1 ene 1989 año - Pro-Democracy Demonstrations and the Tiananmen Square Incident.

Descripción:

The vast reforms and modernization of China by the Communist Party following the death of Mao Zedong sparked a plethora of new, independent thought and philosophy within the nation. Many of its citizens began to call for the implementation of democracy of China. This was ultimately spread among the youth of China, who sought to stamp out the deep-rooted corruption within the Communist Party. As the movement was primarily comprised of students and other members of the younger generations, they sought greater representation in the government, elections, and better conditions in the universities.
The demonstrations came to a head in June of 1989, where thousands of students staged a massive hunger strike based out of Tiananmen Square in Beijing - one of the most prominent locations in the city. As a result of their defiance of government orders demanding that they leave, the military was eventually called in to quell the demonstrations with force. The government organized a siege of the square, with hundreds, if not thousands, of students being massacred by Chinese armor and infantry.
The actions of the Chinese government were extremely controversial and were condemned by the West. International aid agencies cut back on loans to China, tourism plummeted, and as such, the Chinese economy was left without many of their former sources of income. As a result of this, the Chinese government relaxed policies on state-owned businesses, giving up control of thousands of said businesses that could not reliably make a profit. This provided China with a new source of income that was badly needed, although the widespread economic plight of China was still prevalent. Unemployment was at nearly 30% in some cities, and millions continued to live in poverty.
One of the most defining images regarding the Tiananmen Square Incident revolved around a photo of a man that had attempted to stop the advance of a squad of Chinese tanks by standing in front of them; stubbornly refusing to move out of their way. This photo was later smuggled out of China, and was spread all throughout the world. The man featured in the photo has since been dubbed “Tank Man”, and has had a profound impact on the perception of the Tiananmen Square Incident despite his identity or appearance being entirely unknown. After several minutes of resilience, the man was dragged off - and was never seen or heard from again. While some say that he went into hiding, it is likely that he was executed for his actions, with all available evidence of his actions quickly being destroyed - although it was not enough, seeing as the photo of it was still leaked to the world.

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