It's one of the most famous images in the world: a defiant man stands alone in Beijing before a line of tanks, as if daring them to crush him. This we

The Other 'Tank Man' Photographs

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2021-06-04 20:00:03

It's one of the most famous images in the world: a defiant man stands alone in Beijing before a line of tanks, as if daring them to crush him.

This week, China Real Time interviewed Jeff Widener, the photographer behind the so-called "Tank Man" photo taken on June 5, 1989, amid a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy student protesters. Though Mr. Widener's version of the moment is the most well-known, several other versions exist including images by Stuart Franklin, Charlie Cole, Terril Jones and Arthur Tsang Hin Wah. Here are a few other, lesser-known versions of the "tank man" photo, some which are occasionally misattributed to Mr. Widener.

Unlike Mr. Widener's more closely cropped version of the "Tank Man" photo, Mr. Tsang's photographs show a longer row of tanks moving down the deserted street, bearing down on the man. His images were shot a few seconds before the others on the scene and contain views of a burned bus at the side of the road not visible in Mr. Widener's.

Shot from ground level, Mr. Jones' version of the "Tank Man" photo surfaced publicly only in 2009, two decades after it was taken. In his photo, the man is visible only at the margins of his frame as the tanks approach. In the foreground, a man dodges a bullet, while another bicycles by.