Tiananmen Square massacre dims hope of demonstrators for democracy in China

Category
Government
Place
China
Date
1989
Reference
Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The massacre of Tiananmen Square horrified Western public opinion, and undoubtedly lost the Chinese Communist Party most of what little legitimacy it may still have had among the younger generations of Chinese intellectuals, including party members, but it left the Chinese regime free to continue the policy of successful economic liberalization without immediate political problems." [Hobsbawm: Extremes, p. 487] In April 1989, "Deng Xiaoping labels student movement 'unpatriotic.' . . . Student demonstrations grow larger, hunger strike begins. . . . Martial law imposed in Beijing; citizens block army convoys. . . . Deng Xiaoping orders People's Liberation Army to clear Tiananmen Square; hundreds killed. . . . Zhao Ziyang purged for 'splitting party,' replaced by Jiang Zemin." [Fall and Rise of China Guidebook, p. 181-2] "Zhao Ziyang (1919-2005): The Chinese premier and general secretary of the CCP in the 1980s. He helped to design and implement Deng Xiaoping's market reforms. Zhao's prostudent sympathies during the 1989 Tiananmen protests angered Deng, resulting in Zhao's ouster and house arrest." [Fall and Rise of China Guidebook, p. 212]

This event is linked to the following periods

PeriodMiner
Begin
End
Category
Peoples Republic of China
1949
2020
Chinese