Tiananmen Square 30th anniversary: Chinese-Australian artist Badiucao reveals his identity

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Chinese-Australian artist Badiucao - who anonymously inspired a global movement to recreate the iconic "Tank man" image in memory of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre - has taken off his mask for the first time in a new documentary aired on the ABC. The image of the "Tank man" - an unidentified man who stopped the advance of a convoy of tanks en route to Tiananmen Square 30 years ago - became one of the most symbolic images of peaceful resistance in the 20th century.

In an hour-long documentary broadcast on the ABC titled China's Artful Dissident, Australian filmmaker Danny Ben-Moshe offered viewers an exclusive peak into Badiucao's life under the mask and a look at the face behind the satirical political cartoons.

While Badiucao took off his mask on Tuesday night, he still is refusing to give up his real name fearing unintended consequences for himself or his family.

Badiucao was unexpectedly inspired to be a political cartoon artist about a decade ago when he and a group of university friends discovered a three-hour long documentary on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre embedded in a film that his friend had downloaded from a pirating website.

Most recently, Badiucao created a paste-up work promoting the ABC documentary in Melbourne's Hosier Lane for the 30th anniversary of the massacre in the hopes that it would raise awareness for Chinese visitors to Australia.

Filmmaker Ben-Moshe told the ABC while it was initially agreed his documentary would be filmed without revealing Badiucao's identity and would end with the success of his Hong Kong exhibition, there was a sudden change of plans when his family was threatened.

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