In 1989, Beijing-based writer Ma Bo, who is better known as Lao Gui, author of Blood Red Sunset, was a journalist working for state-run newspaper Legal Daily, as well as an active participant in the Tiananmen Square protests. He described the movement as “peaceful and patriotic” despite the Beijing authorities’ calling the events a “riot”. Ma fled to the US via Hong Kong after the crackdown, but returned to Beijing in 1995. Thirty years on, the writer recalls his experiences during the…