In April 1989, thousands of students began gathering in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to make an unprecedented cry for freedom.
The protests, which began to mark the death of a popular senior Communist Party official, grew quickly. Thousands became a million as workers and ordinary people joined the students calling for democracy, including freedom of the press and free speech. Protests were rare in China and the Communist authorities were unsure how to react.
The huge demonstrations lasted six weeks before the government sent the tanks in. Hundreds died as the protests were brutally quashed in what continues to be one of the most sensitive and censored topics in mainland China.
