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podcast transcript
In the spring of 1989, thousands of people filled central Beijing demanding reform, freedom and an end to corruption.
For weeks, the world has watched hopes rise from Tiananmen Square that perhaps China will see major political reforms.
Then one night, tanks rolled in, gunfire echoed through the streets, and one of the most infamous repressions in modern history unfolded.
Learn more about the Tiananmen Square massacre and how it changed China and the world in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
To understand what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989, you must understand China in the 1980s. After Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping emerged as China’s supreme leader. Deng Xiaoping did not overthrow Communist rule, but fundamentally transformed the economy.
Under his reforms, markets were partially liberalized, private enterprise was permitted, foreign investment was welcomed, and living standards began to improve. But the reforms also led to inflation, corruption, inequality and widespread frustration.
Many Chinese citizens have seen politically connected officials and their families enrich themselves, while ordinary people have suffered from rising prices. Universities expanded, exposing students to new ideas about democracy, constitutionalism, and responsibility. Intellectual debate has become more active than at any time since 1949.
The death of Hu Yaobang, a senior Chinese Communist Party official, was the direct cause of the protests. He died of a sudden heart attack on April 15. Students believed his death was linked to his being forced to resign after early student protests in 1986 led to leniency.
Hu Yaobang was deeply respected for his advocacy of political reform and compassion for peasant rights. His sudden death was a devastating blow, fueling the grief of students who took to the streets and sparking protests.
Students gathered at Tiananmen Square, Beijing’s huge ceremonial center, to mourn him. Their memorial petitions soon turned into political demands, including freedom of expression, freedom of the press, disclosure of leaders’ assets, eradication of corruption, and dialogue with the government.
What started with students quickly expanded. Workers, journalists, civil servants, and ordinary Beijing residents participated in the protest. Universities across China organized marches, and solidarity demonstrations took place in other cities.
The movement was not fully integrated. Some wanted Western-style democracy. Others wanted reforms within socialism. Many people simply wanted clean government and respect for their leaders. This diversity gave the protesters a strength in numbers but a weakness in strategy. There was no single leadership, no agreed negotiating position, and no clear final steps.
The Chinese leadership itself was deeply divided. General Secretary Zhao Ziyang preferred dialogue and compromise. Premier Li Peng and party hardliners have argued that the protests threaten communist rule and social stability.
On April 26, People’s Daily published an editorial criticizing this movement as a disturbance controlled by hostile forces. Rather than threatening students, the editorial outraged many citizens and increased participation.
Tensions rose when protesters learned that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was planning to visit China on May 15, 1989. Many students began a hunger strike to protest the impending visit to China. This form of protest has been used to raise public awareness by highlighting the suffering and injustice that protesters are experiencing.
Protesters sought to exert international pressure on the Chinese government. At this point in history, China opened its borders to the West, allowing outside media to enter the country. The hunger strike captured the attention of Western audiences and raised awareness of the protests and the movement’s demands.
With the number of protesters now exceeding a million, the government began taking more action.
Beijing declared martial law on May 20. The government mobilized at least 30 military units and 14 corps. The military’s suspension of civilian air travel did little to deter the protesters.
As troops began to arrive in Beijing, they were initially unable to enter the city. Protesters blocked the road to the National Assembly building, preventing the military from moving forward. This forced the army to retreat to the outskirts of the city.
In the meantime, protesters began facing internal problems. Because of the sheer volume of people in the square and the lack of organization, there was no clear leadership or agreement on how to proceed. As a result, these factors fostered significant internal friction and division within the movement.
With no clear course of action, some students wanted to regroup on campus to discuss the goals of the protest movement, while others were reluctant to leave the square.
Overcrowding has led to serious sanitation problems. Distrust grew as students accused each other of collaborating with the government or seeking personal glory. It was a psychologically difficult situation coupled with fear of the military.
The protests were becoming a powder keg, and it was only a matter of time before it exploded.
Zhao Ziyang made his last political appearance on May 19 when he visited the square and urged students to leave, saying they had come too late. Shortly thereafter, he was removed from power and placed under house arrest, where he remained until his death in 2005. His downfall marked the victory of hardliners within the Communist Party.
From the night of June 3 to June 4, the government began its final crackdown. Troops from several armies entered Beijing carrying tanks, armored vehicles and live ammunition.
Fighting and killings mainly took place on the roads leading to Tiananmen Square, especially in areas west of Beijing where residents tried to block the army’s advance.
Soldiers opened fire into the crowd. Civilians were beaten, shot or crushed by vehicles. Buses and barricades were burned. Confusion spread throughout the city.
