"This page is designed to inform you about the events that occured in Tiananmen Square, which took place in early June 1989."

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS PICTURES OF EVENTS REFERENCE LINKS MY VIEWPOINT TEN YEARS LATER WORDS OF DENG XIAOPING

TIANANMEN SQUARE Welcome to my website on the events of Tianamen Square that took place in Beijing in early spring in 1989. Throughout this page you will find a chronology of events, pictures taken at the time, reference links, my own opinions and effects from the events after ten years. I have tried to make this page informative and objective. Except for my own viewpoint I only wanted to show the facts and let people judge the incident for themselves. I hope I have succeeded. Please let me know by signing my guestbook and please be honest with your comments.

In late spring 1989, in Beijing, China, there were peaceful demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. These demonstrations started following the April 15 death of former Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang. Hu Yaobang was ousted from his position in 1987 for not halting student protests.

Students initially demanded that Hu Yaobang's, an outspoken reformer, reputation be restored. The protests continued to grow and the students demands expanded to include the ousting of corrupt leaders and democratic reforms.

There are also no known numbers on how many Chinese citizens were actually killed that day. There were several problems in determining how many people were actually killed. Although, most western observers in Beijing refuese to believe the official government line that no one was killed in Tiananmen Square, although many are willing to believe that authorities wanted to avoid killings there. Even assuming that authorities tried to keep the square clear of bloodshed, however, it is widely believed that Tiananmen Square which means "Gate of Heavenly Peace" became a massive killing ground in the early morning hours of June 4.

What happened in the days after June 4, 1989 has been described as chaos. There were clashes between army factions as China seemed headed for civil conflict. At one point, Beijing Radio indicated that Qiao Shi, who had been in charge of internal security, had become the highest-ranking member of the ruling Politburo. If confirmed, Qiao would be expected to become acting head of the Communist Party, replacing the moderate Zhao Ziyang. Heavy gunfire echoed through the streets of Beijing and the army indicated it would shoot foreign correspondents covering the strife. There were also rumors flying all over Beijing, stating that senior leader, Deng Xiaoping was dead. Neither he nor Prime Minister Li Peng had been seen for weeks at this point of the turmoil.

Inside Beijing, tanks were placed in combat configuration and blocked most intersections, cannon muzzles were pointed in the direction of incoming troops, keeping the city effectively blocked off. Thousands of foreigners in Beijing scrambled to find a quick exit from the capital. Beijing's international airport was jammed with people seeking to buy tickets to anywhere. All airline seats were booked. Most US companies with offices in Beijing ordered their employees out of the country earlier that week. Many foreigners elected to leave their hotels for safety of the airport, even when they didn't have a confirmed flight. But most residents of Beijing did not have the option to flee!

After having disappeared from the public eye for weeks, Deng Xiaoping reappeared on June 10, 1989, and praised the slaughter of the protesters as a "steppingstone for a better future." Even as Deng's remarks were aired on state-run television, a mass roundup of dissident students loomed. More than 1,000 heavily armed troops were redeployed from Tiananmen Square to positions just outside the university district. A huge convoy of tanks and armored personnel carriers moved east toward the city's outskirts after midnight. It was widely believed that the troops would move against the campuses and military sweeps of Beijing's neighborhoods in search of "counterrevolutionaries" had already begun.

In an apparent attempt to keep journalists away from the campus crackdown, the government had alerted embassies that foreigners seen on the streets after dark will be shot. Two army trucks mounted with machine guns were parked outside the Jianguo Hotel, where many Western journalists stayed.

Tens of thousands of students have fled the universites since that Sunday, fearing arrest or worse. The protest banners that had draped the main entrance of the universites had been removed, but hundreds of white paper flowers are entwined in the iron gates. In China, as in many Asian cultures, white flowers signify mourning and death. The flowers were meant to commemorate the students killed in the attack on Tiananmen Square and during the violent days that followed.