We remember June 4 because Jiang Jielian, a student protester who was killed by the military on that day in 1989, was 17 at the time. He is still 17. He will always be 17. People who die do not age.

We remember June 4 because the lost souls that haunted human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo until he died will haunt us, too, until we do.

We remember June 4 because the glint of bonfires on bayonets is something one does not forget, even if one did not see it personally.

We remember June 4 because it taught us the essential nature of the Communist Party of China when all of the clothes, every shred, falls away. No book, film, or museum could be clearer.

We remember June 4 because of the ordinary workers who died then. We cannot remember most of their names because we do not know most of their names. We never did. But we remember them as people, and we remember that we never knew their names.

We remember June 4 because the worst of China is there — but the best of China is there, too.

We remember June 4 because it was a massacre — not just a crackdown, or an "incident," an event, a shijian, a fengbo; not a counterrevolutionary riot, not a faint memory. It was a massacre.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Goddess of Democracy As the sun rises at Tiananmen Square, protesters build a 10-meter (33-foot) Goddess of Democracy statue out of foam and paper-mache over a metal armature. In the early morning of June 4, soldiers backed by tanks and armored cars toppled the statue, which had stood directly facing the Mao portrait at the Forbidden City.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Singing Police Woman In the often tense days leading up to the Chinese government crackdown, local citizens often gave gifts to soldiers and police officials. Sometimes troops would sing patriotic songs with demonstrators. In this picture, a policewoman sings out loud in Tiananmen Square a few days before troops retook control of the area and crushed the democratic movement.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Struggle A woman is caught in the middle of a scuffle between pro-democracy protesters and People's Liberation Army soldiers near the Great Hall of The People on June 3, 1989, the day before one of the bloodiest military crackdowns of the 20th century. Later that night, the 38th Army would open fire on unarmed civilians overtaking the occupied Tiananmen Square.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Captured weapons Thousands of protesters surround a bus with a display of captured weapons just days prior to the crackdown. During the government's enforcement of martial law, soldiers and the public performed a delicate dance of give and take. Sometimes protesters offered gifts to soldiers and sometimes troops withdrew.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Fight for democracy In the late evening of June 3, a group of protesters cornered an armored personnel carrier at the gates of the Great Hall of The People. It had just crashed through barricades of street dividers, which the crowds had put up to stop the advance of military vehicles. At the same time, soldiers were preparing to open fire on the demonstrators a short distance away.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Burning APC On the late evening of June 3, protestors set fire to an armored personnel carrier on the Chang'an Avenue near Tiananmen Square. The picture was the last image before photographer Jeff Widener was struck in the face by a stray protestor brick. Though he sustained a serious concussion, The Nikon F3 titanium camera absorbed the blow sparing his life.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Firing on crowds On June 4, a truck manned by People's Liberation Army troops patrol down the Chang'an Avenue in front of the Beijing Hotel the day after the bloody crackdown on student-led pro-democracy supporters. A similar truck full of soldiers had shot tourists standing in the lobby of the Beijing Hotel that day.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 'Tank Man' A lone man with shopping bags walks to the center of Beijing's Chang'an Avenue and temporarily stops the advance of Chinese tanks a day after the crackdown. Over two decades later, the fate of the man is still a mystery. The incident has come to symbolize the events at Tiananmen Square and is considered one of the most iconic images ever taken.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Dead heroes On June 5, a group of people at the Chang’an Avenue show a picture of protesters lying dead at a local morgue after having been shot by Chinese soldiers of the 38th Army during the recapture of Tiananmen Square. The troops used expanding bullets which created larger wounds. At least 300 civilians were killed, according to Amnesty International.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Sweepers The remains of a burned-out bus on Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue as two women sweep up debris following the massacre. The demonstrations led to widespread burning of buses and military vehicles, which left several soldiers dead or injured.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Guarding Mao Soldiers and a tank stand guard in front of the Forbidden City and across from the occupied Tiananmen Square a few days after the riots.

Remembering Tiananmen Square, 1989 Brothers in arms Associated Press photographers Jeff Widener (left) and Liu Heung Shing pose in front of Beijing's Forbidden City in late May 1989 just days before the Chinese government's military crackdown at Tiananmen Square.



We remember June 4 because, as the late scientist and dissident Fang Lizhi noted with his characteristic wit, it is the only case he has heard of in which a nation invaded itself.

We remember June 4 because we want to know what the soldiers who did the killing remember. They were brainwashed on the outskirts of the city before they carried out their deadly orders. So they were victims, too. We do not know what their thoughts were, but we remember that we want to know.

We remember June 4 because Ding Zilin, the mother of Jiang Jielian, is still alive. She is 82 years old. When she goes out, plainclothes police follow to provide security. Security for her? No, security for the state. That's right, a regime with 100 trillion yuan ($144.6 billion, €130 billion) in GDP and 2 million soldiers needs protection from an 82-year-old lady. Protection from her ideas. This is worth remembering.

We remember June 4 in order to support others who remember. We remember alone. But we remember together, too.

We remember June 4 because remembering it makes us better people. Remembering is in our personal interests. When politicians talk about "interests" they mean material interests. But moral interests are just as important — no, they are more important. More important than owning a yacht.

Read more: Tiananmen anniversary — keeping the memory of the massacre alive

Watch video 03:09 The man behind the 'Tank Man' photo

We remember June 4 because it was a historic turning point for one-fifth of the world. A turning point in a frightening direction. We hope it won't be so much of a turning point as to throw the whole world into a ditch. But we don't know. We'll have to see.

We remember June 4 because, if we didn't remember it, it could not be in our heads any other way. Could we possibly have imagined it? No.

We remember June 4 because there are people who dearly want us to remember. It comforts them to know that we remember.

We remember June 4 because there are also people who desperately want us not to remember. They want us to forget because forgetting helps to preserve their political power. How foul! We would oppose that power even if remembering massacres were the only way to do it.

We remember June 4 in order to remind ourselves of the way the Chinese government lies to itself and to others. It says the Chinese people have long since made their "correct judgment on the 1989 counterrevolutionary riot at Tiananmen Square." But each year, on June 4, plainclothes police block people from entering the Square. Why? If the Chinese people all believe what the government says they believe, then why not let the people into the square to denounce the counterrevolutionaries? The presence of the police shows that the regime does not believe its own lies.

We remember June 4 because shocks to the human brain last a long time. We would not be able to forget even if we tried.

Perry Link is Chancellorial Chair Professor for Innovative Teaching, Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of California, Riverside and Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University. Link has translated many Chinese stories, writings and poems into English. Along with Andrew J. Nathan, he translated The Tiananmen Papers, which detailed the governmental response to the 1989 democracy protests.