Thirty years on, China's violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 remains one of the most taboo subjects in China and one the Chinese Communist Party wishes could be scrubbed from the pages of history.
Thirty years on, China's violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 remains one of the most taboo subjects in China and one the Chinese Communist Party wishes could be scrubbed from the pages of history.
Each year as June 4 approaches, security is stepped up across Beijing and the rest of country, journalists are barred from the vicinity of the square and internet censors, many of which are now artificial intelligence programs, go into overdrive to block even the most oblique references to the incident.
Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping opened up China's economy in December 1978 and the 1980s was a decade of rapid change in China. The changing economy brought to some a sense of optimism after decades of turmoil as a result of the Mao-led policies of the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.There was a nascent attempt at political liberalization and reform within the Communist Party led by Hu Yaobang, the party's then-general secretary.
In the reformers camp was General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, who advocated opening a dialogue with the students. The hardliners, led by Premier Li Peng, later demonized as the"Butcher of Tiananmen," pressed his colleagues for more drastic action to quell the protests. The demonstrations reached their apex May 19, when an estimated 1.2 million people gathered in the square. Zhao made his final public appearance that night to plead for the crowds to leave the square. He refused to endorse imposing martial law and later spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
The New York Times recently profiled a former military journalist who described the discord even within the army about whether to push back on orders. The military journalist reported that seven commanders signed a letter to the China's Central Military Commission, akin the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff, that"The People's Liberation Army is the people's military and it should not enter the city or fire on civilians.
Most of the deaths occurred on the path leading up to the square as the army advanced, firing into the crowds and running people over with vehicles. The death toll was highest around Muxidi, about 2 miles west of the square. The Tiananmen Mothers identified 36 deaths in the immediate area and 18 more in a nearby hospital.
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