Editing 1989 Tian'anmen Square riots

{{Infobox military conflict
|date = 15 April – 4 June 1989
|result = Riots ceased; no political or territorial changes<br>Jiang Zemin, previously Party Secretary of Shanghai, promoted to General Secretary and paramount leader by Deng Xiaoping<br>Zhao Ziyang purged from General Secretary and Politburo
|combatant1 = {{icon|Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg}} [[People's Republic of China]]
|combatant2 = {{icon|NED logo.png}} [[NED]]-backed rioters
|type=[[Color revolution]]
|image=
|place=China}}

[[File:Burnt tank Tiananmen.png|thumb|A military vehicle destroyed by rioters in Beijing.]]
The '''1989 Tian'anmen Square riots''' (天安门事件) were a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-backed<ref name=":3">{{News citation|newspaper=Vancouver Sun|title=CIA man misread reaction, sources say|date=1992-09-27|url=https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1BcfxpzK9Oy7oT9TCkJMEA6GaKcTOKu-FhCABj4TsidM/pub}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Tom|newspaper=Mango Press|title=The Tian’anmen Square ‘Massacre’: The West’s Most Persuasive, Most Pervasive Lie.|date=2021-04-06|url=https://www.mango-press.com/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-the-wests-most-persuasive-most-pervasive-lie/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622111435/https://www.mango-press.com/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-the-wests-most-persuasive-most-pervasive-lie/|archive-date=2023-06-22}}</ref> attempt at a [[Colour revolution|color revolution]] against the [[People's Republic of China]] in 1989. Reservations over [[Deng Xiaoping]]'s [[Reform and Opening Up|reform and opening up]] policies sparked peaceful protests,<ref name=":6">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Al Mayadeen]]|title=New book reveals Tiananmen square massacre, others fabricated by US|date=2023-08-08|url=https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/new-book-reveals-tiananmen-square-massacre-others-fabricated|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810163750/https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/new-book-reveals-tiananmen-square-massacre-others-fabricated|archive-date=2023-08-10}}</ref> which the [[Communist Party of China|CPC]] negotiated with, but soon a foreign-funded faction of students joined the protests and, due to their promotion by [[Bourgeois media|Western media]], took over the protests and took them in an entirely different direction than what was originally envisioned.

After the riots ended, the CIA extracted their leaders as part of [[Operation Yellowbird]].<ref name=":4">{{News citation|author=Milton James|newspaper=Critical Social Work Publishing House|title=1989 Tiananmen Square "Student Massacre" was a hoax|date=2020-07-08|url=https://www.criticalsocialworkpublishinghouse.com/post/1989-tiananmen-square-student-massacre-was-a-hoax|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321183536/https://www.criticalsocialworkpublishinghouse.com/post/1989-tiananmen-square-student-massacre-was-a-hoax|archive-date=2022-03-21|retrieved=2022-06-05}}</ref>

== Protests in Tian'anmen Square ==
Protests began in [[Tian'anmen Square]] on 1989 April 15 after the death of [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of China|General Secretary]] [[Hu Yaobang]]. Premier [[Li Peng]] met with protestors in a meeting that was broadcast on national television.<ref name=":5">{{News citation|author=[[Brian Becker]]|newspaper=[[Liberation School]]|title=Tiananmen: The Massacre that Wasn’t|date=2014-06-13|url=https://www.liberationschool.org/tiananmen-the-massacre-that-wasnt/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102183128/https://www.liberationschool.org/tiananmen-the-massacre-that-wasnt/|archive-date=2022-01-02|retrieved=2022-06-20}}</ref> On May 20, after violence spilled out of the square and into Beijing, martial law was declared but the protests were allowed to continue. 

