Who remembers Tiananmen?  I was 8.

There are only two imprints in my mind from what happened at Tiananmen square.  The famous picture of one man standing boldly in front of a line of tanks.  And an image shared by a friend who visited China a fews years back: tank tread marks still on the streets around the square.  Tank treads--maybe from some state parade, but tank treads none-the-less.  Maybe its just a boyish obsession with tanks, but large steel encased vehicles are surely a sign of governmental strength and when seen in a public square, unrest.

Tiananmen square wasn't the only thing that shut down in 1989.  A nation that had just started to open to the world clamped shut, changes were made in schools and in policy, and frightened foreign companies left.  But some stayed.  I just read an article on my law firms website (http://www.lehmanlaw.com/news/2005_12/lehman.pdf) about one of the founders of Lehman, Lee & Xu.  Edward Lehman was here in China before Tiananmen.  The surprising thing is that he stayed--and took a major pay cut to do it.  Working for a Chinese law firm, he made $100 a month.  Why stay when everyone else is cutting their losses and hitting the road?

I'm going to ask him in person, soon.  Stay tuned.