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Tiananmen Square Massacre: The Dark Chapter Of Communism In China

“Communism destroys democracy. Democracy also destroys communism.” – André malraux (French novelist)

And thinking this, millions of Chinese college students with professors, scientists, and other intellectuals started protesting that we also will overthrow the Communist government of China.

But this Protest could not bring democracy to China but added another dark chapter to the Black Book of Communism.

And this is the dark chapter that we know as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, in which thousands of unarmed and innocent students were gunned down and crushed by tanks.

The Chinese communist government still does not want to bring this blood-stained history to the whole world because it is enough to expose the Communist Government of China.

So we understand this properly, we know it from

Rise of Communism to Cause of Tiananmen Square Massacre

A communist leader named Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949. From this day, the Communist Revolution had also started inside China.

On this day, the 110-year-old Century of Humiliation (COH) in China also ended. The Center of Humiliation refers to the period from 1839 to 1849.

In the COH, the Western powers instigated the Qing dynasty and later established republican governments in the form of subjugation, manipulation, colonization, and occupation.

As a result, rich and ancient civilizations like China were full of pandemics, famines, corruption, mass murder, and widespread drug addiction.

The last years of the Japanese control of China’s humiliation are also known as the darkest period of this COH.

During the Japanese invasion, China faced an unprecedented scale of war crimes, death tolls, and man-made disasters. And because of this, millions of people were displaced also.

This national humiliation of China ended on October 1, 1949. When the Communist Party of China’s Chairman Mao Zedong, controlled the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing. And with this established the People’s Republic of China also.

So thus, gradually 

Communism Reached On Top And Ignite Protest

After coming into power, the Communists crushed all the political opponents and also a great priority on industry building. In 1953 he formed a cooperative which proved very valuable but the upcoming years were not easy.

During the land reform, a significant number of landlords and well-to-do farmers were beaten to death at mass gatherings organized by the Communist Party as the land was taken from them and given to poorer farmers, which significantly decreased financial inequality.

Mao Zadong on Tiananman Square
Mao Zadong on Tiananmen Square

In January 1959, Mao Zedong launched the “Great Leap Forward”, trying to boost agriculture and industrial production. The program founded large agricultural communities with as many as 75,000 individuals working the fields.

He also projected the collectivization of lands where private property was abolished and all lands were under government control.

Due to this “Great leap forward”, Collectivization, and many other policies, Mao wanted to grow China’s economy. but because of improper implementation of his policies and communist ideology, it all went against the plan and proved a failure. 

In 1962 Mao Zedong was quietly pushed to the sidelines and his rivals took control of the country. For the first time in 25 years, Mao was not a central figure in leadership. Deng Xiaoping became the new president of the country with the central leadership of the party and Liu Shaoqi was the second most powerful position.

But he started a cultural revolution which was his greatest tactic. Mao reorganized the party and again became the prominent leader of the party with this Liu and Deng Xiaoping were downgraded.

You can guess from this quote which type of person is Mao Zedong. 

“All political power comes from the barrel of the gun”  – Mao Zedong 

The cultural revolution ended with chairman Mao Zedong’s death on September 9, 1976.  

Deng Xiaoping : Man Behind Tiananmen Square Massacre 

In December 1978, Deng Xiaoping emerged as China’s superior leader. Deng started a complete program to reform the retrograde Chinese economy. Within several years, A full-on drive replaced the country’s focus on ideological purity to acquire material wealth.

The reforms aspired to decrease the role of the state in the economy. And slowly raised private forms of production in agriculture and industry.

Deng Xiaoping is known as the founding father of modern China. Because Dang had invested heavily in science and technology as soon as he came to power. Simultaneously, the economy was liberalized, due to which foreign investment started growing rapidly.

While the public was generally well-received reforms, Dang’s political model gave excessive power to elite party bureaucrats. So thus, it allows nepotism and corruption to grow rapidly.

In addition, the change in the economy and government system came very rapidly.

Inflation skyrocketed. Lending to panic among salaried workers that they could no longer afford needly foods. Moreover, in the new market and economy, zero profitable state-owned companies were pressured to cut costs.

And the new problem named

Crisis Came in China

Despite the opening of new colleges and increased recruitment, the government-directed education system did not make enough graduates to meet increased market demands in the areas of agriculture, light industry service, and foreign investments.

In addition, private companies are no longer required to accept students assigned to them by the state. And many high-paying jobs were offered on a nepotism and favoritism basis. Facing a depressing job market and limited opportunities for intellectuals and students to go abroad.

Consequently the protestors

Started Extreme Protest And Ended With Massacre

In mid-1986, astrophysics professor Fang Lizhi who had returned from a position at Princeton University (New Jersey, USA). He began a personal tour of universities in China. He started to influence the students and speak about human rights and the separation of political powers.

Similarly, many other scientists, professors, and other intellectuals like Fang also joined this movement. And they started inspiring the students to protest against the communist government.

Yaobang was the only senior leader in the Chinese government who was supporting this protest. Meanwhile, on April 15, 1989, the general secretary of the Chinese government, Hu Yaobang died, which intensified the protests.

