Word: yellowbird
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...TIME that over the next few months more than 40 Chinese dissidents and their families who have languished hidden in Hong Kong with Zhang will at last be granted asylum in the West and secretly flown out of the territory. These departures will mark the end of the legendary "Yellowbird" underground railroad set up to rescue activists after the June 1989 democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. For now, activists negotiating for the dissidents say it's too early to feel relieved. "None of us will celebrate yet," says one. "These are people who have lived years, even decades, in fear...
When Beijing sought to hunt down the Tiananmen Square protesters, the rush to aid them was one of the international community's, and Hong Kong's, finest hours. Millions of dollars, raised for the protesters before the massacre, were channeled into a rescue effort that the press dubbed Yellowbird and that engineered more than 300 escapes. While well-known figures like Olympic swimmer Yang Yang were whisked away to asylum, less famous fugitives like Zhang were stuck in Hong Kong...
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