Not since the revolution that brought the communist to power in 1949 has the People’s Republic of China experienced anything like the evens of the spring of 1989. Tiananmen Square- the central landmark of the capital city of Beijing-was the scene of an unprecedented five-week demonstration in support of greater political democracy. The demonstrators, numbering in the thousand, were initially mostly student encouraged by recent economic reform to demand a greater voice in government. Clustered together in the shadow of the Great Hall of people, some began the hunger strike; others resolutely displayed banners and headbands that proclaimed their goals. As the day passed, their numbers steadily increased, until more than 1 million of the city’s people mixed uneasily with a growing number of soldiers around the square.
Reformer among the country’s leaders supported the demonstration. Hard-liner strongly opposed, urging used of force to crush the protest. The balance or power slowly shifted toward a policy of repression. Ominous signs appeared: troops from other regions of China (denied news of how popular the protest had become) were trucked to the outskirts of the city. Waves of soldier periodically tried to cleaner section of the square; each time, the demonstrators held their ground. Premier Li Peng then announced that the “turmoil” was to be swiftly ended. Anxiety rose as the government ordered satellite dishes o and other communication links operated by foreign news agencies shut down.
About 2 A.M. on the morning of Sunday, June 4, the political dueling ended in convulsions of violence and horror. From three sides, a fifty truck convoy of the thousand troop converged of square. Soldiers leveled AK-47 assault rifles barriers, crushing the people behind them. Some demonstrators bravely fought back, but their fate had been ready sealed. Within three hours, the pro-democracy movement had ended and Tiananmen Square was awash with the blood of thousands of people.
Events such as those in Tiananmen Square make clear a lesson often lost in the concerns of daily life: the operation of every society is shaped by those who have power and control events. Power, of course, takes many forms, but all are not necessarily equal. As they occupied the center of their nation’s capital city, the Chinese people claimed the moral power to direct their own lives. the response their government, in words once used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong, was: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Source: Reading with Meaning, 1999 p. 156-7
Reformer among the country’s leaders supported the demonstration. Hard-liner strongly opposed, urging used of force to crush the protest. The balance or power slowly shifted toward a policy of repression. Ominous signs appeared: troops from other regions of China (denied news of how popular the protest had become) were trucked to the outskirts of the city. Waves of soldier periodically tried to cleaner section of the square; each time, the demonstrators held their ground. Premier Li Peng then announced that the “turmoil” was to be swiftly ended. Anxiety rose as the government ordered satellite dishes o and other communication links operated by foreign news agencies shut down.
About 2 A.M. on the morning of Sunday, June 4, the political dueling ended in convulsions of violence and horror. From three sides, a fifty truck convoy of the thousand troop converged of square. Soldiers leveled AK-47 assault rifles barriers, crushing the people behind them. Some demonstrators bravely fought back, but their fate had been ready sealed. Within three hours, the pro-democracy movement had ended and Tiananmen Square was awash with the blood of thousands of people.
Events such as those in Tiananmen Square make clear a lesson often lost in the concerns of daily life: the operation of every society is shaped by those who have power and control events. Power, of course, takes many forms, but all are not necessarily equal. As they occupied the center of their nation’s capital city, the Chinese people claimed the moral power to direct their own lives. the response their government, in words once used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong, was: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Source: Reading with Meaning, 1999 p. 156-7
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