protests.

By early May, hundreds of thousands of peoplethe vast majority

nonstudentsfill the streets of Beijing in sympathy with the protesters.
With Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev due to arrive in Beijing in mid-May,
student leaders launch a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. Enraged by the
temerity of the students, senior Chinese leaders vow to put an end to the
occupation of Tiananmen Square. Premier Li Peng declares martial law on
May 19. A standoff ensues as civilian crowds pour into the streets to block
the progress of military convoys.
The students triumph is short-lived. On June 3, massive waves of government
troops, backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, converge on
Tiananmen Square. When civilian crowds try to block their progress, the
troops open fire. In the ensuing melee, hundreds of civilians are killed and
thousands wounded. When the sun rises over Beijing on June 4, the army has
secured Tiananmen Square.
For weeks thereafter, student leaders and others accused of taking part in
violence are rounded up and imprisoned. At least two dozen hooligans are
executed, as a reign of political terror blankets Beijing and other Chinese
cities. Meanwhile, Deng Xiaoping congratulates army leaders for their
bravery and heroism in defending the government and the party.

Scope

Taking advantage of the post-Tiananmen atmosphere of political repression,

CCP hard-liners seek to abort Dengs economic reforms. Pointing to the
collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe in the last half of 1989,
they blame Gorbachevs policy of glasnost for encouraging the spread of
bourgeois liberalization. The shocking collapse of the Soviet Union two
years later further emboldens them to demand a complete reversal of Chinas
capitalist reforms.
Though ailing and infirm, the 86-year-old Deng Xiaoping fights back. In
January 1992, he embarks on a five-week Southern Tour of Chinas dynamic
coastal cities and Special Economic Zones. Mobilizing support for his reforms
at every stop, he disparages those who would reverse them as women with
bound feet. Though he manages to rescue his embattled economic reforms,
Deng rules out political reform. Citing the importance of unity and stability as
preconditions for Chinas development, he insists on upholding the four cardinal
6