Deng Xiaoping Massacre: The Tiananmen Square Massacre

Twenty five years ago, thousands of citizens gathered and protested at Tiananmen Square because they wanted a better and stronger government that they could trust. The protestors, led by students, opposed their Communist government and wanted to move to a more democratic system. The citizens wanted to have more economic and social reforms and have freedom of the press. The government felt threatened and was afraid that the protestors would be too powerful and the system would be disabled. Because of this, Deng Xiaoping, a Chinese communist leader, declared martial law to clear the square of protestors (Stavis 56). Without a warning, military tanks opened fire on the protestors on the night of June 3, 1989. By the end of the day of June 4, it is said that thousands of civilians were killed (Ritli). This massacre can be read in history textbooks and searched generically and be found in articles with the gist of what happened on this day. The protestors gathered at the square to protest against the government, martial law was enforced and thousands were killed. Thinking ahead years after the massacre, how did this change China, not just from the outside but also within? The government tightened the security physically and online to repress the memory of this event. The massacre also effected the country …show more content…
They did not want their citizens to remember this bloodbath and what the government did to its citizens. One of the ways for this repression was that they implanted the “Great Chinese Firewall”. This firewall censors all digital media that is accessed by the public. The government can control what the people can or cannot see and sadly, some citizens are unaware about this censorship (Chen). It bans key word searches like “democracy” and “June 4” and any information about the Tiananmen Massacre. By doing so, they restrict the information of how Western countries describe the massacre