Every year on June 4th, thousands of people rally throughout China in remembrance of a
1989 violent government crackdown.
To this day, the Chinese government refuses to acknowledge the event, and any information
about it is blocked from the internet and public record.
So what happened?
Here’s a timeline of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
[1966-1976] China’s Cultural Revolution leads to the persecution of millions and encourages
a cult of personality around communist leader Mao Zedong.
[April 15, 1989] A publicly progressive, but politically controversial official, Hu Yaobang
dies.
Subsequent memorials become hotbeds of citizen dissatisfaction with the Communist regime.
[April 26, 1989] An editorial in the official Communist Party newspaper seeks to end student
protests by warning that they are detrimental to the success of the country.
The editorial backfires and strengthens the resolve of protest groups.
[May 19, 1989] Tiananmen square draws an estimated 1.2 million people for an anti-government
rally.
In response, the government imposes martial law.
[June 4, 1989] Soldiers open fire on unarmed student protesters.
The death toll is disputed, but unofficial estimates place it as high as several thousand.
About 10,000 protesters are arrested.
[June 5, 1989] Chinese tanks make their way down the middle of Tiananmen Square and are
stopped by an unidentified man standing in front of them, today known as “Tank Man”.
His actions are still used to represent nonviolent government rebellion.
It’s been 26 years since the 1989 Tiananmen Square violence, and there are still protests
happening against the Chinese government.
The 2011 pro-democracy protests, and the 2014 riots in Hong Kong serve to illustrate how
China’s current popular unrest mirrors and builds off of the same foundation that was
created by the students of the 1989 protests.
To learn about just how bad censorship in China is, take a look at our full video here.
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