A Place Made Out of Dates: Shi Jian & Chen Jue’s Tiananmen

Beijing’s Tiananmen Square is a place made out of dates. Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1 — a date on which, in subsequent years, people visit the Square to celebrate the founding of China as we think of it today. When, in 1919, thousands of students gathered at Tiananmen Square to protest the Chinese government’s capitulation to the Treaty of Versailles and Japanese imperialism, they became known by the date of their...