Economic instability and political corruption, was violently suppressed by armed soldiers ordered into Beijing by the PRC by the death of Hu Yaobang, the general secretary of the CCP blief by students that the Chinese media was distorting the nature of their activities also led to increased support. At Hu's funeral, a large group of students gathered at Tiananmen square and requested, but failed, to meet premier Li Peng, widely regarded to be Hu's political rival. Thus students called for a strike in universities in Beijing. On April 26, an eng demands for free media reform and a formal dialogue between the authorities and student-elected representatives. The govry force to resolve the crisis was ordered, and Zhao Ziyang was ousted from political leadership as a result of his failure to prevent military action. The Communist Party then decided to stop the situation before it escalated further. Soldiers and tanks from the 27th and 28th Armies of the People's Liberation Army were sent to take control of the city. Although the government ordered all civilians in Beijing to remain indoors by numerous television and loudspeaker broadcasts, these forces were attacked by Chinese workers and students in the streets of Beijing and the ensuing violence resulted in both civilian and army deaths. The Chinese government acknowledged thaimited access for the foreign press and controlled coverage of the events in the mainlaue, caricatures China's leaders at the time (Deng Xiaoping had led a series of economic and political reforms which had led to the gradual implementation of a market economy, called Socialism with Chinese characteristics and some political liberalization that relaxed the system set up by Mao Zedong. By early 1989, these economic and political reforms had led two groups of people to become dissatisfied with the government.

The first group included students and intellectuals, who believed that the reforms had not gone far enough, since the economic reforms had only affected farmers and factory workers; the incomes of intellectuals lagged far behind those who had benefitlasnost by Mikhail Gorbachev. The second group were those, including urban industrial workers, who believed that the reforms had gone too far. The loosening economic controls had begun to cause inflation and unemployment, which threatened theircause rural peasants were distributed across the countryside. In contrast to urban dwellers who were organized into schools and work units, peasant supporters of the government remained largely unorganized and difficult to mobilize.

The trigger for the protest was the death, due to illness, of the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Hu Yaobang, who was ousted in February 1987. Hu had been seen as a liberal with a common touch, and his ousting in response to student protests in 1987 was widely seen to be unfair. In addition, the death of Hu allowed PRC citizens to express their discontent with his successors without fear of political repression, as it would have been extremely awve Chinese, demonstrated by the Nanjing Anti-African protests.

In Beijing, a majority of students from the city's numerous colleges and universities participated with support of their instructors and other intellectuals. The students rejected official Communist Party-controlled student associations and set up their own autonomous associations. The students viewed themselves as Chinese patriots, as the heirs of the May Fourth Movement for "science and democracy" of May 4th, 1919. The protests also evoked memories of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1976 which had eventually led to the ousting of the Gang of Four. From its origins as a memorial to Hu Yaobang, who was seen by the students as an advocate of democracy, the students' activity gradually developed over the course of n end to/reform of the rule of the PRC by the Communist Party of China and Deng Xiaoused on the issue of corruption, which united both groups, and because the students were able to invoke Chinese archetypes of the selfless intellectual who spoke truth to power

"The Goddess of Democracy", modelled after the Statue of Liberty, was carved by students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and erected in the Square.Unlike the Tiananmen protests of 1987, which consisted mainly of students and intelleeveral hundred and over a thousand students. This tactic resonated strongly with the Chinese people. While no hunger strikers were observed to become emaciated, a Chinese urban legend persists that some protestors starved to dally successful attempts were made to negotiate with the PRC rulers, who were located nearby in Zhongnanhathe Communist Party headquarters and leadership compound. Because of the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev in May, foreign media were present in mainland China in large numbers. Their coverage of the protests was extensive and generally favorable towards the protesters, but pessimistic that they would attain their goals. Toward the end of the demonstration, on May 30, a statue of the Goddess of Democracy was erected in the Square and came to symbolize the protest to television viewers worldwide.