Around 5:00 am on June 4, the 3,000 remaining protestors peacefully left the square.<ref name=":1">{{News citation|author=Kim Petersen|newspaper=Dissident Voice|title=Massacre? What massacre?|date=2014-06-09|url=https://dissidentvoice.org/2014/06/massacre-what-massacre/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212172016/https://dissidentvoice.org/2014/06/massacre-what-massacre/|archive-date=2022-02-12|retrieved=2022-06-05}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=Jay Matthews|newspaper=Columbia Journalism Review|title=The Myth of Tiananmen|date=2010-06-04|url=https://archives.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_myth_of_tiananmen.php|retrieved=2022-04-16}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{News citation|author=Malcolm Moore|newspaper=The Telegraph|title=Wikileaks: no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square, cables claim|date=2011-06-04|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8555142/Wikileaks-no-bloodshed-inside-Tiananmen-Square-cables-claim.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310001702/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8555142/Wikileaks-no-bloodshed-inside-Tiananmen-Square-cables-claim.html|archive-date=2022-03-10|retrieved=2022-04-16}}</ref> No one died in the square during or after the protests and most deaths were caused by the foreign-backed faction of students.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{News citation|author=Nicholas D. Kristof|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|title=Turmoil in China; Tiananmen Crackdown: Student's Account Questioned on Major Points|date=1989-06-13|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/13/world/turmoil-china-tiananmen-crackdown-student-s-account-questioned-major-points.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227041851/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/13/world/turmoil-china-tiananmen-crackdown-student-s-account-questioned-major-points.html|archive-date=2022-02-27|retrieved=2022-04-16}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=James Miles|newspaper=BBC|title=Tiananmen killings: Were the media right?|date=2009-06-02|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8057762.stm|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=John Simpson|newspaper=BBC|title=John Simpson: Remembering Tiananmen|date=2009-06-03|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8069781.stm}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=Richard Roth|newspaper=CBS News|title=There Was No "Tiananmen Square Massacre"|date=2009-06-04|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/there-was-no-tiananmen-square-massacre/|quote=}}</ref> 

=== Student leaders ===
[[Liu Xiaobo]], one of the student leaders of the protests, said he wanted China to be colonized by the West for at least 300 years.<ref>{{News citation|author=Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|title=Do supporters of Nobel winner Liu Xiaobo really know what he stands for?|date=2010-12-15|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/15/nobel-winner-liu-xiaobo-chinese-dissident|retrieved=2022-04-16}}</ref> [[Chai Ling]], another student leader, admitted that she wanted the protestors to be killed by the government<ref>{{Citation|author=Chai Ling|year=1989|title=Interview at Tiananmen Square with Chai Ling|title-url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_chailing.htm|quote=I wanted to tell them that we were expecting bloodshed, that it would take a massacre, which would spill blood like a river through Tiananmen Square, to awaken the people. But how could I tell them this? How could I tell them that their lives would have to be sacrificed in order to win?}}</ref> and said that the Chinese people were "not worth [her] struggle."<ref name=":0" /> [[Wang Dan]] said that their movement was motivated by a pursuit for wealth.<ref name=":5" /> [[Örkesh Dölet|Wu'er Kaixi]] said that they were protesting to be able to wear [[Nike]] shoes.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Wu'er Kaixi|newspaper=CNN|title=Opinion: Dissent remains silenced in China|date=2009-05-31|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/30/opinion.wuerkaixi/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601093044/http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/30/opinion.wuerkaixi/index.html|archive-date=2009-06-01|retrieved=2024-01-08|quote=But the only China I truly know is the one I was exiled from - and it was a China where you could not buy Nike or have a quiet drink in a bar, it was a China of empty department stores and streets thronging with people in drab Mao suits.}}</ref> Hou Dejian, a [[Taiwan Province|Taiwanese]] national and one of the leaders of the Tiananmen protests, stated that he was in the square all night and saw no one killed, confronting the testimony of Chai Ling.<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://youtu.be/VSR9zgY1QgU|channel=TheJohntaylor|title=侯德健與柴玲對質 (天安門廣場大屠殺事件)}}</ref>

