Tinnenaman Square

17 Pages 4138 Words

vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. Under such a government, the citizens of the state enjoy freedom of the press, the right to assemble and freedom of speech. While the students demanded these personal freedoms, they advocated integrating them into the Communist system. As such, the students did not have a true understanding of democracy.
On April 15, 1989, the death of Hu Yaobong provided Chinese students the opportunity to air their grievances vis-à-vis the government that they had been waiting for. Many students considered Hu to be among the reformers who were sympathetic to political change. Consequently, many students traveled to Tiananmen Square to mourn the respected leader’s death at a traditional memorial service and simultaneously protest their discontent with political and economical conditions. Similar to political movements of the past, students posted large character posters around the Square, called dazibo, to show their displeasure. The posters proclaimed such slogans as “Those who should die still live. Those who should live have died” (Dietrich 281), referring to the remaining Party leaders that the students thought to be corrupt and unacceptable. The first protests began on the night of April 17-18 and were mild compared to what was to come in the future. The students called for improvement within current government, rather than a comprehensive revamping of the Chinese political system. Twenty to thirty thousand students gathered in the Square with seven demands of the government.
1) Reevaluate Hu Yaobong’s achievements.
2) Reject the campaign against ‘spiritual contamination’ and ‘bourgeois liberalization’ and rehabilitate Fang Lizhi, Wang Ruowang, and Liu Binyan.
3) Reveal the true financial situation of [party and State leaders, as well as that of their children...