The Standing Committee of the Politburo, along with the Party elders (retired but still-influential former officials of the government and Party), were, at first, hopeful that the demonstrations would be short-lived or that cos abandon the protest and return to their studies. One barrier to effective action was that the leadership itself supported many of the demands of the students, especially the concern with corruption. However, one large problem was that the protests contained many people with varying agendas, and hence it was unclear with whom the government could negotiate, and what the demands of the protesters were. The confusion and indecision among the protesters was also mirrored by confusion and indecision within the government. The official media mirrored this indecision asn front of a column of advancing tanks, halting their progrese Magazine dubbed him The Unknown Rebel and later named him one of the "100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century". Shortly after the incident, British tabloid the Sunday Express named him as Wang Weilin, a 19-year-old student; however, the veracity of this claim is dubious. What has happened to Wang following the demonstration is equally obscure. In a speech to the President's Club in 1999, Bruce Herschensohn — former deputy special assistant to President of the United States Richard Nixon and a member of the President Ronald Reagan transition team — reported that he was executed 14 days later; other sources say he was killed by a firing squad a few months after the Tiananmen Square protests. In Red China Blues: My Long March from Mao to Now, Jan Wong writes that the man is still alive in hiding in mainland China.

Within the Square itself, there was apparently a debate between those, including Han Dongfang, who wished to withdraw peacefully, and those, including Chai Ling, who wished to stand within the square at the risk of possibly creat account for the casualties in the approaches to the square. The number of dead and wounded remains a state secret. An unnamed Chinese Red Cross official at the time reported that 2,600 people were killed, and 30,000 injured. Two days later, Yuan Mu, the speaker of the State Council, estimated that 300 soldiers and citizens died, as well as 5,000 soldiers and 2,000 citizens injured, 400 soldiers lost contact. According to universities, 23 students died; nobody was crushed. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and State Council later co-claimed that tens of PLA soldiers died and more injured. The Preparatory Committee of Autonomous Associations of Tsinghua University claimed that 4,000 died and 30,000 injured. Chen Xitong, Beijing mayor, reported at 26 days after the event that 36 students, tens of soldiers died amounting to a total of 200 dead, 3,000 civilians and 6,000 soldiers injured. [2]. Foreign reporters that witnessed the incident have claimed that at least 3,000 people had died. Some lists of the casualties were created from underground sources with numbers as high as 5,000. [3] However, it is important to note that NSA documents declassified in 1999 s ment in Peking had completely re-established cont

Attempts were made during and after the suppression of the demonstration to arrest and prosecute the student leaders of the Chinese democracy movement, notably Wang Dan, Chai Ling and Wuer Kaixi. Wang Dan was cau dical parole. Wuer Kaixi escaped to Taiwan. He is now married and he holds a job as a political commentator on National Taiwan TV. Chai Ling escaped to France and then the United States. Within the President. Members of the government eventually prepared a white paper on the incident, which was eventually published in the West in January 2001 as the Tiananmen Papers, which gives the government's viewpoint on the protests and was provided by an anonymous source purportedly within the PRC government. The papers include a quote by Communist Party elder Wang Zhen which alludes to the government's eventual response to the situation.

After the crackdown in Beijing on June 4, protests continued in much of mainland China for a number of day TV presenters who reported news in the "News Network" program at June 4 were fired soon after the event. Wu Xiaoyong the son of a CommuniBC and CNN. Coverage was aided by the fact that there were sharp conflicts within the government itselfsm that was occurring at the same time in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe would strongly shape Western views and policy toward the PRC throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. There was considerable sympathy for the student protests am alization with mainland China and by the blue team as evidence that the PRC government was an aggressive threat to world peace and United States interests. Interestingly, western me s such as the China News Digest and the NGO China Support Network. In the aftermath of Tiananmen, organizations such as the China Alliance for Democracy and the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars were formed, although these organizations would have limited political impact beyond the m g the 1989 Democracy Protests. Behind him (2nd from right in black) is current State Council Pre of this was that the new governor Chris Patten attempted to expand the franchise for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong which led to friction with the PRC. There have been large candlelight vigils in Hong Kong every year since 1989 and these vigils have continued following the transfer of power to the PRC in 1997.

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