China deletes photo of embracing runners evoking '6/4'Tiananmen
Hugging athletes inadvertently display taboo numbers of 1989 massacre of pro-democracy students
www.rfa.org
China's internet censors have deleted a photo of two embracing runners displaying the taboo combination of "6” and “4," an inadvertent reference to the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre that authorities have tried to cover up.
Photos of sprinters Lin Yuwei and Wu Yanni hugging each other just after Lin's Oct. 1 victory in the 100 meters hurdles at the Asian Games in Hangzhou had been removed from several official news websites including that of state broadcaster CCTV by Tuesday evening.
While the two women are patriotically draped in Chinese flags, the numbers on their shorts reads "6’’ and “4," a common discreet way of referring to the Beijing’s Tiananmen massacre, in which dozens of Chinese students calling for greater democratic freedoms were killed in the square by People’s Liberation Army troops.