Student Revolt in Beijing (1989)
And the Tiananmen Square Massacre
The 1989 student uprising in Beijing was the first mass protest against the Communist Party of China. A large group of students, intellectuals and reformists marched on Tiananmen Square on 17 April. They did so shortly after the death of Hu Yaobang, former secretary-general of the Communist Party of China. Hu Yaobang was loved by the students. Not so with the Communist Party, which removed him from office in 1987 for acting too meekly, among other things during earlier student protests. After Hu Yaobang’s death, marches were organised in his memory and the student leaders saw an opportunity to use these marches to organise a protest demonstration.
Among other things, the students are demanding from the Chinese government the right to openly criticise the government.
Also, they want to be able to decide for themselves what kind of work they do and to be able to travel abroad freely. The students also demand that non-communist parties be given the right to perform in public, they want freedom of the press and the release of political prisoners. Many protestors shout that they want an end to the corruption within the Communist Party and demand more democracy. According to historians, many of the protesting students were inspired by the reforms that took place in the USSR around that…
