In 1989 students came to Tiananmen Square to talk about democracy. At first it was just a few of them. Then everyone told their friends about it, and next thing you know there were hundreds, then thousands. They sang songs and held hands. They made a replica of the statue of liberty out of cardboard.
They camped there for six weeks.
quotes at the time below the fold:
Reports from Beijing by NYT correspondent Nicholas D. Kristoff:
Some of the pent-up hostility has come into the open after the death Saturday of the former party leader Hu Yaobang, who was ousted two years ago after being criticized by Mr. Deng for tolerating intellectual dissidents and student unrest.
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In the early hours this morning at Tiananmen Square, the center of Beijing and the political focal point of China, white paper flowers fluttered in the breeze where mourners had left them to honor Mr. Hu. NYT - April 17, 1989
That evening, a demonstration started that kept going for two days:
The scene today included more than 3,000 students bellowing demands for major changes in Government policy, scores of others sleeping on the ground out of exhaustion after two all-night demonstrations and a few perched on one of the ferocious stone lions that guard the compound.
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The students seem to have been motivated by the thrill of the protests, a general sense of dissatisfaction and the desire for more democracy. But in interviews, the students were vague about what ''democracy'' meant or how it should be implemented.
Many spoke of a political system on the American or British model, with guarantees of free elections and free expression. But some doubted that a multiparty system would be feasible in China. The new battle lines seem clearly drawn. The students have shown their willingness to confront the nation's leadership, while the authorities showed that they will reply firmly to any challenge.
NYT, April 19, 1989
The students were very organized and were able to prevent violence from happening a surprising amount of the time.
More than 150,000 demonstrators openly defied official warnings and a concentration of troops today to march for 14 hours through the capital, repeatedly and effortlessly puncturing lines of policemen and soldiers sent to stop them, in one of the biggest displays of dissatisfaction in 40 years of Communist rule.
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Nearly 1,000 soldiers in 20 trucks did not flee quickly enough and mobs swarmed around them, clambering onto the hoods and sides of the vehicles and appearing ready at first to lynch the troops. But when it became obvious that the soldiers were terrified and thinking only of retreat, the mobs cleared a way for them to escape.
Shouts of ''Brothers, go home and till your fields'' could be heard from the crowd as the trucks raced off.
Aside from some shoving, there was no violence. Indeed, students once rescued soldiers sent to block their march. Several truckloads of troops were surrounded by angry mobs, who allowed them to leave only when persuaded to do so by students waving their university identification badges.
NYT, April 28, 1989
The students started to get support from workers too. Everyone crowded to the center of the city to get close to the hunger strikers.
all over central Beijing today, as office clerks, factory workers, bank tellers, journalists and taxicab drivers fought through vast seas of people to get near the enclave of hunger-striking students, now the center of China's swelling democracy movement.
The twist and tangle of people, bicycles, pedicabs, cars and banners froze the steady flow of traffic, and when protesters had no room to march, they cheerfully walked around in circles.
- NYT, May 18, 1989
Eventually the Chinese government declared martial law, and they sent tanks there to disperse the crowd.
This picture was taken from a hotel 1/2 mile away where some reporters were staying. A man saw a line of tanks coming towards Tiananmen square. He was in the middle of the street and they were coming straight towards him. He stood still. The first tank slowed down and stopped just in front of him. They paused for a long moment. The man waved his arms at the tank. Then the tank driver decided to turn right to go around him. The man jumped sideways right in front of the tank. They maneuvered left and right in an awkward dance until the tank stopped. The man leaped onto the tank and up to the cabin. He apparently spoke to the driver for a moment, and then he jumped off and turned away from the scene.
You can see the video here.
It isn't clear what happened to this brave young man, but this photo contains many more than 1,000 words of commentary. It is also highly classified information in China, and many people have never seen it. The government suppresses this part of history not only because people died, but also because the city felt so alive and vibrant in that time. People weren't afraid to speak openly about politics - which is actually illegal in China, as absurd as it seems. This is incredibly hard for us Americans to imagine, that most of the countries in the world do not have free speech. It boggles the mind.
Do you remember these times? Add your memories and thoughts below.