'89 Tiananmen

This 2024 edition of Kan Tai Wong's "'89 Tiananmen" series features 102 photographs taken by Wong to cover the 1989 student protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (plus six photographs taken between 1998 and 1999). In 1989, Wong was originally in Beijing to cover a sports competition. Noticing the protests, Wong began covering what became the largest pro-democracy movement in Chinese history. Wong then left Beijing but returned after learning of the students' hunger strike. He remained with the students until the Tiananmen massacre.
Kan Tai Wong's photographs of the student protest still resonate today, not only because of the historical weight of the events, but also because Wong's perspective (a local photographer who lived with the students for many weeks, rather than an international journalist reporting from the outside) allowed him to capture the students, their hopes, their resilience, and their determination from an intimate distance.

The book concludes with several texts by Kan Tai Wong that have appeared in previous editions of "'89 Tiananmen".

“I reviewed the set of black-and-white negatives taken during the 1989 student democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square through the white light of the light box, searching for the youthful spirit that was left behind on Chang’an Street.
In the presence of these remnants of youth still waiting to be picked up, I cannot help but wonder how they are doing today.

After all, it was the most beautiful spark of humanity that had ever appeared in the land of China.”
― from Kan Tai Wong’s afterword to the book “Mahjong” (2010)

Watch the book flip video here.

《'89 天安门》—— 为什么这本书值得被收藏？

有些摄影书记录摄影史，有些摄影书记录历史本身。

《'89 天安门》属于后者。

2024 年新版收录了摄影师黃勤帶于 1989 年北京天安门学生运动期间拍摄的 102 张照片，以及 6 张后来重返现场时拍摄的作品。与许多国际媒体不同，翁乃强并非短暂到访的记者，而是在广场与学生们共同生活数周的摄影师。他记录的不只是事件的发展，更记录了参与其中的人——他们的理想、信念、坚持，以及青春。

翻开这本书，你看到的不是教科书里的历史，而是历史发生时的温度。

镜头里的学生会疲惫、会微笑、会争论、会等待。他们并非抽象的群体，而是一群真实存在过的人。正因为摄影师身处其中，这些照片拥有一种罕见的亲密感，让读者得以从内部理解那段历史。

作为摄影书，《'89 天安门》同样值得反复阅读。它提醒我们，摄影不仅是记录事件，更是见证时代。照片里的每一个眼神、每一个动作，都让我们重新思考摄影在历史中的角色——当时间过去，当记忆被淡忘，影像仍然能够为那些曾经存在的人留下证言。

对于摄影爱好者而言，这是一本关于纪实摄影与见证精神的重要作品；对于关心历史与社会的人而言，它则是一份珍贵的视觉档案。

购买这本书，并不仅仅是收藏一册摄影集。

而是收藏一段曾经发生过的历史、一位摄影师的见证，以及那些被镜头留下的青春与希望。

有些照片会随着时间增值。

有些照片则随着时间变得更加重要。

Language: English, Japanese
Format: Softcover | 232 pages
Dimensions: 293 x 225mm | 825g
ISBN: 978-4-910244-32-7