Context of conflict:
Tiananmen Square or the June 4th incident of 1989, reflected mass discontent with the direction of the Chinese Government (Communist Party) as well as a desire for economic and social reforms in China. The protests were primarily student led and held in Beijing, with the centre piece of the resistance being the occupation of Tiananmen Square, which students camped in for 7 weeks before the Politburo cracked down and instilled marshall law.
The protests were sparked by the death of Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformist who had been expelled from leadership during an intraparty power struggle. The protests reflected widespread discontent with poor job prospects, inflation and the corruption and nepotism of party elites (Naughton). During the occupation of Tiananmen, students engaged in hunger strikes and consolidated their support, eventually leading to the spread of protests from Beijing to at least 400 other Chinese cities.
Eventually, after weeks of growing protests that had been steadily building rather than simply running out of steam as elites had likely hoped, the government led by Deng Xiaopeng decided to use force to quell opposition, instilling marshall law and moving hundreds of thousands of troops into Beijing. The brutality of the crackdown is evident in the Tiananman square massacre, in which unarmed students were fired upon. Immediately afterwards protestors and their supporters were arrested, foreign journalists expelled from the country and strict censorship of the media was implemented. In the aftermath of the violence, the government put all reforms, political and economic, on hold indefinitely and purged sympathetic party members such as Zhao Ziyang (Miles).
In response to the brutality of the Chinese regime, many western nations instilled sanctions and arms embargoes, as such, scholars argue that this led to a sharp decline in Western-Chinese communication and postponed technology sharing initiatives and other economic development projects. That said, China was able to maintain their economic position by imposing strict restrictions on imports and currently has managed to overcome and outlast any western sanctions from the past, despite arguably very little political change other than a more open economic policy (Ross et al).
Journalistic context:
Charles Cole was a photojournalist eyewitness to "The Tank Man" incident, as was author Jan Wong and several other western media workers. Cole recalls that the believed the man was going to die and remembers feeling like he couldn't look away or stop filming because if that man died, he would have given his life for the cause. "It's my responsibly to record it as accurately as possible". (Thomas)
According to Orville Schell, groups in Tiananmen square included agricultural workers, doctors, scientists, even journalists demanding the right to press freedom. Author and journalist Jan Wong claims that even some army personnel, specifically members of the Chinese Navy were present at the demonstrations. (Thomas)
To add more nuance to the explanation as to why the Chinese government cracked down so brutally on the demonstrations at Tiananmen are explained by ABC journalist Jim Laurie. He claims that it was not the student protests that scared the Chinese government, as these were largely reform motivated and because at the time, students were in fact the children of Chinese elites. According to Laurie, the government was spurred to action by the integration of workers into the protests, which transformed the mobilization from one of reform to one of outright revolution in the eyes of the party leadership. (Thomas)
Significance of image:
The significance of this image lies in its depiction of state control over the military. Most scholars agree that the key to maintaining any authoritarian or repressive regime depends on some degree military involvement, support or control in order to monopolize violence. Further, when the military splits from the party in power, the result is often revolution and/or a change in leadership. This has been seen with the RAM split in the Philippines that helped topple Ferdinand Marcos as well as in Indonesia and Thailand, with their history of military coups and the military's role in supporting certain government policies (Thompson 179-205).
Works Cited
Miles, James. "The Legacy of Tiananmen: China in Disarray". University of Michigan Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-472-08451-7.
Naughton, Barry. ‘’The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth’’. Cambridge, MA: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-262-14095-9.
Ross, Robert S., Allen S. Whitting, and Harry Harding. "China's Foreign Relations After Tiananmen: Challenges for the U.S." NBR
Analysis. (1990): n. page. Print.
Thomas, Anthony, dir. The Tankman. PBS Frontline, 2006. Film. 5 Apr 2014.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/view/>.
Thompson, Mark R. "Off the Endangered List: Philippine Democratization in Comparative Perspective." Comparative Politics.
28.2 (1996): 179-205. Print.
Image:
The Tank Man. 1989. Photograph. n.p. Web. 6 Apr 2014. <http://diogenesii.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/june-5-1989-a-
monday/>.
