Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown

Date

15 April – 4 June 1989

Category

Politics & governance

Region

East Asia (China)

Era

Contemporary

Significance

Beginning on 15 April 1989, sparked by the death of reformist Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang, students and citizens gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to demand political reform, press freedom and an end to corruption.

The demonstrations swelled into a nationwide movement, with protesters in the square erecting the "Goddess of Democracy" statue on 30 May. After internal debate, China's leadership declared martial law and ordered the army to clear the square. On the night of 3–4 June 1989, troops advanced through Beijing, killing demonstrators and bystanders; estimates of the death toll range from several hundred to the low thousands. The crackdown ended the prospect of political liberalisation in China for a generation, entrenched single-party control even as market reforms continued, and stood in stark contrast to the largely peaceful transitions then unfolding in Europe.

Empires active in 15 April – 4 June 1989

• Soviet Union
  1922 CE – 1991 CE
• British Empire
  1583 CE – 1997 CE
• Portuguese Empire
  1415 CE – 1999 CE
• Yugoslavia
  1918 CE – 1992 CE

Related politics & governance events

• Founding of the People's Republic of China
  1 October 1949
• The Cultural Revolution in China
  1966–1976
• Fall of the Berlin Wall
  9 November 1989
• Revolutions of 1989 across Eastern Europe
  1989 (Autumn of Nations)
• German reunification
  3 October 1990
• Dissolution of the Soviet Union
  August–December 1991

Further reading

China: A History

The wider story

China: A History

John Keay

Sweeping, readable single-volume narrative of China from its beginnings to today.

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