The Tiananmen Square Protests
Learn about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests — the pro-democracy movement in Beijing that ended in a military crackdown the Chinese government has censored ever since.
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 were China's largest and most significant pro-democracy movement — a weeks-long occupation of Beijing's central square by students and workers that ended with a military crackdown on June 4 that killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of people. The events remain among the most censored topics in China and one of the most consequential moments in modern Chinese history.
The protests began in April 1989, triggered by the death of reformist Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang. Students gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu and call for democratic reforms, press freedom, and an end to corruption. The movement grew to include workers, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens, with crowds numbering over a million at their peak. For weeks, the government hesitated, divided between hardliners and reformers.
On June 4, the government declared martial law and sent troops and tanks into Beijing. The image of a lone man standing before a column of tanks became one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century. In the aftermath, the Communist Party purged reformers, tightened political control, and made an implicit bargain with the Chinese people: economic prosperity in exchange for political acquiescence. That bargain has shaped China's trajectory ever since.