Today marks the 19th anniversary of events at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where peaceful student protests ended in a violent military crackdown on the night of June 3 and early on the morning of June 4, 1989. Reports on how many protesters were killed is still uncertain, with different sources reporting anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand.

Nineteen years later, and after one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent Chinese history, it is interesting to see how much has changed in China, and how much still remains the same. Chinese media have become arguably more open with their reporting, but there are still strict controls placed on journalists, even in advance of about 20,000 foreign reporters descending upon Beijing in August.

We still do not know exactly what happened that night, or have an accurate tally of how many people were killed, and the Chinese government is still extremely sensitive about large gatherings anywhere near the square. Many young Chinese grow up with unclear notions, or no idea at all about what happened in 1989. That year is widely considered a turning point in their nation’s history, especially in its foreign relations. All of this is testament to the fact that, even after nearly two decades, China still has a long way to go.

Ma Jian has an op-ed in the NYT this morning about Tiananmen in light of the Sichuan earthquake.

Photo: Arguably the most famous image of the Tiananmen Square protests, photographed for the AP in 1989 by Jeff Widener, who is now a photographer at the Advertiser.