Recalling how former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping dealt with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, The Straits Times, Aug 17, 2004

He took over, and he said: 'If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it.'

— Lee Kuan Yew

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "He took over, and he said: 'If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it.'" in the context of "Recalling how former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping dealt with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, The Straits Times, Aug 17, 2004" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Lee Kuan Yew" (Quotes, 2000s) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Lee Kuan Yew

About Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015) was a Singaporean politician. He was the Secretary-general of the People's Action Party (1954–1992) and Singapore Prime Minister (1959–1990), Senior Minister (1990–2004), Minister Mentor (2004–2011).