Why The Tiananmen Square Protests

Throughout history, non-violent protests have been inspiring, have led movements, and have sought change for the greater good. However, some protests are sometimes unsuccessful in achieving their goal. The protests that were analyzed in this paper were called the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. These protests began in April of 1989, and were events created by the student body in Beijing. These students felt as though the government was not acting for its people, and wanted change in the country. On June 4, 1989, thousands of people were killed by the government, officially ending the protests. Shen Tong was one of the student leaders in the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. He was a student at Beida University who was already involved

By the late 1980s, many parts of the society became irked by the corruption in the communist party. For example, many party leaders and their children were vested in the joint-ventures that China had brokered with foreign companies. It made it seem like in China, the powerful was only getting more powerful. Now instead of just students protesting, there were low-class workers and other supporters that joined the protests. Shen Tong describes an event that a student told him from Xian about a corrupt government. “It seemed that students in Xian had planned a peaceful demonstration of the day of Hu Yaobang’s memorial service… The police rushed the demonstrators killing many innocent people” (189). These students were holding a peaceful protest, not invading any laws and they thought that it would be good to do this, as it was honoring Hu Yaobang and grabbing other’s attention about the problem in the

In the countryside of China, decollectivization was bringing greater productivity. This shifted farming practices from traditional communes to individual families. However, this change also contributed to an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Major economic reforms led to a growing economic prosperity and an increasing commercialism. Many business leaders willingly complied with Deng Xiaoping's famed expression, “to get rich is glorious.” Because of the increasing gap between the rich and poor, more and more people from any kind of economic status joined the protests. Peasants, workers, and other low-class citizens sought that the Tiananmen Square Protests were a good way of expressing thoughts. Shen Tong realized the struggles of these people, and supported their joining of the protests. He saw that more than just students felt the need for a change in economy, and it him feel better about it. In order to protests economic status, they created a hunger strike. “You must master it if you want to survive hunger. It is the secret to victory. I want to be a hunger striker, he added, to a round of applause. I want you to join me in the hunger strike… I want all of us to practice qigong!” (Tong 234) These student leaders like Shen Tong had so much power and influence, that these peasants, workers, and other low-class citizens looked up to them and