The Tiananmen Squares
is the Chinese version of The Hollywood
Squares, the long-running American TV game show staple. The set is almost
identical, with a large 9-box square, looking a bit like one side of a Rubik’s
Cube, but with chairs for guest stars instead of colors. But in The Tiananmen Squares, the guest stars
for all the squares are missing, because all of the guest stars, protesters
during the Tiananmen Square Massacre, are either dead or in prison because they
protested the government for democratic reforms. So the game show is a bit
frustrating for viewers, with no guest stars present, and as a result, nobody
is there to actually play the game or to answer questions; but for the
government, it serves its purpose well, intimidating viewers with the suggested
message indicating that if you have the temerity to protest or to criticize the
government, you will likely be killed or become a political prisoner for years.
So the show will undoubtedly run for as long as the current repressive regime
remains in power.
This is The Hollywood
Squares, for those who aren’t familiar with it:
(The current pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and the
brutal over-reaction by the authorities, reminded me, and everyone else, of the
Tiananmen Square Massacre. Oops!)
