Remembering Tiananmen: China’s brutal crackdown

The year 1989 was a watershed one for some political ideologies as ordinary citizens took to the streets to rise up against their authoritarian, communist rulers.

In Tiananmen Square, in Beijing in China, 35 years ago this week, the protests of the people were met with bloody force by the army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

This was in stark contrast to the bloodless fall of the Berlin Wall – which precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union – in November that year.

The Beijing government still vehemently denies that people were killed in what amounted to an uprising – and even takes action against those who try to celebrate the events of 4 June.

Doubts, however, have been raised about the authenticity of some of the elements of that week – most notably those who claim the iconic image of a man facing down a column of tanks was not the whole picture and that he was not even injured, never mind killed.

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The reality is, though, that there is plenty of archival footage of people gunned down by Chinese troops.

Tiananmen Square was, however, a watershed moment, as the Chinese government clamped down hard on dissent on the one hand and, on the other, moved swiftly and effectively to remove the points of grievance of its people.

That entailed the biggest social engineering triumph in history: the dragging up out of crushing poverty of more than a billion people. China today is vastly different from what it was 35 years ago and is now a true economic superpower.

The CCP still keeps a firm hand on the country, though, and dissent is not tolerated… yet the chances of another “Beijing Spring” are remote, no matter how much some in the West may wish for it.

When people are content, they don’t rebel.

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