Tinnenaman Square

A Democratic Movement or Merely a Call for Reform?

The economic reforms instituted by Deng Xiaoping during the late 1970’s eased the pressure of daily life for Chinese people. As freedom increased within the economic sector, some Chinese citizens began to call for political change to compliment the increased economic openness. Prior to the spring of 1989, a myriad of economic, political and social problems pervaded Chinese society. The economic reforms that Deng Xiaoping initiated, at first boosted the Chinese economy and then sent it into massive disarray causing rampant inflation. The unstable economic environment was coupled with uncurbed corruption and nepotism with the Communist Party. Cadres took advantage of the open-door economic policies to financially better themselves and their families. However, the average Chinese citizen’s finical situation lagged behind. As a result, the social unrest brewing within the population was looking for an excuse to explode.

The voices advocating change erupted on April 15, 1989, when former Party General Secretary Hu Yaboong died. What began as a mourning of a revered leader, soon turned into a massive student movemen

Webster’s Dictionary defines democracy in several ways. The definition states: a: government by the people; especially rule of the majority. B: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. Under such a government, the citizens of the state enjoy freedom of the press, the right to assemble and freedom of speech. While the students demanded these personal freedoms, they advocated integrating them into the Communist system. As such, the students did not have a true understanding of democracy.

On May 30, 1989, the students erected the “Goddess of Liberty and Democracy” in Tiananmen Square and placed it directly facing the picture of Mao. The placement of the statue was significant because it represented a direct contrast to the repressive life China had experienced under Mao’s regime. According to a student the statue was “a memorial to democracy” (in Fairbank et. al 120). The statue, which resembled the American Statue of Liberty, embodied the students’ concepts of democracy.

The demonstrators raised issues that “stuck a common chord with workers and city dwellers, propelling many workers to join in the rallies” (Change 125). This accounted for the growing number of participants in the movement. Beijing residents began to show their support for the demonstrators by providing them with food and money. The Chinese citizens sympathized with the students because the students represented not only their own desire to see change within political system, but society’s as well (Binyan 11-2). Thus, the students and the Beijing residents formed a bond, which would last beyond the end of the movement.

3) The when these two demands were met, students would terminate the hunger strike and leave Tiananment.

While the students emphasized that their protest were a call for democracy, not all of their demands coincided with democratic principles. In actuality only the fourth, sixth and seventh represent conditions found within a democracy. The remaining demands dealt more with political corruption and a desire to see living conditions improve within China. Rather, the student leaders had “limited and very moderate aims…{they} sought not to overthrow the government or even to form an opposition party, but only to win some measure of autonomy for themselves-and perhaps to encourage a long-term process of democratization within the ruling Communist Party in accordance with the Party’s own proclaimed Marxian principles: (Meisner 403).

Some topics in this essay:
Tiananmen Square, Deng Xiaoping, Communist Party, A25 According, Beijing Universities, Square Zhao, According Lin, Democratic Movement, Statue Liberty, Wuer Kaixi, tiananmen square, student movement, party officials, communist party, hunger strike, student leaders, deng xiaoping, 1989 students, chinese citizens, 4 1989, june 4 1989, dialogue party officials, development bank meeting, politburo standing committee, hard line officials,