Report: Tank Man hero was a real ... 'Tiananmen square'

On the 20th anniversary of the quelled protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, which called for political reform and free speech, some additional details about the demonstrations and the people involved have slowly—very slowly—surfaced. Specifically, facts about the lone student who stood in front of, and single-handedly halted, a line of heavily armored Chinese tanks.

The student's identity was never confirmed, nor was his fate after the incident. The man's picture and video facing off against the tanks was sent all around the world and instantly came to symbolize the protests. The man became known simply as Tank Man. But what was this remarkably brave protester really like?

Despite China's restrictions on free speech, acquaintances have begun to come forward to say how proud they were of Tank Man and, considering his character, how his actions on that day were extremely shocking.

"He never wanted to have any fun at all. He just studied all the time," said a friend who wanted to remain anonymous. "I would often hand out pamphlets about democracy and
uncensored media and he would say,'don't you know we could get in a lot of trouble for that.'"

Apparently, in 1988 during a college party at Beijing University's Smith Hall dormitory, Tank Man discovered underage drinking and informed dorm officials about the indulgences by his fellow students.

The guilty partygoers were forced to each partake in a 10-minute keg stand in Tiananmen Square. During the public punishments two students came ever so close to drowning, but later fully recovered.

Many in Tank Man's family and his friends all believe that the public, government-orchestrated keg stands of that year changed the way he felt about communism and the country's leadership.

"I think he just snapped one day during the protests and all of his squareness was unleashed upon the Chinese Army," said another friend.

So straight-laced was the student that when playing checkers he elected to enforce the rule that required players to jump the opposition if a jump was possible.

In fact, the "friends" that have come forward only knew Tank man as 'Tiananmen square.' University students in China at this time often used this nickname to label students like Tank Man, who, on the outside, lead a conservative way of life.

"I had no idea that Tank Man was capable of standing up to five tanks," said yet another friend. "Every time we saw him coming we would literally say,'great, here comes Tiananmen square.'"

It appears that Tank Man's perceived demeanor was strictly for show and that perhaps he was producing the literature his friends were distributing.

"[His squareness] was all a show, which makes him a damn genius," said one of Tank Man's professors.