Reply-To: "DAVID RICE" <jdrice@tinet.ie>
From: "DAVID RICE" <jdrice@tinet.ie> 
To: <aweto[AT]yahoo.com>
Subject: Song of Tiananmen Square
Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 00:31:03 +0100

Dear Weiqing Huang:

Ni hao from Ireland. I just cannot believe you have such a marvellous website on the Tiananmen Square massacre. I want to link with you, and you will understand why when I explain.

The 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre is reminding  communities here and all over the world of what happened on the night of June 3-4, 1989. And we are deeply concerned that what happened must never be forgotten. I have tried to do something about it. 

What I have done is to write a new book that is aimed at making sure the massacre simply cannot be forgotten. And already the book has been amazingly successful over here in raising awareness of the massacre.

Called Song of Tiananmen Square, the book's secret is that it uses a fiction format to reach a mass readership worldwide, and tell about the massacre. While the story may be fictional, there is absolutely nothing fictional about the massacre account in the book. It tells, in a way never before attempted, the terrible facts of 1989. Fiction is used deliberately to make the events come alive in everyone's mind.

I was a journalist in Beijing both before and after the massacre. I went back to Beijing later and, while working for Xinhua, secretly interviewed 400 of the young people who had survived the massacre. Finally the security police got on to me, but that's a story in itself.

We are all hoping that Song of Tiananmen Square, by raising awareness of the massacre,will frustrate the cover-up. There are already enquiries about filming the story.

The book has its own website, which gives some moving extracts from the book, as well as all the details you need. Website is http://homepage.tinet.ie/~drice . The website has received an award here in Ireland. Please try to find time to look at it.

Now -- If you like the extracts from the book, would you consider linking to our website? In the next couple of days we are making a link to your website, so we would be reciprocating. This story could be one of the most effective ways of raising awareness everywhere.

Also, would you pass the word around about the book and our website? Especially could you tell your colleagues and friends? Perhaps you could simply copy this e-mail to your contacts.

The book is immediately available from Amazon's online bookstore in London. They are already mailing the book all over the world. Our website will link you to them directly. Note it's the UK Amazon, not the US one at this stage.

I am so happy to have found  your website. And I congratulate you on it. Let's stay in touch.

Wishing you all the best in your work.

-- David Rice