, left) from the Tiananmen Square protests, in which the tanks were replaced with the large duck sculptures (shown below, right). Leading up to the anniversary of the protests on June 4th, several words were censored on Sina Weibo, including “1989,” “In today,” “anniversary” and “big yellow duck."

com/w

Various Examples

s.a 2013,06,04
44 laau daisasandeIzeytrd

pepsi peps pepsi
Badass When you are one, you'll know.
Man bravely stands in front of mouse droids during protests in Tiananmen square. 1989 (colorized)

Search Interest

External References

[1] Wikipedia – Tank Man

[2] LA Times – Man Who Defied Tanks May Be Dead

[3] No Caption Needed – A Man, A Tank, and A Cow

[4] TV Tropes – Very Loosely Based On A True Story

[5] Flickr – LEGO Tank Man

[6] Flickr – Hello Kitty



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Recent Videos 3 total




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Tank Man

Tank Man

Part of a series on 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jun 04, 2019 at 02:18PM EDT by Philipp.

Added Jun 04, 2019 at 11:10AM EDT by Matt.

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About

Tank Man refers to the unidentified protestor who stood in front of a line of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Tiananmen Square, China. Photographs of the man's act of civil disobedience have become world-renowned for their historical import and political messaging with many considering them to be among the most important photographs of all time. Due to its prevalence in culture, it has also been subject to many forms of parody, both in popular culture and online.

Origin

On June 5th, 1989, just one day following the Tiananmen Square protests, which ended by way of violent government intervention, a line of tanks drove down the thoroughfare of Tiananmen Square and were blocked by a lone man holding a shopping bag. The man's blockade seemed to work for a short time, as the tanks halted, giving the man time to climb aboard the tank, seemingly speak with the driver, and get down. After a short back and forth, the man was detained and taken away--however, it is unclear who removed the man from the avenue.

Photographs of the man have become the subject of great reverence. The most used version is the one taken by Jeff Widener
(shown below, left). Other photographers, such as photographers Stuart Franklin and Arthur Tsang, also received much acclaim for their work capturing the event(shown below, center and right, respectively).[1]



Spread

While the man's identity has never been made public by witnesses, Chinese officials or the man himself, the Sunday Express reported that Tank Man's identity was 19-year-old student Wang Weilin.[2]

The moment has since been parodied numerous times in popular culture. On January 31st, 1999, the moment was parodied in the first episode of the American animated sitcom Family Guy (shown below, left).



On December 31st, 2002, the fast-food chain restaurant aired a commercial that parodied the event, replacing the subjects with a cow and several farming vehicles (shown below, left).[3] The following year, on March 9th, 2003, the American animated sitcom The Simpsons parodied the event, as well, in the episode "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" (screenshot below, right).[4]


NOONE

On September 17th, 2005, YouTuber Daniel Rodriguez Herrera uploaded a video of the confrontation to YouTube. In 14 years, the video received more than 4 million views (shown below).



Three years later, Flickr user Balakov posted a variation of the photograph using LEGO block toys.[5] Within 11 years, the post received more than 300,000 views (shown below, left).

In the years since, the image has been subjected to numerous photoshops, editing the image and replacing the tanks with various other objects. The following year, on June 3rd, 2009, Imgur[6] user TIHZ_HO added a version replacing the tanks with images of the character "Hello Kitty." The post received more than 1,500 views in 10 years (shown below, right).


www. Tihz Ho The first Official Chinese Government Version of the event The person who suggested it was later shot

Big Yellow Duck

On May 2nd, 2013, one of Hofman’s 54-foot high yellow inflatable ducks was launched in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor (shown below, left). On May 15th, the sculpture mysteriously deflated (shown below, right), which resulted in the hashtag “#bigyellowduck” rising to the top searched keyword on the Chinese microblogging and social networking site Weibo.



Sina Weibo user Weiblog subsequently posted a photoshopped version of the 1989 photograph “Tank Man” (shown below, left) from the Tiananmen Square protests, in which the tanks were replaced with the large duck sculptures (shown below, right). Leading up to the anniversary of the protests on June 4th, several words were censored on Sina Weibo, including “1989,” “In today,” “anniversary” and “big yellow duck."


com/w

Various Examples


s.a 2013,06,04 44 laau daisasandeIzeytrd
pepsi peps pepsi Badass When you are one, you'll know. Man bravely stands in front of mouse droids during protests in Tiananmen square. 1989 (colorized)

Search Interest

External References

[1] Wikipedia – Tank Man

[2] LA Times – Man Who Defied Tanks May Be Dead

[3] No Caption Needed – A Man, A Tank, and A Cow

[4] TV Tropes – Very Loosely Based On A True Story

[5] Flickr – LEGO Tank Man

[6] Flickr – Hello Kitty

Recent Videos 3 total

Recent Images 21 total


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