1989 Democracy Uprising in China

The 1989 Democracy Uprising in China, which was so brutally repressed in the Tiananmen Square massacres, followed patterns of civil protest that had been enacted several times before in the twentieth century. And, like previous protest movements, the Pro-Democracy Movement had its roots in imaginative literature and the discourse of intellectuals which drew on and, in turn, shaped popular feeling. But the 1980s were also different from other periods in which protest arose because the so-called Literature of the New Era was more easily disseminated (even being published in some newspapers), because the film and television media were employed, because artists of many kinds reflected the liberalizing trend of the decade in their work, and because growing popular subcultures such as rock music aided in spreading the general call for reform. In addition to the broader range of artists involved in influencing public feeling and perceptions, these artists also took advantage of whatever chances presented themselves for the exploitation of mass media such as newspapers, film, electronic music, and television. Inconsistencies in official policy throughout the 1980s led to occasional windows of opportunity that were seized by the artists, students, intellectuals, and others involved in the growing demand for a more open China. Ironically, the government's eventual answer to the movement was also conveyed via mass media as television cameras from around the world witnessed much of

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ng a degree of economic liberalization (e.g., the creation of the special economic zones and the loosening of rules on entrepreneurial activities), the Party was intent on establishing a balance between its own absolute authority and the liberal implications of these very significant economic changes. Throughout the Eighties struggles within the Party leadership led to violent swings in official attitudes toward increased openness in the arts and intellectual discourse. And in each period of increased liberality filmmakers, artists, novelists, musicians, poets, and playwrights were quick to surge into the opening with whatever critical or protest-oriented art they felt could get through. Thus, for example, in 1978, following the elevation of the 1976 protesters to hero status, Deng Xiaoping permitted the continuation of the "Democracy Wall," created when thousands of posters were erected on a wall in central Beijing. The posters contained "poem and stories (which were often recited to the crowds gathered before the wall), as well as political manifestoes" (Barm� and Minford n. pag.). But Deng, having used the 1976 protests to demonstrate the lack of popular support for the Cultural Revolution, turned on the so-called Democra

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