The Tiananmen square incident is well known outside of China but almost nothing else about China is. The average American who can tell you a story about the tan

The Tiananmen square incident is well known outside of China but almost nothing else about China is. The average American who can tell you a story about the tank man very likely can't name three Chinese leaders since Mao. Inside China, educated people tend to be familiar with the event but discussing it with a tourist is absolutely the last thing they are going to do. There are many possible interpretations of your anecdote, but I wouldn't read too much into it. With all due respect, you brought up a minor (to them) and yet sensitive point of Chinese history, and your guests, reasonably enough, declined to discuss it with you. Another way of saying it might be that you committed a social faux pas and they changed the topic in a way that saved as much face as possible for everyone.