1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre

"June 4th movement" redirects here. Not to be confused with May Fourth Movement.
"Tiananmen Square protests" redirects here. For other uses, see Tiananmen Square protests (disambiguation).

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
Part of the Cold War, the Revolutions of 1989 and the Chinese democracy movement
Protesters in Tiananmen Square on 2 June (top), and tanks in Beijing in July (bottom)
DateInitial protests:
15 April – 4 June 1989
(1 month, 2 weeks and 6 days)
Massacre:
3–4 June 1989
(1 day); 35 years ago
Location
Beijing, China and 400 cities nationwide

Tiananmen Square 39°54′12″N 116°23′30″E / 39.90333°N 116.39167°E / 39.90333; 116.39167
Caused by
GoalsEnd of corruption within the Chinese Communist Party, as well as democratic reforms, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of association, social equality, democratic input on economic reforms
MethodsHunger strike, sit-in, civil disobedience, occupation, rioting
Resulted in
Government crackdown
  • Heavy casualties in urban clashes between rioters and soldiers in Beijing, especially at Muxidi
  • Protest leaders and pro-democracy activists later exiled or imprisoned
  • Rioters charged with violent crimes executed in the following months
  • Zhao Ziyang purged from General Secretary and Politburo
  • Jiang Zemin, previously Party Secretary of Shanghai, promoted to General Secretary and paramount leader by Deng Xiaoping
  • Imposition of Western economic sanctions and arms embargoes on China
  • Initiation of Operation Yellowbird
Parties
Lead figures
Casualties
Death(s)See Death toll

The Tiananmen Square protests, known in China as the June Fourth Incident,[1][2][a] were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between the demonstrators and the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution, the Chinese government declared martial law on the night of 3 June and deployed troops to occupy the square in what is referred to as the Tiananmen Square massacre. The events are sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement,[b] the Tiananmen Square Incident,[c] or the Tiananmen uprising.[3][4]

The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu Yaobang in April 1989 amid the backdrop of rapid economic development and social change in post-Mao China, reflecting anxieties among the people and political elite about the country's future. The reforms of the 1980s had led to a nascent market economy that benefited some people but seriously disadvantaged others, and the one-party political system also faced a challenge to its legitimacy. Common grievances at the time included inflation, corruption, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy,[5] and restrictions on political participation. Although they were highly disorganized and their goals varied, the students called for things like rollback of the removal of "iron rice bowl" jobs, greater accountability, constitutional due process, democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.[6][7] Workers' protests were generally focused on inflation and the erosion of welfare.[8] These groups united around anti-corruption demands, adjusting economic policies, and protecting social security.[8] At the height of the protests, about one million people assembled in the square.[9]

As the protests developed, the authorities responded with both conciliatory and hardline tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership.[10] By May, a student-led hunger strike galvanized support around the country for the demonstrators, and the protests spread to some 400 cities.[11] On 20 May, the State Council declared martial law, and as many as 300,000 troops were mobilized to Beijing.[11][12][13][14]

After several weeks of standoffs and violent confrontations between the army and demonstrators left many on both sides severely injured, a meeting held among the CCP's top leadership on 1 June concluded with a decision to clear the square.[15][13][14] The troops advanced into central parts of Beijing on the city's major thoroughfares in the early morning hours of 4 June and engaged in bloody clashes with demonstrators attempting to block them, in which many people – demonstrators, bystanders, and soldiers – were killed. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded.[16][17][18][19][20][21]

The event had both short and long term consequences. Western countries imposed arms embargoes on China,[22] and various Western media outlets labeled the crackdown a "massacre".[23][24] In the aftermath of the protests, the Chinese government suppressed other protests around China, carried out mass arrests of protesters[25] which catalyzed Operation Yellowbird, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic and foreign affiliated press, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests. The government also invested heavily into creating more effective police riot control units. More broadly, the suppression ended the political reforms begun in 1986 as well as the New Enlightenment movement,[26][27] and halted the policies of liberalization of the 1980s, which were only partly resumed after Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992.[28][29][30] Considered a watershed event, reaction to the protests set limits on political expression in China that have lasted up to the present day.[31] The events remain one of the most sensitive and most widely censored topics in China.[32][33]

  1. ^ Sonnad, Nikhil (3 June 2019). "261 ways to refer to the Tiananmen Square massacre in China". Quartz. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  2. ^ Su, Alice (24 June 2021). "He tried to commemorate erased history. China detained him, then erased that too". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  3. ^ "I watched the 1989 Tiananmen uprising". LA Times. 30 May 2019. Archived from the original on 23 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  4. ^ "As China Cracks Down on Dissent, New York City Gives Refuge to Exhibit Remembering Tiananmen Square". US News & World Report. 1 June 2023. Archived from the original on 23 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  5. ^ Brook 1998, p. 216.
  6. ^ Lim 2014a, pp. 34–35.
  7. ^ Nathan 2001.
  8. ^ a b Lin, Chun (2006). The transformation of Chinese socialism. Durham [N.C.]: Duke University Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0822337850. OCLC 63178961. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  9. ^ D. Zhao 2001, p. 171.
  10. ^ Saich 1990, p. 172.
  11. ^ a b Thomas 2006.
  12. ^ Nathan, Andrew J.; Link, Perry; Liang, Zhang (2002). "The Tiananmen Papers". Foreign Affairs. 80 (1): 468–477. doi:10.2307/20050041. ISSN 0015-7120. JSTOR 20050041. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  13. ^ a b Miles 2009.
  14. ^ a b Declassified British cable.
  15. ^ p. 468. "After Li's report the Elders voiced their anger at the foreign and domestic enemies who were manipulating the students, and their con- viction that there was no choice left but to clear the Square by force. Nonetheless, most of the Elders hoped the job could be done without casualties, and Deng Xiaop- ing repeated his insistence that nothing should stop the momentum of reform and opening." Nathan, Andrew J.; Link, Perry; Liang, Zhang (2002). "The Tiananmen Papers". Foreign Affairs. 80 (1): 468–477. doi:10.2307/20050041. ISSN 0015-7120. JSTOR 20050041. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  16. ^ How Many Died 1990.
  17. ^ Sino-American relations 1991, p. 445.
  18. ^ Brook 1998, p. 154.
  19. ^ Kristof: Reassessing Casualties.
  20. ^ Richelson & Evans 1999.
  21. ^ Calls for Justice 2004.
  22. ^ Dube 2014.
  23. ^ "Tiananmen Square incident". Britannica. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  24. ^ "20 Years After Tiananmen Square". NPR. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  25. ^ Miles 1997, p. 28.
  26. ^ Wu 2015.
  27. ^ Pei, Minxin (3 June 2019). "Tiananmen and the end of Chinese enlightenment". Nikkei Asia. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019.
  28. ^ "Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour" (PDF). Berkshire Publishing Group LLC. 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 May 2017.
  29. ^ Ma, Damien (23 January 2012). "After 20 Years of 'Peaceful Evolution,' China Faces Another Historic Moment". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  30. ^ "The inside story of the propaganda fightback for Deng's reforms". South China Morning Post. 14 November 2018. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  31. ^ Bodeen, Christopher (3 June 2019). "Prosperity, repression mark China 30 years after Tiananmen". AP News. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  32. ^ Nathan 2009.
  33. ^ Goodman 1994, p. 112.


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