=== Western support ===
In 1986, [[George Soros]] donated $1 million USD to the ''Fund for the Reform and Opening of China''. Over the next three years, the group trained many student leaders of the protests.<ref name=":4" /> In 1988, the [[National Endowment for Democracy]] opened offices in China.<ref name=":4" /> The CIA gave the protestors typewriters and other equipment to spread [[Capitalism|capitalist]] ideas<ref name=":3" /> and the [[Statesian]] ambassador to China at the time was a former CIA agent.<ref name=":4" /> During the protests, [[Voice of America]] increased its Chinese language broadcasts to 11 hours a day. VOA falsely claimed that Li Peng had been shot and [[Deng Xiaoping]] was almost dead.<ref name=":5" />

In British Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) raised about $12 million HKD for the protests in 1989.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Gary Cheung|newspaper=South China Morning Post|title=How Hong Kong activists helped fund Chinese dissidents caught in Tiananmen Square crackdown|date=2019-05-24|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3011545/how-hong-kong-activists-helped-fund-chinese-dissidents-and|quote=The Hong Kong Federation of Students paid for all this from a kitty of about HK$12 million raised in 1989 from Hongkongers who supported the pro-democracy protests in Beijing.}}</ref> The chairman of the HKFS, Lam Yiu-keung, then went to Beijing and handed $900,000 HKD to the protestors on 13 May 1989.<ref>{{Citation|author=香港中文大學學生會|year=2014|title=一九八九年春夏之交我們在北京……中大學生八九民運見證|title-url=https://omeka.minjian-danganguan.org/files/original/76f9d4d6c7d0814b9a2b3e0cef7c5f9317a05a90.pdf|chapter=卑微的奉獻，真切的情懷|chapter-url=https://omeka.minjian-danganguan.org/files/original/76f9d4d6c7d0814b9a2b3e0cef7c5f9317a05a90.pdf|page=26|quote=時任香港專上學生聯會代表會主席的中大三年級學生林耀強，五月十三日赴京，抵坡後將攜帶的九十萬港元交給北京學生絕食團雖然香港學生手握大筆捐款，但林耀強坦言在天安門廣場上 感覺很渺小 ， 不懂如何幫助北京學生，只想能做甚麼就做甚麼|trans-lang=Chinese}}</ref> Similarly, the Hong Kong Alliance raised over $20 million HKD for the protests during the Concert for Democracy in China on 27 May 1989.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=立場新聞|title=【支聯會的戰役 ‧ 3】第一天已被定性「顛覆組織」　他們如何由八九、九七走到今天？|date=2021-06-03|url=https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/145079|quote=「當時銀行給我開戶口，可以收取捐款，5 月 27 日舉行的民主歌聲獻中華，點解籌得二千幾萬，也是因為有個戶口，那是相當難得，那時每日都做十幾個鐘頭，又要開會。又要上街遊行，又要做文書工作。但我知道這間公司的敏感性，後來有好多文件要簽署，我都一直做秘書。」}}</ref> A standing-committee member of the Hong Kong Alliance, Lee Cheuk-yan, then flew to Beijing and handed $1 million HKD to the protestors.<ref>{{Web citation|author=SCMP Reporter|newspaper=South China Morning Post|title=Lee Cheuk-yan succeeds Szeto|date=2011-02-23|url=https://www.scmp.com/article/738945/lee-cheuk-yan-succeeds-szeto|retrieved=2026-09-02|quote=Lee, secretary general of the Confederation of Trade Unions, has been barred from the mainland since 1989 when he took HK$1 million donated by people in Hong Kong to Beijing to give to the students who were protesting in the capital.}}</ref>

