Tiananmen Square: Democracy Crushed, or Seeded?

Every day Chinese citizens will know significantly less, and maybe care less as well, of the Communist government crushing the student-led pro-democracy protests in 1989 than you WVHS scholars.

Why should they bother, given that so few people in China these days display much interest in politics, let alone in Tiananmen? The messy transition to liberal capitalism experienced by former communist societies elsewhere, particularly Russia, is seen by many as a good reason for abandoning any aggressive pursuit of democracy.

For your assignement, due Wednesday 3/12 in a formal essay (2-3 pages) using the documents attatched here answer the question: Did the Chinese government's response at Tiananmen Square crush Democracy, or put it at a more realistic gradual timetable?

First there are two links to the coverage of Tiananmen in June of 1989:

The BBC on this day also has a short video clip:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/4/newsid_2496000/2496277.stm

The New York Times account is here. Remember, few foreign correspondents were there.

http://www.nytimes.com/specials/hongkong/archive/89tiananmen.html

On the 25th anniversary of the event, The Economist had this report:

http://polazzo.stuysu.org/where_are_they_now.htm

And this collection of documents from the U.S. National Security Archive:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/index.html

Cleary state you thesis, and back it with citation. Feel free to compare the Chinese transition to the Russian Road to Democracy (and Back?)