Li Na non-answer
China got a new sports hero on Saturday, when 29-year-old tennis star Li Na swept to victory at the French Open, making her the first Chinese citizen to win a Grand Slam title.
Li’s victory came on a politically dicey day in China, June 4, the 22nd anniversary of the government’s bloody crackdown on mass demonstrations in Beijing. China has stifled public discussion of the Tiananmen movement and it violent suppression in the two decades since. A wide margin of Li’s generation in China knows only the sketchiest of details of the incident.
In an interview after her tennis win, Li refused to address the issue. After her match, Li met the press but when asked about the significance of her win coming on June 4, the star athlete said, “I don’t need to answer this question. I only focus on my tennis.”
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