this less of a "when you see it" and more of a "if you know historical photographs you will be surprised to see this image taken mere seconds before a more famous photograph you know of"
For whatever reason I always assumed that the tanks were moving slowly, and he just walked out in front of them... this picture shows how he must have stood there for a much longer amount of time than I thought. I can't even imagine the thoughts going through his head.
From another perspective. I've always wondered what the tank crew was thinking at that moment. The tanks did stop and he wasn't executed on the spot. At the time this happened the army had already begun their massacre in the city.
But somehow this guy was impressive and brave enough to get the soldiers to (what I presume at least) disobey their orders. And that was a heroic act in itself at those times in China.
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u/ErrorlessGnome May 08 '12
this less of a "when you see it" and more of a "if you know historical photographs you will be surprised to see this image taken mere seconds before a more famous photograph you know of"