Tiananmen Square, 1989
Weeks of student-led protest for reform and against corruption end when the army clears central Beijing on the night of 3–4 June, killing hundreds or more; the event is still censored in China.
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
- Tiananmen Square incident — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China — Ezra F. Vogel, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2011)
- The Search for Modern China — Jonathan D. Spence, W. W. Norton (1990)
On 15 April 1989 Hu Yaobang, a former Party leader seen as a reformer, died. Students gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn him and soon to demand more: freedom of the press, dialogue with leaders, an end to official corruption and profiteering. Inflation was high and many workers, too, were angry. By May the protests had spread to dozens of cities, and at their peak hundreds of thousands, by some estimates a million, filled central Beijing. Students began a hunger strike in the square during a state visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
- Tiananmen Square incident — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China — Ezra F. Vogel, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2011)
The decision
The leadership was split. Party chief Zhao Ziyang visited the hunger strikers and told them, “We came too late.” He was overruled, removed and spent his last fifteen years under house arrest. Premier Li Peng declared martial law on 20 May. At first Beijing residents blocked army convoys. Students raised a “Goddess of Democracy” statue facing Mao’s portrait.
- Tiananmen Square incident — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
The night of 3–4 June
On the night of 3–4 June, troops and tanks forced their way toward the square, firing on crowds, especially along Chang’an Avenue to the west. Most of the killing happened in the surrounding streets rather than the square itself, from which the remaining students negotiated their departure at dawn. Some soldiers were also killed. On 5 June an unknown man stood in front of a column of tanks, an image known worldwide as “Tank Man” but almost unknown inside China.
- Tiananmen Square incident — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
How many died
There is no agreed figure. The government said about 200 civilians and several dozen soldiers died. Other estimates range from several hundred to several thousand; the Tiananmen Mothers have documented around 200 named victims, and their list is incomplete.
- Tiananmen Square incident — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
Afterwards
Thousands were arrested across China; some workers were executed. Student leaders escaped abroad through a clandestine network. The Party concluded that unity at the top and control of information were essential, and it doubled down on growth and patriotic education.
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
- Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations — Zheng Wang, Columbia University Press (2012)
Inside mainland China, the date is censored; even oblique references such as “May 35th” are blocked online. Journalist Louisa Lim found that most Beijing university students she showed the Tank Man photo did not recognise it.
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
A "counter-revolutionary turmoil" (later called a "political disturbance") that threatened to plunge China into chaos like the collapsing Soviet bloc. The government's decisive measures restored order and ensured decades of stability and development. Officials have said the policy was "correct".
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
- Tiananmen Square incident — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
A peaceful, broad-based movement of students and workers calling for dialogue, press freedom and an end to corruption, crushed by troops firing on unarmed citizens. Groups such as the Tiananmen Mothers, led by Ding Zilin, whose son was killed, have documented victims and demanded accountability.
- The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited — Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press (2014)
- Tiananmen Square incident — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China — Ezra F. Vogel, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2011)
Why it matters today
"June Fourth" is the great unmentionable of modern China, scrubbed from textbooks and the internet, so many young mainland Chinese know little about it. The Party says its decision brought the stability that made growth possible; for others it is the moment political reform died. For Hong Kongers it was, for thirty years, the occasion of a huge annual vigil, banned since 2020.