Beginning in 1983, the Kuomintang allocated $600,000 USD a year from its intelligence budget to the China Alliance for Democracy (CAD) movement. Internal friction within the group eventually led the Kuomintang to restrict the funding to the movement's publication, the China Spring magazine.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Voice of America|title=台湾停止“定额补助”大陆海外民运|date=2002-09-23|url=https://www.voachinese.com/a/a-21-a-2002-09-23-9-1-63384512/993371.html|retrieved=2026-09-02|quote=他说：“钱是从情治单位来的，不是党的，而是政府的。起先给[中国民联]，后来纷争很多，就单支持杂志，不支持组织。据我知道，是这样，开始是60万，大致是这样的。确切的数字，我也不很清楚。到后来，李登辉上台，钱就减到了三十万。钱没有编入正式预算，是国安局方向的钱。”}}</ref>  A student leader of the counter-revolutionary protests, Wu'er Kaixi, later said that many students who participated in the movement knew about "China Spring" and would feel excited and thrilled when they heard about it. <ref>{{Citation|author=陈力、芦苇|year=1993|title=中国民主团结联盟十年简史|chapter=血与火的洗礼|chapter-url=https://beijingspring.com/bjs2020/bjs/mljs/08.txt|quote=都知道《中国之春》，一说到《中国之春》，他们就会振奋和激动。}}</ref>

== Riots ==
As the protests were winding down and many protestors went home, the Chinese government sent unarmed [[People's Liberation Army|PLA]] troops to clear the square of remaining protestors as the Beijing police were overwhelmed due to their sheer numbers throughout the city. On June 2, rioters burned and lynched unarmed soldiers trying to enter the square.<ref name=":5" /><ref name="US-DoS">For corroboration by the [[U.S. State Department]], see:
* {{Web citation|title=Cable, From: U.S. Embassy Beijing, To: Department of State, Wash DC|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/docs/doc14.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230712065328/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/docs/doc14.pdf|archive-date=2023-07-12}}
* {{Web citation|title=Cable, From: U.S. Embassy Beijing, To: Department of State, Wash DC|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/docs/doc15.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604185135/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/docs/doc15.pdf|archive-date=2024-06-04}}</ref> The troops were initially unarmed, but were given weapons on June 3 after the students took some soldiers hostage.<ref>{{News citation|author=Andy McInerney|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=China's Tienanmen Square|date=1996-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981206141125/http://www.workers.org/ww/tienanmen.html|archive-date=1998-12-06|retrieved=2022-06-05}}</ref> They were blocked from entering the square by crowds armed with petrol bombs,<ref name=":2">{{News citation|author=Gregory Clark|newspaper=International Business Times|title=Tiananmen Square Massacre is a Myth, All We're 'Remembering' are British Lies|date=2014-06-04|url=https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tiananmen-square-massacre-myth-all-were-remembering-are-british-lies-1451053|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110151828/https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tiananmen-square-massacre-myth-all-were-remembering-are-british-lies-1451053|archive-date=2021-11-10|retrieved=2022-06-05}}</ref> iron clubs, and Molotov cocktails.<ref name=":1" /> The rioters destroyed over 400 vehicles<ref name=":2" /> and destroyed a convoy of over 100 vehicles in western Beijing.<ref name=":5" />

== Death toll ==
The riots in [[Beijing]] resulted in approximately 200 total deaths,<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Global Times|title=West hypes false Tiananmen death toll|date=2017-24-12|url=https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/201712/1081851.shtml|archive-url=https://archive.ph/UfE2w|quote=An investigation by the mother of a dead student confirmed 188 civilian deaths}}</ref> including 36 students.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Mothership|title=2,800 or 10,000 dead? Dispute over Tiananmen death toll rages on 28 years later.|date=2017-12-28|url=https://mothership.sg/2017/12/tiananmen-incident-death-toll/|archive-url=https://archive.ph/b5ax9|quote=Titled "Report on Checking the Turmoil and Quelling the Counterrevolutionary Rebellion," it was released on Jul 6, 1989, by Mayor Chen Xitong of Beijing.
"More than 3,000 civilians were wounded and more than 200, including 36 students, died in the riot", he wrote.}}</ref> All of the deaths occurred outside of the square itself.<ref name=":6" />

