Desserts are typically not weapons to fight authoritarianism, repression, and censorship. But last Friday, a layered ice cream with round cookies and a chocolate stick on top became a symbol for combating Chinese censorship and propaganda when a famous Chinese influencer, Li Jianqi, promoted this dessert on his show. When he was promoting the product, his live show went offline, as Chinese censors determined that the dessert closely resembled a tank, reminiscent of the infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, when the Chinese military murdered pro-democracy protestors. The promotion also occurred on June 3 – the day before the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4.
However, many viewers of Li Jianqi’s 170 million followers were confused by the disruption, especially his younger followers born after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Many fans of the show were unaware of the massacre because of the strong censorship apparatus in China. Chinese textbooks and the Internet were devoid of any mention of the abhorrent event. Some of his fans were able to learn more about the event through family members and obscure Chinese government documents and old newspapers. The fans shared their discoveries with other users via the platform Weibo. The censorship system was not sufficient to completely suppress information about the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The older generations of Chinese citizens have not forgotten, either. Many human-rights activists and dissidents have been working for years to spread awareness about the Massacre and commemorate the protesters who died. For instance, Chen Yunfei, a dissident human-rights advocate, has spread awareness about the event through newspapers and by visiting the graves of students who were shot in the massacre. This week, six people were arrested in Hong Kong during a Tiananmen Square vigil where they mourned the victims. Although China continues to crack down on advocates who discuss the massacre, memory lives on.
In this case, the Chinese propaganda machine backfired: By attempting to censor information about the historic massacre, censors invigorated the curiosity of young generations of Chinese people to learn about their government’s history of oppression. The first step for freedom and democracy starts with the awareness and knowledge of the people, which is why authoritarian nations such as China use censorship to maintain power. The Tiananmen Square Massacre is a symbol to the people in China who struggle for freedom, justice, and democracy. By spreading awareness, authoritarianism in China is weakened — even from something as simple as a dessert.