Tianamen Square Demonstration

. . . we are holding this session at a time when the Chinese people have triumphed over their enemies, changed the face of their country and founded the People's Republic of China. We, the 475 million Chinese people, have now stood up, and the future of our nation is infinitely bright.1

Forty years later, the same sentiment was being expressed by a large group of students and young people over the problems that China had faced since Mao. Many were discontented with the authoritarian manner in which the government exerted its will over the people. Many were pleading for more democratic reform, while still holding on to the nationalistic goals of the Chinese people. The focus of these demonstrations for democracy was on the symbolic heartland of the capital city, Tianamen Square. The events that took place there in May and June 1989 both shocked and stunned the world, and had serious repercussions for the Chinese nation. More importantly, the effect of the media within the context of a political uprising gave the world almost instantaneous access to earthshattering events. This ____________________

1 Cited in Orville Schell, "China's Spring," The New York Review of Books, 36 11 (29

. . .
d hard, at least on the populace. Nevertheless, the student's did have access to western ideas and material goods, mostly through the media. Seeing the dichotomy between the west and their world, they naturally wanted more rapid change  something the regime was both unwilling and unable to provide.8 The government itself was problematical in this crisis, for no one knew who was really in charge. Chinese leader Deng was ailing and not in complete control, while communists Li and Zhao "jockeyed for power." The Army, ostensibly the instrument for state control, was in the middle. While the enlisted members appeared to be sympathetic to the student demands, the military leaders believed their position to be precarious in that a new democratization would surely remove some of their authority. In the same light, any rocking of ____________________ 8 Schell, passim. the political power system would certainly send shock waves throughout China.9 Ironically, Deng had promoted reform for the past dozen or so years. However, Deng's reforms were to take place from the top down, and focused on slow, ordered change  all within the context of socialism instead of democracy.10 Clearly, the Tianamen situation was a different set of
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Approximate Word count = 2486
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)