In exploring modern China via the government’s reaction to student demonstrators in the name of democracy in Tiananmen Square, we must truly wonder if there is any difference between modern China and historical China. In taking a close look at the government’s reaction to the demonstrations for freedom in Tiananmen Square, we must wonder if there has truly been any progress where human rights or the classroom ideals of democracy are concerned.
On May 17, 1989, more than a million people stormed Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the former off-limits home of many of China’s imperial dynasties (Chin 1). Defiant, red banners emblazoned with slogans against Premier Li Peng flew in the square, while loudspeakers encouraged the people to keep their spirits high in the name of freedom, human rights, and democracy. More than 1,600 people were arrested during the demonstration, demonstrations favoring the individual over the state in a turn-a-round of China’s historical state over the individual ideology (Doerner 1).
Many human rights organizations like the United Nations and Amnesty International often criticize China’s policy on human rights and the government’s willingness to suppress and oppress its own people in order to continue to cling to Communist institutions and ideologies. In fact, the Chinese government’s reaction to the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square made many of those living in Hong Kong worried that communist oppression would become the norm once Hong Kong was given back to red China’s control. Few can blame people for this impression because of the swift, violent, and oppressive nature of the Chinese government’s reaction against its own students and people as they demonstrated in order to win more individual freedoms:
The punishment was swift. Escorted from their cells in a Shanghai prison, the three shackled men were led to an execution ground outside the city. If tradition were followed, e...