Tiananmen Square Massacre

During the time prior to the infamous June 4 Massacre in Tiananmen Square China, there were numerous events in which provoked political tension and ultimately stimulated the massacre itself. These events date back to Hu Yaobang’s death followed by the AFS’ seven requests, Deng Xiaoping’s editorial, the student hunger strike, Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to China and the imposed martial law causing the tragic massacre. The Chinese Government, citizens, students, PLA and even some foreign journalists were impacted by these primary incidents to a great extent.

April 15 1989, is the date of Hu Yaobang’s death and historically the day which changed the lives of thousands of Chinese people forever. Hu Yaobang was a progressive man of moderate ideals who was pushing towards the freedom of dialogue and media. Hu was considered a traitor by the CPC as he did not uphold Maoist Ideology; however he was a hero to the majority of students and intellectuals who favoured democratic ideals. Many students, intellectuals and even civilians were greatly impacted as they were discomforted by the lack of respect by the Government who made subdued funeral arrangements. So in response, 200,000 students had defied a ban to carry out a demonstration of mourning for Yaobang. In addition, they had delivered a petition to the Premier of the Politburo Standing Committee, Li Peng and demanded that the Government reassess his legacy. After such a successful demonstration at Yaobang’s mourning which was not acted against by the Government, many students became aware of the potential of their large mass and its capabilities, and hence the death of Hu Yaobang was respectively the spark of a fire for the many Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 which would soon have a large-scale impact on the whole of China. “The senior comrades are getting worried.”1 The student demonstrations had a minor impact on the CPC as they became somewhat concerned, not wanting them to escalate into anything bigger or