They convince Party elder Deng Xiaoping, the de facto head of state, that the students aim to overthrow him and the Communist Party. Over the next days, the students boycott classes and organize into unofficial student unions - an illegal act in China.Īpril 25 With Zhao Ziyang on a state visit to North Korea, Li Peng calls a meeting of the Politburo, a meeting dominated by Party members antagonistic to the students. Three students carry a petition of demands up the steps of the Great Hall and insist on meeting Li Peng he does not respond. Li argues that the protests should be “nipped in the bud ” however, Zhao convinces them to wait, stating, “Our main task right now is to be sure the memorial service for Comrade Yaobang goes off smoothly.”Īpril 22 More than 100,000 university students assemble outside the Great Hall of the People, where Hu’s memorial service is being held. A minority faction, led by Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, believes that “the student mainstream is good” and that their patriotism should be affirmed, “although any inappropriate methods of action should be pointed out to them.” One group, lead by Premier Li Peng, second-ranking in the Party hierarchy, suspects “black hands” of “bourgeois liberal elements” are working behind the scenes to undermine the government. Party leaders fear the demonstrations might lead to chaos and rebellion. Workers and officials join in with complaints about inflation, salaries and housing. In his name, the students call for press freedom and other reforms.Īpril 18–21 Demonstrations escalate in Beijing and spread to other cities and universities. Hu had been a symbol to them of anti-corruption and political reform. They come to mourn the death of Hu Yoabang, former General Secretary of the Communist Party. Throughout these weeks, China’s top leaders were deeply divided over how to handle the unrest, with one faction advocating peaceful negotiation and another demanding a crackdown.ĪpTens of thousands of university students begin gathering spontaneously in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, the nation’s symbolic central space. The following timeline tracks how the protests began in April among university students in Beijing, spread across the nation, and ended on June 4 with a final deadly assault by an estimated force of 300,000 soldiers from People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The spring of 1989 saw the largest pro-democracy demonstration in the history of China’s communist regime.
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