== Censorship ==
While many Western media sources maintain that the Chinese populace is forbidden from learning of this event at all, many Chinese state media outlets mention the event:

* [http://china.org.cn/world/2014-06/05/content_32576642.htm China.org.cn: China Rejects US Statement on 6-4 Incident]
* [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-07/14/content_12898282.htm China Daily: Tiananmen Massacre a Myth]
* [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2019-07/09/content_37489430.htm China Daily: What's Wrong With Our Liberal Studies Courses?]
* [http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0629/c64387-32143323.html CPC News: Centennial Events of the Communist Party of China]
* [https://www.12371.cn/2012/06/12/ARTI1339473691203173.shtml People's Daily: Memorabilia of the Communist Party of China 1989]
* [[Global Times]]: [https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/201712/1081851.shtml West hypes false Tiananmen death toll]
* Xitong, Chen. ''Report on Checking the Turmoil and Quelling the Counter-Revolutionary Rebellion.'' Beijing: New Star Publishers, 1989.
* ''The Beijing Riot: A Photo Record''. Beijing: New Star Publishers, 1989.

== In Western media ==
In Western media, the incident is usually called the "1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre." Bourgeois media claims that the People's Liberation Army massacred thousands of peaceful protestors on June 4.<ref name=":0" /> The [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]], a [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] state propaganda outlet, claims that over 10,000 people were killed in the square.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=BBC|title=Tiananmen Square protest death toll 'was 10,000'|date=2017-12-23|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42465516|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512100422/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42465516|archive-date=2022-05-12|retrieved=2022-06-05}}</ref>

Claims of a massacre trace back to an anonymous student from [[Tsinghua University|Qinghua University]] who spoke to the [[Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|Hong Kong]] press.<ref name=":6" /> However, Western journalists including ''[[Reuters]]'' correspondent Graham Earnshaw, who spent the night of June 3–4 in the square, former ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' Beijing Bureau chief Jay Matthews, and BBC Beijing correspondent James Miles, all confirmed that students left the square peacefully. The US Embassy in Beijing also said they never saw any lethal force.<ref name=":6" />[[File:Tank Man.png|thumb|Tanks leaving the square on June 5, with the anonymous man know as Tank Man standing in front of the line]]
=== Tank Man ===
The famous photo of a man standing in front of four tanks was taken on the morning of June 5, after the square had been cleared and the tanks were attempting to leave. Some people believe the tanks ran the man over, but a video of the event<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU|channel=[[CNN]]|title=Man vs. tank in Tiananmen square (1989)}}</ref> disproves this narrative.

In the video, the anonymous man can be seen stopping in front of the first tank in line as he was crossing the street. As the tank attempts to drive around him, the man moves to block it from leaving. The man then climbs onto the turret and seems to start looking for the crew. One of them opens the hatch, and both can be seen talking to each other for a few minutes, but no record of their conversation exists. After talking for a minute, the man climbs back down and, as the tanks start driving away, he steps in front of the line again, cutting them off. A group of civilians then approach him and move him away from the tanks' path before the video ends.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Amanda Yee|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Revolution and counter-revolution: Remembering Tiananmen 34 years later|date=2023-06-03|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/revolution-and-counter-revolution-remembering-tiananmen-34-years-later/|retrieved=2023-06-03}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://youtu.be/qq8zFLIftGk?si=ufKxFkhuHqlbXZq4&t=124|channel=Typoprone|title=Tank Man (now with more raw footage)|date=2009-06-08}}</ref>

Some claim that the man was then detained by the state or made to disappear, but no evidence of this assertion exists. Interestingly, the anonymous man is also seen at two points during the video to be gesturing the tanks back towards the square.

== References ==
[[Category:CIA-backed protests]]
[[Category:Attempted Colour Revolutions]]
<references />
[[Category:Debunking myths]]