Many Chinese prefer not to talk about the Tiananmen protests and the crackdown that followed.

But some have shared their views of events 20 years ago with the BBC's Chinese Service.

We're going to share just a few examples right now.

Chen San -- that's not his real name -- grew up after 1989.

He says he'd never heard about the student movement, or the crackdown, until just last year.

During the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government lifted some of its restrictions on the Internet.

That gave people like Chen San a brief window of opportunity to read foreign news sites.

He says he was shocked by what he saw regarding the Tiananmen crackdown.

CHEN SAN:

"I was angry and upset. When I saw video footages of the killings, I was devastated. I confronted my mother: 'Why didn't you tell me about this before?' She replied that she knew about the killing of students and ordinary citizens from listening to foreign and Hong Kong radio stations but that she thought that she shouldn't talk about such things with me."

But there ARE those who are willing to talk about what happened.

Ding Zilin says her 17-year-old was killed during the crackdown 20 years ago.

She's a member of the Tiananmen Mothers organisation, which continues to press the government for a full investigation.

Ding still believes reconciliation is possible.

DING ZILIN:

"Through all this time, and despite all the illegal methods they have used to intimidate us, we have never closed the door for dialogue. The problem is, however, that the government has no sincerity at all; they refuse to admit to any wrong doing, so we can't talk about reconciliation or forgiveness yet. The first step has to be telling the truth about what happened, then comes admission of wrong doing. Mr Hu Jintao and Mr Wen Jiabao both stress a "people-oriented" approach; here we are looking at thousands of lives that perished or were ruined forever; all lives are equally precious and once lost, they can't come back."

Chen San, the young man who only found out about Tiananmen last year, would agree with that.

He says he understands that, 20 years later, China has other priorities.

But he thinks everyone has a right to know about Tiananmen.

CHEN SAN:

"I think the government should tell the truth. Hiding the truth won't solve problems. By telling the truth, those who were killed in the massacre would finally rest in peace."

Just a sample of the views from China collected by the BBC's Chinese Service -- on the 20th anniversay of the Tiananmen crackdown.

We leave you now, with the music of Cui Jian.

He's a rock musician who was popular back among the students on Tiananmen Square back in 1989.

He's had his own run-ins with Chinese authorities.

But Cui Jian has continued to make music and is now known unofficially as "the father of Chinese rock."

This is a 1993 track called "Stepping Out."