The Student Movement of Tiananmen 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 movement calling for political reform. Although the international arena christened the Tiananmen Square student protest during the spring of 1989 a "Democracy Movement,"" the students did not demand a democracy in China. Rather, they wanted specific democratic principles be incorporated into the Communist system. Disillusioned by the Communist Party's corrupt practices, the students called for reforms that would enable Chinese citizens to have greater personal freedoms under an honest and more open leadership.
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.