One of the earliest and deadliest clashes occurred around Muxidi, a major boulevard area west of the square. Witnesses reported that soldiers fired directly into the crowd as people tried to block their advance.
Many civilians appear to have believed that the military would fire blank bullets or shoot themselves into the head, as had happened in some previous political confrontations. Instead, bullets struck bystanders, cyclists, apartment dwellers watching from their windows, and people trying to move the injured. Hospitals in western Beijing were rapidly becoming overwhelmed.
As troops continued to advance east through the night, the city was marred by burning vehicles, gunfire, panicked crowds and impromptu rescue efforts. Beijing residents moved the injured using bicycles, carts, and rickshaws.
Doctors and nurses continued to treat the victims. Some citizens also attacked isolated soldiers or military vehicles. A number of armored vehicles burned down. The unrest resulted in the deaths of several soldiers, but the civilian toll was much higher.
Thousands of students and supporters camped inside Tiananmen Square. At this stage the movement was fragmented and exhausted. The hunger strike weakened many participants. Some leaders wanted to leave before bloodshed broke out.
Others argued that abandoning the square would mean abandoning the moral force of the protests. Communication was chaotic, with different groups using loudspeakers and giving conflicting instructions.
From midnight until the early hours of June 4, the military tightened control around the square. Tanks and infantry moved into the surrounding streets. A gunshot was heard nearby.
Because different groups witnessed the events that night, accounts vary in their exact sequence, but the general outlines we know emerged from journalists, diplomats, students, and later scholars.
It should be noted that the most intense massacre occurred not in the center of the square, but on the roads leading to it. By the time the military completely surrounded Tiananmen Square, many dead and wounded had already fallen in the surrounding area. Inside the square, military commanders and some student representatives negotiated a withdrawal.
Some witnesses, including foreign correspondents and diplomats nearby, said many students were allowed to march through the southeast before dawn. Others described beatings, sporadic shooting, and chaos as troops advanced.
In addition to attacking protesters, government forces also destroyed signs and monuments erected by protesters. The most notable among them was the ‘Goddess of Democracy’. The ‘Statue of Democracy’ is a statue created by art students in the plaza. The statue was hastily made out of paper, modeled after the Statue of Liberty.
The goddess stood for only a week before the military bulldozed it away. The destruction shows that the Communist government has trampled on the people’s freedom and literally destroyed aspirations for democracy in China.
By June 5, the army was working to secure the square and regain control over the rest of the city. Tanks left Tiananmen and began moving towards the outskirts of the city.
While this was happening, one of the most iconic images of the 20th century was captured. Most of you have probably seen this piece known as “The Tank Man.” It shows an unidentified Chinese man standing face first in front of a row of Chinese tanks. There was a brief standoff between the man and the tank before the tank man was dragged away by a group of people.
The man’s encounter with the tank occurred the day after Chinese troops began attacking Tiananmen, so the man was aware of the violence that had occurred.
After a week, all remaining demonstrations and protests disappeared and, for all intents and purposes, order was restored.
The Tiananmen Square protests did not only occur in China. Protests took place in at least 80 cities. But the incident in Beijing is best known.
There has been long-standing debate about what happened inside Tiananmen Square in the final hours, as little information about the event has been released.
As I mentioned earlier, some accounts state that many of the remaining students negotiated an orderly withdrawal from the square before dawn, while other accounts report violence breaking out there.
What is indisputable is that the massacre was not limited to the square. As troops moved through the area, large-scale bloodshed broke out across central Beijing. The term “Tiananmen Square Massacre” became shorthand for the widespread military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing in 1989.
The Chinese government said about 300 people were killed and thousands were injured. Other groups, including the Chinese Red Cross and the Swiss ambassador, estimated the death toll to be closer to 2,600 to 2,700 based on visits to hospitals in Beijing. Other estimates put the death toll as high as 10,000.
In the aftermath, the Chinese government ordered the arrest of 21 students believed to be responsible for the protests. Seven of them succeeded in escaping. The rest were imprisoned.
In many ways, the Tiananmen Square protests had the opposite effect on students than they wanted. These protests led the government to crack down, purge liberal reformists, increase surveillance, and tighten authoritarian control. Efforts for political freedom were literally crushed by tanks.
Domestically, the 1989 incident has become one of the most censored topics in China. Most textbooks omit it. Online references will be deleted. Dates, images, and coded language related to June 4th are frequently censored. China’s younger generations have grown up with limited official knowledge of what happened.
The legacy of the Tiananmen Square massacre is measured not only in those killed and imprisoned, but also in the silence and censorship that followed. This was the moment when China chose the path of economic reform without political opening.
