- By Tenzin Gyatso, H.H. the XIVth Dalai Lama -
China prior to the Tiananmen Square incident
Above many other things that triggered the 1989 protest at Tiananmen Square, understanding briefly the accumulation of certain political events leading up to the incident may be contributive information. For this, Spence (1990) illustrates some of the events arguing aspects about the styles of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC), who is the central government, regimentation styles over the country’s mass population as well as coming from that kind of propensity of control, the government, in their socialist state, exercised strict socialist ideals upon the people.
In short, Socialism, likewise with Marxism-Leninism, was the Chinese government’s political aim during Mao Zedong’s rise to political leadership throughout the 50’s and people practiced more communal efforts in their lives as oppose to individual rewards as done in western democracy. This set of socialist policies continued to carry itself onto implementation by Deng Xiaoping during his administration later on. However at this time, China’s government was on the rise of economic and technological advancement and like the industrial revolution in the west, China’s revolution was the goal of modernization. Still, political parties were divided among those who preferred the idea of China’s advancement with democratic input from the people as oppose to those who favored a more cautious approach while still maintaining the authority of the state as a socialist regime.
As distinctive political parties began formulating in society, those that perceived the vision of a technologically advanced China also saw certain difficult political bearings employed by government regulations that created an ever shifting political landscape in China. People’s bafflements during this time started being expressed in forms of stories, plays, paintings, and films. Spence states, “Some…saw current politics as absurd, and responded with imagery and logic that seemed to be drawn in part from Daoism…” (Spence, pp. 719). These voices echoed creative democratic change for China. Later, the country’s intellectuals called for more democratic acclamation and saw such ideals to be tied together as the apparatus to modernization. In coalition, students in China began rallying protests for democratic freedom in which pertained with acts of expressing a freedom of speech and truth rather than lead by a government that gave them superior authority over the people under conservative socialism which may have at times been portrayed impartial legitimacy as a state government. Corruption in local and state bureaucracies and various tax evasions were one of many domestic problems within the government and to compound the problem, the socialist regime was insufficient in providing for any sort of social contract or jobs for elite college graduates. Such misguided policies further fumed for those advocating democratic ideals.
As the year 1989 came around, it acceded several anniversary occasions such as a May Fourth movement and the fortieth anniversary of the PRC itself. With this, China’s most prominent social scientists and writers saw this time as an opportunity for the government to appeal to the public as a matter of recovering and improving their impression to the people by demonstrating flexibility and openness of Chinese politics. In addition, Spence states that “Delegates…suggested that a “socialist democracy” promised a [social] solution if it could combine “political, social and cultural democratization” with the economic reform currently under discussion” (Spence, pp. 738). However, this request fell short of interest for China’s socialist leaders to consider.
With student protest movements growing immensely, the Chinese government began to publically portray these individuals on news as acting in movement with planned conspiracy. In response, “Instead of being intimidated, the students reacted with anger and defiance.” (Spence, 1990, pp. 740) and as rally marches grew, so did their call for reform and democratic freedoms. In the end, the call for even the resignation of China’s leader, Deng Xiaoping, was made. As the number of student protesters grew, the area of Tiananmen Square, in which the protests were held, started filling up with demonstrators, foreign spectators, journalists, and news editors and the growing numbers reached proportions that could not be controlled by state officials. Left with no other choice, One of China’s leaders at the time, “Li Peng declared martial law and ordered units of the People’s Liberation Army to be brought into Peking [Tiananmen Square] to clear the square and return order to the city.” (Spence, 1990, pp. 742).
The next few days of that month in June of 1989 gave way to what is now recorded as the Tiananmen Square Protest…
Sources for this section:
Spence, J. (1990). The Search for modern china. Retrieved from https://catalysttools.washington.edu/workspace/file/download/9dbb8020481a5323b2c3c4b0a65cff1ef4149ca30dc0340f3e6070748802d2cf?inline=1
