It was a rainy, early summer evening in Beijing, two weeks before June 4. More than 300 students, most in their twenties, packed a classroom at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) to listen to a lecture by lawyer Zhang Sizhi, famous for his courageous defence of the nation's top dissidents.
Titled 'Humanitarian quality and legal spirit', the three-hour speech began with the 83-year-old lawyer talking about his experiences of 1989, when he became involved in defending Wang Juntao, Bao Tong and Gao Yu, all charged with sedition, counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement after the bloody June 4 crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
'I am here to tell you to be good legal practitioners. You need to have a sense of responsibility and some courage to face truth and history, even if they were covered up deliberately for political reasons,' Mr Zhang told his audience.
'I think you need to know these cases as legal students from the top legal school of this country, and you should know what has happened and what has changed China's legal and democratic path.'
Outside the classroom plain-clothes police officers were hovering, causing the lecture's organiser, a CUPL professor, more than a little concern. Inside the packed room students took notes tentatively and answered their idol with laughter, waving flowers and applause.
'I know the Tiananmen Square incident and those big names Mr Zhang mentioned, but not that clearly,' one student said. 'After hearing this speech I will definitely try to find more information.'
