News History Society Talk: China 1989 07.02.2025

On Thursday, the History Society welcomed our very own Mrs Whittaker for a talk about her time in China in 1989.

She spoke about her time as a foreign student as well as her experience of being in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square protests. This included hearing about the events from a foreign journalist ringing her halls in the middle of the night and being evacuated on a chartered government plane. Students also had the chance to see some of her photos from the time and heard some thrilling excerpts from her diary. It was a wonderful example of the power of oral history.

As China is a central part of the GCSE curriculum, the talk was invaluable to Year 11 History students but was very well attended by History enthusiasts across the school!