Tell me about the Tiananmen Square Protest. Was it really a pro-democracy protest...

Tell me about the Tiananmen Square Protest. Was it really a pro-democracy protest? I've also heard it was done by hardcore Maoists who hated the way Deng Xiaoping was running the country.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_of_Democracy
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traitorous revisionists trying to restore the Gang of Four. The PLA should have killed them all

nope
They did it because the communist were not communist enough

Literally a bunch of students pissed off that communism for the third world meant African exchange students fucking their girlfriends

It was both user.
Blue-collar labourers were striking for more gibs and bourgeois college kids protesting for whatever the fuck was popular in thier intellectual circle-jerks

There were pro-democracy demonstrators but there were also pro-Maoist workers and anti-African students in the mix as well. They were in one way or another united in their disillusionment with the government but the similarities largely ends there.

I heard from /pol/ that it was about some university students getting blacked. Don't know how accurate it is.

I think there could be a large group with different issues.

It was both. Some were there because they supported democracy and wanted more liberal reforms and others wanted a return to Maoism.

That was a minor protest against misbehavior from African exchange students at the same time but /pol/ likes to blow it up to make the protesters seem like skinheads.

Mostly pro-democracy, but the protesters made the mistake of radicalizing with the hunger strike, which convinced wavering politburo officials that the conservatives were correct that the student movement was an emerging Cultural Revolution 2.0. The students also banked on the military blinking like in Eastern Europe, but there is no national Chinese military - they're the CCP's armed branch. When the conservative maoist wing of the party won dominance in the debate over how to respond, the movement was fucked.

bump

>send a whole panzerdivision to put down a student protest
Based China.

it was a combination of things, the protestors came from various strata and their main similarity was some sort of grievance with the government.

Most were angry about corruption and general ineptitude in the party, which at the time was even worse of an issue than it is now. It should be noted that though some were outwardly pro democracy, most simply wanted the party to reform and become more transparent in order to reduce graft.

Things only really started to go downhill after they sent a petition to the government with their requests, and I say requests because they sent the petition in the most submissive and respectful way humanly possible. I don't remember the exact points, but I do remember that broadly speaking it wasn't particularly radical. The petition mostly asked for political reforms within the government and party and a general trend of limited liberalization, but it still professed loyalty to the Communist Party and the government.

The CCP, being the CCP, told them to fuck off and as you would expect that's when things started to go to shit. More demonstrations showed up outside of Beijing, and the protests as a whole got more intense. The students who made up the bulk of the protestors started to radicalize as well, and that was when much of them start to demonstrate for democracy and an end to one party rule. By now, the demonstrators had practically taken over Tiananmen, and some started to build the 'goddess of democracy' on one of its major monuments, which is now blocked off to foot traffic.

Deng and the CCP were terrified, and pretty quickly decided to deploy to the army. I'm not sure if they tried to use more nonviolent means of dispersal beforehand, but to my knowledge they resorted to the army without much hesitation. The whole operation was set in motion in total secrecy, with the soldiers being brought in with civilian vehicles and no mention being made of their arrival. (1/2)

People only really started to realize what was going on when the government broadcasted a very serious warning to disperse. They weren't told that the army was going to be sent in, but the message was frightening enough for some people to stay home. By now, the country was in borderline crisis mode, and some (but not all) Beijingers started to realize that there was going to be a crackdown. However, the demonstrations were still strong enough for the government to decide to go ahead with the operation.

I don't really know the details of how the actual massacre played out (I'm writing this off of memory instead of a wikipedia summary) but I do know they cut the power to all the lights in the square, and immediately moved in to attack without giving any sort of warning. I've also heard that the square was such a bloody mess they needed to send in a huge cleanup crew wipe everything away overnight, but I'm not sure what happened to the cleaning people and what their reactions where.

After the crackdown there was 2 weeks of martial law where the city was basically frozen, and everything was very tightly restricted. Most of the people involved in the demonstrations went quiet and tried to forget about it, and the few who didn't were detained. Most people in China know the massacre happened, but the vast majority don't know and don't care about the details or think the government was acting to quell the uprising. If you go to Tiananmen now, the only reminder of the massacre you'll see is a barrier around the monument where the goddess of democracy was erected.

t. knows a demonstrator who stayed home on the day of the massacre and has lived in China

sorry if I was a bit short on and details, I'm doing this off of memory since I don't have enough time to add extra research (2/2)

What you are also missing was that China suffered a bout of high inflation in 1989. Prices had risen 25% during the course of 1988, which not only reduced people's purchasing power, but also their savings. The Chinese banking sector was in it's infancy, and most people kept their savings as cash, which makes them very vulnerable to inflation.

That's where's the blue collars were upset.

It was literally triggered by interracial sex.

meme

It's not that /pol/ wants the chink students to seem like skinheads, /pol/ doesn't really like skinheads so that would be more of an insult than anything else. /pol/ just wants it emphasize that niggers nig wherever they go, and this is a funny, if minor, anecdote to that.

This thread...

>"At this grim moment, what we need most is to remain calm and united in a single purpose. We need a powerful cementing force to strengthen our resolve: That is the Goddess of Democracy. Democracy...You are the symbol of every student in the Square, of the hearts of millions of people. ...Today, here in the People’s Square, the people’s Goddess stands tall and announces to the whole world: A consciousness of democracy has awakened among the Chinese people! The new era has begun! ...The statue of the Goddess of Democracy is made of plaster, and of course cannot stand here forever. But as the symbol of the people’s hearts, she is divine and inviolate. Let those who would sully her beware: the people will not permit this! ...On the day when real democracy and freedom come to China, we must erect another Goddess of Democracy here in the Square, monumental, towering, and permanent. We have strong faith that that day will come at last. We have still another hope: Chinese people, arise! Erect the statue of the Goddess of Democracy in your millions of hearts! Long live the people! Long live freedom! Long live democracy!"

The document was signed by the eight art academies that sponsored the creation of the statue: The Central Academies of Fine Arts, Arts and Crafts, Drama, and Music; the Beijing Film Academy; the Beijing Dance Academy; the Academy of Chinese Local Stage Arts; and the Academy of Traditional Music.

...and it's still there, apparently.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_of_Democracy

Any good account of the actual massacre?

I've heard 1000's dead and varying accounts of how it acutally went down? What are the most accurate descriptions?

>tfw the collapse of the user and the Arab spring vindicated the use of force at tiananmen

Woah... At last I truly see

> I've heard

Veeky Forums 2017 AD

Bump

>People only really started to realize what was going on when the government broadcasted a very serious warning to disperse. They weren't told that the army was going to be sent in, but the message was frightening enough for some people to stay home.

>Most of the soldiers were from peasant families who had never been to Beijing and did not understand the situation they were about to confront. Many privately looked forward to their first trip to the capital and expected to be welcomed by residents. The military units from other regions spoke a different northern dialect than the Beijing citizens, adding to the confusion.[27] The soldiers were strictly prohibited from communicating with residents. This language barrier would limit curious soldiers in finding information on the student movement other than what they have been told by their chain of command.

This should have been a very powerful sign of what was to come.

shit statue desu