On June 4, the Athenai Institute, Citizen Power Initiatives for China, The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice, and Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation co-hosted a commemoration event for the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The event featured remarks by Dr. Jianli Yang of Citizen Power Initiatives for China, Amb. Andrew Bremberg of VOC, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett of the Lantos Foundation, and Rory O’Connor of the Athena Institute.
Remarks were followed by a conversation between Mr. Wang and Prof. Cai Xia, leading dissidents from China, on how Mr. Wang’s Symphony No.3 was created.
Mr. Wang is a renowned composer from China. He was persecuted for over a decade and was sent into forced labor where he was beaten until he lost several teeth and much of his hearing. In 1989, he participated in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. After the massacre, he wrote Symphony No.3 with a broken heart to express people’s hope, tyranny’s cruelty, and Chinese endless sufferings. Symphony No.3 is the Tiananmen Symphony which has gained recognition in the international symphony community.
