Tiananmen Square Massacre

List of Tiananmen Square Massacre articles

U.S. troops load up into personnel carriers to take them toward Washington, D.C., from the Joint Force Headquarters of the D.C. National Guard on June 2.
U.S. troops load up into personnel carriers to take them toward Washington, D.C., from the Joint Force Headquarters of the D.C. National Guard on June 2.

Tiananmen Can Happen Here

Westerners learn the wrong lessons from a distant massacre.

Beijing magistrates wearing court uniforms join workers demonstrating in support of student hunger-strikers gathered at Tiananmen Square, in Beijing on May 18, 1989.
Beijing magistrates wearing court uniforms join workers demonstrating in support of student hunger-strikers gathered at Tiananmen Square, in Beijing on May 18, 1989.

Xi Jinping’s Tiananmen Family Lessons

The Chinese leader learned one key thing from his father: The party comes first.

A Sudanese protester outside Khartoum's army headquarters on June 3, 2019.
A Sudanese protester outside Khartoum's army headquarters on June 3, 2019.

The World This Weekend

Chaos worsens in Sudan, Theresa May exits No. 10 Downing St., and the United States marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

Students from Beijing University during a massive demonstration at Tiananmen Square on May 18, 1989, before they began a hunger strike as part of the pro-democracy protests against the Chinese government.
Students from Beijing University during a massive demonstration at Tiananmen Square on May 18, 1989, before they began a hunger strike as part of the pro-democracy protests against the Chinese government.

30 Years After Tiananmen: How the West Still Gets China Wrong

Washington once mistakenly thought the crackdown would be temporary. It was wrong then, just as it’s wrong about a new Cold War now.

A Chinese paramilitary officer stands near Tiananmen Square during the Communist Party’s 19th Congress in Beijing on Oct. 22, 2017.
A Chinese paramilitary officer stands near Tiananmen Square during the Communist Party’s 19th Congress in Beijing on Oct. 22, 2017.

China’s Complacent Generation

Thirty years after Tiananmen, the CCP has largely triumphed over history. But its failure to recognize that could spell trouble.

Chinese students march with banners reading “Down with the traitors who buy Japanese goods” during demonstrations in Shanghai in 1919.
Chinese students march with banners reading “Down with the traitors who buy Japanese goods” during demonstrations in Shanghai in 1919.

The Birth of Chinese Nationalism

Chinese students marched into Tiananmen Square 100 years ago in a movement that is still shaping attitudes in the country today.

A demonstrator blocks the path of a tank convoy near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
A demonstrator blocks the path of a tank convoy near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Thirty Years After Tiananmen Square

On the podcast: A look back at the student protests that changed China’s trajectory.

Tiananmen_04
Tiananmen_04

China’s Youth Think Tiananmen Was So 1989

Leery of anything political, young Chinese elites are helping the government banish the student massacre from memory.

People take part in a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on June 4, 2015, to mark the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Tens of thousands were expected to mark the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, organisers said, as they call on people to "stay united" as the city faces frustrations over its own democratic reforms.  AFP PHOTO / DALE DE LA REY        (Photo credit should read DALE de la REY/AFP/Getty Images)
People take part in a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on June 4, 2015, to mark the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Tens of thousands were expected to mark the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, organisers said, as they call on people to "stay united" as the city faces frustrations over its own democratic reforms. AFP PHOTO / DALE DE LA REY (Photo credit should read DALE de la REY/AFP/Getty Images)

Hong Kong’s Long-standing Unity on Tiananmen Is Unraveling

Some are becoming more pro-China; others believe the city should secede from the People's Republic.

BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 22:  Picture dated 22 April 1989 shows several hundred of 200,000 pro-democracy student protesters face to face with policemen outside the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing as they take part in the funeral ceremony of former Chinese Communist Party leader and liberal reformer Hu Yaobang during an unauthorized demonstration to mourn his death.  Hu Yaobang's death in April trigged an unprecedented wave of pro-democracy demonstrations. The April-June 1989 movement was crushed by Chinese troops in June when army tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square 04 June.         AFP PHOTO  (Photo credit should read CATHERINE HENRIETTE/AFP/Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 22: Picture dated 22 April 1989 shows several hundred of 200,000 pro-democracy student protesters face to face with policemen outside the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing as they take part in the funeral ceremony of former Chinese Communist Party leader and liberal reformer Hu Yaobang during an unauthorized demonstration to mourn his death. Hu Yaobang's death in April trigged an unprecedented wave of pro-democracy demonstrations. The April-June 1989 movement was crushed by Chinese troops in June when army tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square 04 June. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read CATHERINE HENRIETTE/AFP/Getty Images)

‘The Soldiers Were in Tears’

A young witness recalls the aftermath of the Tiananmen massacre and how three months later, fear still haunted Beijing.

<> on March 3, 2014 in Beijing, China.
<> on March 3, 2014 in Beijing, China.

China Is Exporting Its Tiananmen Censorship, and We Are All Victims

Twenty-six years after the killing of student protesters, the code of silence is spreading worldwide.

Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia Commons
Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia Commons

Remembering the Fall

It's hard to remember just how impassable the Berlin Wall was -- until one day it wasn't. A memoir.

Alison Klayman for ChinaFIle
Alison Klayman for ChinaFIle

‘We Want to Flourish’

Watch what happens when a young Egyptian woman and a young Chinese woman discuss free speech.

AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images

Hong Kong’s Angry, Anti-Mainland Counter-Vigil

Some here think the usual Tiananmen commemoration is too soft on the Communist Party.

CATHERINE HENRIETTE/AFP/Getty Images
CATHERINE HENRIETTE/AFP/Getty Images

‘I Do Not Want Red Square to Look Like Tiananmen Square’

The secret history of Mikhail Gorbachev's ill-timed trip to Beijing -- and why Russia still fears the contagion of Tiananmen.

Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Xi Jinping’s Bad Dream

On the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, China is writing a new legacy of repression.

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