Tiananmen+Square+Protest+of+1989

=JOHN CHANG=

Background and the begining
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese,were a series of popular demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China beginning on 15 April 1989. The protests ended with military suppression on 4 June. In the late 1970s, the Chinese leadership of Deng Xiaoping abandoned Maoist-style planned collectivist economics, and embraced market-based reforms. Due to the rapid pace of change, by the late 1980s, grievances over inflation, limited career prospects for students, and corruption of the party elite were growing rapidly. Communist governments were also losing legitimacy around the world, particularly in Eastern Europe. In April 1989, triggered by the death of deposed Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformer, mass gatherings and protests took place in and around Tiananmen Square. At its height, some half a million protesters assembled at Tiananmen Square. In the Chinese language, the incident is most commonly known as the June Fourth Incident. Colloquially, often a simple June Fourth (六四) is used. The nomenclature of the former is consistent with the customary names of the other two great protests that occurred in Tiananmen Square: the May Fourth Movement of 1919, and the April Fifth Movement of 1976. "June Fourth" refers to the day on which the People's Liberation Army cleared Tiananmen Square of protesters, although actual operations began on the evening of 3 June. Some use the "June Fourth" designation solely to refer to the killings carried out by the Army, while others use it to refer to the entire movement. Names such as __**//June Fourth Movement (六四运动)//**__ used to describe the event broadly in its entirety At the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Communist Party Congress in 1978, the Chinese leadership initiated a series of economic and political reforms, which led to the gradual implementation of a market economy and some political liberalization that relaxed the system set up by Mao Zedong. These reforms were generally successful in the early years and well received by the public.[edit by Luna Zhang]

Protest development
When Hu Yaobang suddenly died of a heart attack on 15 April 1989, students reacted strongly. Hu's death provided the initial impetus for students to gather in large numbers. In university campuses, many posters appeared eulogizing Hu, calling for a reversal of Hu's legacy. Within days, most posters focused on bigger political issues, such as freedom of the press, democracy, and corruption. Small spontaneous gatherings to mourn Hu began on 15 April around Monument to the People's Heroes at Tiananmen Square. On the same day, many students at Peking University (PKU) and Tsinghua University erected shrines, and joined the gathering in Tiananmen Square in a piecemeal fashion. Organized student gatherings also began on a small scale in Xi'an and Shanghai on 16 April. On 17 April, students at the China University of Political Science and Law made a large wreath to commemorate Hu Yaobang. Its laying-party was on 17 April and a larger-than-expected crowd assembled. At five p.m., 500 CUPL students reached the eastern gate of the Great Hall of the People, near Tiananmen Square, to mourn Hu. The gathering featured speakers from various backgrounds giving public orations commemorating Hu and discussing social problems. However, it was soon deemed obstructive to the operation of the Great Hall, so police intervened and attempted to disperse the students by persuasion.[edit by Luna Zhang]

Student Leaders:
Wang Dan[王丹] Beijing; Peking UniversityWu'erkaixi[吾尔开希]Xinjiang; Beijing Normal UniversityChai Ling[柴玲] Shandong; Beijing Normal University [edit by Luna Zhang]

The Hunger Strikes
Students began the hunger strike on 13 May, two days prior to the highly publicized state visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Knowing that the welcoming ceremony for Gorbachev was scheduled to be held on the Square, student leaders wanted to use the hunger strike there as a bargaining chip to force the government into meeting their demands. Moreover, the hunger strike gained widespread sympathy from the population at large and earned the student movement the moral high ground that it sought. By the afternoon of 13 May, some 300,000 were gathered at the Square.[edit by Luna Zhang] =The Massacre=

On the morning of June 3, 1989, the Chinese government sent in the 27th and the 28th division of the Chinese army to keep the place under control. However, the protesters, who are mostly students but also include ordinary citizens used burned-out buses to create barricades, threw rocks and bricks at the soldiers, and even burned some tank crews alive inside their tanks, causing the first casualties.

Later that night at 10:30pm, the PLA (People's Liberation Army) returned to the area around Tiananmen with rifles, bayonets fixed. The government ordered the troops to not fire, but offered amnesty if the students would leave, or face the consequence. Subsequently, the students voted to stay. Afterwards, the soldiers brought tanks in and opened fire at the protesters, Most eyewitnesses reported the students to be screaming, "why are you killing us?", but the soldiers returned fire in cold blood. Rickshaw drivers and bicyclists darted through the melee, rescuing the wounded and taking them to hospitals. In the chaos, a number of non-protesters were killed as well. Therefore, for the rest of the night and the next morning, the troops beat, bayoneted, and shot protesters. They also drove tanks drove straight into crowds, crushing people and bicycles under their treads. By 6 a.m. on June 4th, 1989, Tiananmen Square was deserted.

Parents of missing students tried desperately to enter the square, but were turned back and shot by the army. Doctors and Ambulence drivers who tried to enter were also shot down by the PLA.

=The Tank Man=

On June 5, 1989, a lone man carrying shopping bags stopped in the middle of the streets, and faced the incoming tank. Although the tanks tried to go around the man, the man repeatingly stepped in front of the tanks. After the tanks turned off its engine, the man stepped inside the tank and appeared to have a conversation with the driver. After alighting the tank, the driver turned on the engine, but the man quickly leapt in front of the tanks again. At this point, two people dressed in blue attires grabbed the men and disappeared into the crowd.

Although his identity and his fate are still unknown, the image on the right became one of the most famous pictures ever taken, and his actions became a symbol of heroism during this bloodshed. In April 1998, Time Magazine dubbed him one of the most important person of the 20th Century.

Number of deaths
The number of dead and wounded remains unclear because of the large discrepancies between the different estimates, which range from several hundred to several thousand. Some of the early estimates were based on reports of a casualty figure of 2,600 from the Chinese Red Cross. The official Chinese government figure is 241 dead, including soldiers, and 7,000 wounded.[edit by Luna Zhang]