Millions of protestors
Millions of protestors on Tiananmen Square

The sudden death of Yaobang increased the outrage among the students. From that day onwards, through large posters, people were being made aware of Press Freedom, Democracy, and Corruption.

As a result, a large number of students from nearby universities started joining the Tiananmen Square Protest.

As its size grew, the group slowly evolved into a protest, as students began to prepare a

List of Seven Demands

  1. Confirm Hu Yaobang’s views on democracy and independence as correct.
  2. Admit that the movements against spiritual pollution and bourgeois liberalization had been wrong.
  3. Publish information on the income of state leaders and their family members.
  4. Allow privately operated newspapers and stop press censorship.
  5. Increase funding for education and raise intellectuals’ pay.
  6. End limitations on marches in Beijing.
  7. Provide objective coverage of students in authorized media.

To officially talk to the Chinese government, the students formed a student union named Autonomous Federation on April 23.

On 26 April, the party’s official newspaper People’s Daily published a provocative editorial. In which the student’s protest was termed as anti-party and anti-government.

After this, about 1 lakh students from all the universities of Beijing started marching in the streets of Beijing.

On May 13, two days before the visit of Russian Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to China, students started a hunger strike.

State media was broadcasting this entire Protest and Hunger Strike. Due to this, students started getting sympathy from all over the country. And about 1 million Beijing residents also joined this protest.

After this, the Chinese government became furious. On May 20, the army was deployed in the whole of Beijing and declared Martial Law.

Inauspicious Night: June 3 Evening to June 4 Morning

On the evening of June 3, the Chinese government through state-owned T.V warned residents of Beijing to stay indoors. But people ignored it, and a crowd of people took to the streets.

The units of the Chinese Army were stationed all around Beijing and started firing at people at 10 pm.

At 10:16 pm, the government warned through loudspeakers that soldiers might take “any measures” to execute martial law. At 10:30 pm, news of bloodshed to the west and south of the city started leaking into the Square.

At almost 12:15 am, a flare ignited up the sky, and the first armored personnel vehicle looked on the Square from the west. At 12:30 am, two more Armed personal carriers (APCs) arrived from the south. The students threw pieces of stones at the vehicles.

At 2 am, the troops fired shots over the students’ heads at the Monument. The students broadcast pleadings toward the troops: “We appeal to you in peace, for democracy and liberty of the motherland, for strength and prosperity of the Chinese nation, please comply with the will of the people and refrain from using force against peaceful student demonstrators.”

The first row of soldiers was armed with machine guns from the facedown position. Behind them, soldiers squatted and stood with assault rifles. Combined among them were anti-riot police with clubs. Further back were tanks and APCs.

At 4:30 in the morning, the lights of the square were suddenly switched off and thousands of unarmed and innocent students were gunned down and crushed by tanks.

And when Protesters started coming to Tiananmen Square from other streets of Beijing, troops were also mercilessly fired upon.

Iconic Tank Man

The night before, Tiananmen Square, filled with about 1 million protesters, was completely empty till the morning, but on 4 June, firing continued in many places.

On 5 June, the suppression of the protest was immortalized outside of China via video footage and pictures of a lone person standing in front of a row of tanks leaving Tiananmen Square via Chang’an Avenue. The “Tank Man” became one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century.

As the tank driver tried to go around him, the “Tank Man” moved into the tank’s path. He continued to stand defiantly in front of the tanks for some time, then climbed up onto the turret of the lead tank to speak to the soldiers inside. After returning to his position in front of the tanks, a group of people was pulled aside the man.

Protestor against Chinese tanks
Protestor against Chinese tanks – Tank Man

According to the Chinese government, 300 casualties and 5,000 injuries from protests were held in this disaster. But many reports claim that more than 10,000 civilians died in this accident.

How China has always been

Suppressing the Tiananmen Square Massacre

China’s communist party has worked hard to erase the June 4, 1989 incident, Tiananmen Square from history in mainland China.

Pillar of Shame

Pillar of Shame is an 8-meter tall sculpture established at Hong-kong university. It represented the Tiananmen square massacre of 1989 but after China take-over the Hong-kong it was broken into pieces and removed.

Its removal is a treatment of the ruling communist party’s effort to erase the blood-stained events of that day from the Chinese public mind. The Government doesn’t allow any memorial and even whisk dissidents out of town. So they can’t organize any commemoration around the anniversary.

Pillar of Shame
Pillar of Shame in Hong-Kong University

There is no mention of it in the media and this memorable day also passes like any other. To suppress this tragedy, the Chinese government ban social media to post content related to this.

As we know China is a propaganda king of the world to manipulate the Chinese public through social media, newspapers,s and the Education system. After about 35 years, In the Chinese education system, there is zero coverage of this so big Tiananmen Square massacre.

We have already exposed the propaganda of the Communist Party of China in this:- Exposed: China Gifting Galwan Valley Stones: A Propaganda?

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Prem Prakash

I am a defence lover with the skill of writing, not firing.

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