Washington, DC, June 2 (WMD).─ On May 29, the National Endowment for Democracy honored imprisoned Chinese dissidents Liu Xiaobo (1st photo) and Xu Zhiyong (2nd photo) to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. The event took place in Washington DC and featured a short video about the activists (see VIDEO). Documentary filmmaker and human rights activist Hua Ze and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi accepted the awards on behalf of the activists. 
On June 4, 1989, the world watched as Chinese tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, bringing a violent end to the peaceful, student-led democracy movement and killing hundreds, maybe thousands, of citizens who sought political reform. Despite this brutal crackdown, and 25 years of harsh repression since, brave Chinese voices continue to call for democracy and human rights.
The National Endowment for Democracy is proud to honor two of these voices – Liu Xiaobo and Xu Zhiyong – both locked in Chinese prisons because the regime views the power of their ideas as an existential challenge. We also honor today a tireless defender of human rights in China and around the world, the Hon. Frank Wolf., this year's recipient of the Democracy Service Medal.