Just a day after Chinese troops began violently cracking down on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen square, there he was, standing in front of a line of tankers coming into Beijing, wearing dark trousers, white shirt and carrying shopping bags. When photojournalist Charlie Cole captures the image, little did he know that this very image would become one of the most iconic pictures's in history.
Cole, who had been living in Bali, Indonesia, died at age 64.
The tank tried to go around the man, but he repositioned himself, in a stand-off of sorts. There sure are dozens of pictures capturing defiance of this man. Born in Texas, US in 1955, Cole moved to Japan in 1980 and has had his images published in the New York Times, Time magazine and Newsweek magazine.
In 1990, the picture of 'tank man' won Cole the World Press Photo of The Year. The famous image was captured by Cole from the balcony of a hotel for the magazine, Newsweek. Cole later said that he expected the man to be killed and that he had to hide the film from Chinese security. Tiananmen Square protest, where more than 200 civilians and security persons died (official numbers— eye witness and foreign journalists tally go up to 3000), is still a censored topic in China and the tank man image is still banned.
