A few months ago I discovered the photo on Google. There is in it a tremendous sense of depth and expanse, and of menacing power: a wide urban space edged with trees, around 50 tanks parked in rows and deploying along a boulevard in column, and lines of soldiers alongside. At the bottom left a tiny figure stands in front of the foremost tank. It's the Tank Man, photographed June 5, 1989, in Beijing. Less intimate than other, more famous photographs of this iconic figure, this photo confirms the epic quality of his courage.
His beliefs remain an enigma, and the volumes of commentary piled onto his shadowy figure simply reflect what different political philosophies have made of him. For some, of course, his stand is to be praised as an individualistic act of defiance against repression.
Others temper their praise. They will say that in fixating on the Tank Man we forget the countless other anonymous civilians persecuted during the Communist government's crackdown on protests in Beijng and other cities just as student protesters were evacuating Tiananmen Square in June; or we substitute his image for informed insight into the events of April-June 1989.