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The Tiananmen Square protests, known in China as the June Fourth Incident were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, 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, the Tiananmen Square Incident, or the Tiananmen uprising.
Chai Ling is a Chinese psychologist and businesswoman who was one of the student leaders in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. She was a representative of the hardline faction of the protest movement and according to a documentary, Gate of Heavenly Peace, she had indicated that the strategy of the leadership group she dominated was to provoke the Government to use violence against the unarmed students. Comments that she made to that effect in an interview later formed the basis of two lawsuits. She had also claimed to have witnessed soldiers killing student protesters inside Tiananmen Square.
The Goddess of Democracy, also known as the Goddess of Democracy and Freedom, the Spirit of Democracy, and the Goddess of Liberty, was a 10-metre-tall (33 ft) statue created during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The statue was constructed over four days out of foam and papier-mâché over a metal armature and was unveiled and erected on Tiananmen Square on May 30, 1989. The constructors decided to make the statue as large as possible to try to dissuade the government from dismantling it: the government would either have to destroy the statue—an action which would potentially fuel further criticism of its policies—or leave it standing. Nevertheless, the statue was destroyed on June 4, 1989, by soldiers clearing the protesters from Tiananmen square. Since its destruction, numerous replicas and memorials have been erected around the world, including in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Vancouver.
Wang Dan is a leader of the Chinese democracy movement and was one of the most visible student leaders in the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre of 1989. He holds a PhD in history from Harvard University, and from August 2009 to February 2010, Wang taught cross-strait history at Taiwan's National Chengchi University as a visiting scholar. He then taught at National Tsing Hua University until 2015.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four schools. The purpose of the HKFS is to promote student movements and to enhance the student body's engagement in society. Since the 1990s, the federation has taken an interest in daily events in Hong Kong, and no longer restricts itself to the areas of education and politics. The HKFS council (代表會) is convened by representatives of the university student unions. The representatives are elected by the university students. A standing committee is appointed by the council.
The Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) was founded on August 1, 1989, when over 1,000 Chinese student representatives from more than 200 Chinese Students and Scholars Association in major U.S. universities held their First Congress of Chinese Students and Scholars in the United States at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The mission of IFCSS was to promote democracy in China and to protect the interests of the Chinese students and scholars studying in the United States, as a response to Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Xiong Yan is a Chinese-American human rights activist, military officer, and Protestant chaplain. He was a dissident involved in 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Xiong Yan studied at Peking University Law School from 1986–1989. He came to the United States of America as a political refugee in 1992, and later became a chaplain in U.S. Army, serving in Iraq. Xiong Yan is the author of three books, and has earned six degrees. He ran for Congress in New York's 10th congressional district in 2022, and his campaign was reportedly attacked by agents of China's Ministry of State Security.
Taiwan's Wild Lily student movement or March student movement was a six-day student demonstration in 1990 for democracy. The sit-in at Memorial Square in Taipei was initiated by students from National Taiwan University. Participation quickly grew to 22,000 demonstrators. The Wild Lily demonstrators sought direct elections of Taiwan's president and vice president and new popular elections for all representatives in the National Assembly.
The 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre (20周年六四遊行) was a series of rallies that took place in late May to early June 2009 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, during which the Chinese government sent troops to suppress the pro-democracy movement. While the anniversary is remembered around the world; the event is heavily censored on Chinese soil, particularly in Mainland China. Events which mark it only take place in Hong Kong, and in Macao to a much lesser extent.
The 21st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre began as a small march to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Hong Kong. Hong Kong and Macau are the only places on Chinese soil where the 1989 crushing of China's pro-democracy movement can be commemorated, and the annual event to commemorate has been taking place in Hong Kong since 1990.
The 10th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre (10周年六四遊行) was a series of rallies – street marches, parades, and candlelight vigils – that took place in late May to early June 1999 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The anniversary of the event, during which the Chinese government sent troops to suppress pro-democracy movement and many people are thought to have perished, is remembered around the world in public open spaces and in front of many Chinese embassies in Western countries. On Chinese soil, any mention of the event is completely taboo in Mainland China; events which mark it only take place in Hong Kong, and in Macao to a much lesser extent.
Liu Xianbin, from Suining, Sichuan province, People's Republic of China, is a human rights activist, China Democracy Party organizer, writer and signer of Charter 08.
Feng Congde is a Chinese dissident and Republic of China Restoration activist. He was a student leader from Peking University during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which placed him onto the Chinese government's 21 Most Wanted list. He spent 10 months hiding in various locations in mainland China, until he was smuggled out to Hong Kong on a shipping vessel.
The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre were the first of their type shown in detail on Western television. The Chinese government's response was denounced across the world; a report by the U.S. State Department said: "Foreign governments have expressed near universal revulsion over the crackdown although a few exceptions have supported China's approaches. Negative reactions range from punitive measures by Western countries to private criticisms in the East." Specifically, it said: "China's credentials as a socialist reformer were being called into question not only by Western European communists but also by progressives in Eastern Europe and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union." Notably however, many Asian countries remained silent throughout the protests; the government of India responded to the massacre by ordering the state television to pare down the coverage to the barest minimum, so as not to jeopardize a thawing in relations with China, and to offer political empathy for the events. Criticism came from both Western and Eastern Europe, North America, Australia and some east Asian and Latin American countries. North Korea, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, among others, supported the Chinese government and denounced the protests. Overseas Chinese students demonstrated in many cities in Europe, America, the Middle East, and Asia against the Chinese government.
Fang Zheng is a former student protester who was seriously injured during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. During the evacuation of the Square in the early morning of June 4, Fang was run over by a People’s Liberation Army tank, which led to the amputation of both his legs. He is currently the president of Chinese Democracy Education Foundation.
The April 27 demonstrations were massive student protest marches throughout major cities in China during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The students were protesting in response to the April 26 Editorial published by the People's Daily the previous day. The editorial asserted that the student movement was anti-party and contributed to a sense of chaos and destabilization. The content of the editorial incited the largest student protest of the movement thus far in Beijing: 50,000–200,000 students marched through the streets of Beijing before finally breaking through police lines into Tiananmen Square.
Su Xiaokang is an intellectual, writer, journalist, political activist and in 1989 was named one of China's seven most-wanted dissident intellectuals. His most notable work River Elegy paved the way to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and his participation in the protest also forced him into the exile in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Su currently resides in Delaware, in the United States.
Liu Gang is a Chinese-born American aerospace engineer, computer scientist, optical physicist, political activist, and writer. He founded the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation. He was a prominent student leader at the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Liu holds a M.A. in physics from Peking University and a M.A. in computer science from Columbia University. After his exile to the United States in 1996, Liu studied technology and physics at Bell Labs in New Jersey. Liu was employed at Morgan Stanley as a Wall Street IT analyst.
During the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, student organizations received a significant amount of support in the form of donated money, supplies, and equipment from both domestic and foreign sources.
Student demonstrations took place in a number of Chinese cities from December 1986 until mid-January 1987. The demonstrations started in the city of Hefei before spreading to other cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing. The movement was heavily influenced by the Chinese intellectuals Fang Lizhi and Wang Ruowang, who were critical of the Chinese government's lack of political reforms. The demonstrations quickly dissipated by mid-January before achieving any of its stated goals. The lack of response from Hu Yaobang, who was the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the time, would result in his removal from power on January 15, 1987, and his replacement by Zhao Ziyang.
References
- Washington March Report to Congress
- Washington Post news report on the march
- Washington March for Chinese Democracy joined by North Carolina State University students
- Washington March for Chinese Democracy BOOK
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