A Date by Another Name

While reading a Sunday paper (online actually) I saw a grid of 30 squares, arranged in a 6x5 grid. The first square contains a man standing in front of a tank, while the rest are numbered 2 to 30, each appearing once. Inside each of the 29 squares contains a string of numbers and letters. The string in square 10 is blacked out. It took me about 20 seconds before I figured out the meaning of the strings — the string in the sqaures are the number 19890604 written in base 2 to 30.

It is quite telling that the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party is so fearful of, in their words, that political disturbance occuring between spring and summer of 1989 that the mere mention of the date is censored online. The day between June 3 and June 5 is often called May 35. Unfortunately, such an obvious code would be censored quickly. This is cat-and-mouse game between those who want to keep memories of the Tiananmen Square Massacre alive and those wish to whitewash it. (Good luck trying to report a tennis match in China when one set has a score of 6-4.)

When a bottle of wine whose name rhymes with 8964 lands those who produced it years in Chinese jail (for inciting subversion of state power), one may wonder if the following would become verboten.

Combinations of the roman numerals IV, VI, MCMLXXXIX / LXXXIX

First day of the fifth month in the year of the snake

8 squared, 4 cubed (would all 64-bit computer systems automatically stop operating around June 4?)

2:29:24, 149:24 (think seconds)

6 days 5 hours 24 minutes

1989.155 (days in the year are numbered 001 to 365)

fielding play in baseball where the shortstop (6) passes the ball to the second baseman (4)

High Intensity Floppy Disks, or anything which abbreviates as HIFD (1 represents A, 2 represents B and so forth)

The following variations of the number 8964

10001100000100₂	110022000₃	2030010₄
241324₅	105300₆	~~35064~~₇
21404₈	13260₉	CENSORED₁₀
680A₁₁	5230₁₂	4107₁₃
33A4₁₄	29C9₁₅	2304₁₆
1E05₁₇	19C0₁₈	15FF₁₉
1284₂₀	K6I₂₁	IBA₂₂
GLH₂₃	FDC₂₄	E8E₂₅
D6K₂₆	C80₂₇	BC4₂₈
AJ3₂₉	9SO₃₀	2C4₆₄

Hopefully, in the near future, people in China can freely write the numbers/words 6 and 4 in this particular order without fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, it seems that day is drifting further apart and people here in Hong Kong may have to resort to refer this day in code soon.