Tiananmen Square or the June 4th incident of 1989, reflected mass discontent with the direction of the Chinese Government (Communist Party) as well as a desire for economic and social reforms in China. The protests were primarily student led and held in Beijing, with the centre piece of the resistance being the occupation of Tiananmen Square, which students camped in for 7 weeks before the Politburo cracked down and instilled marshall law.
The protests were sparked by the death of Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformist who had been expelled from leadership during an intraparty power struggle. The protests reflected widespread discontent with poor job prospects, inflation and the corruption and nepotism of party elites (Naughton). During the occupation of Tiananmen, students engaged in hunger strikes and consolidated their support, eventually leading to the spread of protests from Beijing to at least 400 other Chinese cities.
Eventually, after weeks of growing protests that had been steadily building rather than simply running out of steam as elites had likely hoped, the government led by Deng Xiaopeng decided to use force to quell opposition, instilling marshall law and moving hundreds of thousands of troops into Beijing. The brutality of the crackdown is evident in the Tiananman square massacre, in which unarmed students were fired upon. Immediately afterwards protestors and their supporters were arrested, foreign journalists expelled from the country and strict censorship of the media was implemented. In the aftermath of the violence, the government put all reforms, political and economic, on hold indefinitely and purged sympathetic party members such as Zhao Ziyang (Miles).
In response to the brutality of the Chinese regime, many western nations instilled sanctions and arms embargoes, as such, scholars argue that this led to a sharp decline in Western-Chinese communication and postponed technology sharing initiatives and other economic development projects. That said, China was able to maintain their economic position by imposing strict restrictions on imports and currently has managed to overcome and outlast any western sanctions from the past, despite arguably very little political change other than a more open economic policy (Ross et al).
Journalistic context:
Charles Cole was a photojournalist eyewitness to "The Tank Man" incident, as was author Jan Wong and several other western media workers. Cole recalls that the believed the man was going to die and remembers feeling like he couldn't look away or stop filming because if that man died, he would have given his life for the cause. "It's my responsibly to record it as accurately as possible". (Thomas)
According to Orville Schell, groups in Tiananmen square included agricultural workers, doctors, scientists, even journalists demanding the right to press freedom. Author and journalist Jan Wong claims that even some army personnel, specifically members of the Chinese Navy were present at the demonstrations. (Thomas)
To add more nuance to the explanation as to why the Chinese government cracked down so brutally on the demonstrations at Tiananmen are explained by ABC journalist Jim Laurie. He claims that it was not the student protests that scared the Chinese government, as these were largely reform motivated and because at the time, students were in fact the children of Chinese elites. According to Laurie, the government was spurred to action by the integration of workers into the protests, which transformed the mobilization from one of reform to one of outright revolution in the eyes of the party leadership. (Thomas)
Significance of image:
The significance of this image lies in its depiction of state control over the military. Most scholars agree that the key to maintaining any authoritarian or repressive regime depends on some degree military involvement, support or control in order to monopolize violence. Further, when the military splits from the party in power, the result is often revolution and/or a change in leadership. This has been seen with the RAM split in the Philippines that helped topple Ferdinand Marcos as well as in Indonesia and Thailand, with their history of military coups and the military's role in supporting certain government policies (Thompson 179-205).
Works Cited
Miles, James. "The Legacy of Tiananmen: China in Disarray". University of Michigan Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-472-08451-7.
Naughton, Barry. ‘’The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth’’. Cambridge, MA: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-262-14095-9.
Ross, Robert S., Allen S. Whitting, and Harry Harding. "China's Foreign Relations After Tiananmen: Challenges for the U.S." NBR
Analysis. (1990): n. page. Print.
Thomas, Anthony, dir. The Tankman. PBS Frontline, 2006. Film. 5 Apr 2014.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/view/>.
Thompson, Mark R. "Off the Endangered List: Philippine Democratization in Comparative Perspective." Comparative Politics.
28.2 (1996): 179-205. Print.
Image:
The Tank Man. 1989. Photograph. n.p. Web. 6 Apr 2014. <http://diogenesii.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/june-5-1989-a-
monday/>.