Publisher's Synopsis
*Includes pictures *Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "Students, we came too late. We are sorry. You talk about us, criticize us, it is all necessary. The reason that I came here is not to ask you to forgive us. All I want to say is that students are getting very weak, it is the 7th day since you went on hunger strike, you can't continue like this. [...] You are still young, there are still many days yet to come, you must live healthy, and see the day when China accomplishes the four modernizations. You are not like us, we are already old, it doesn't matter to us any more." - Zhao Ziyang at Tiananmen Square. May 19, 1989. Tiananmen Square, a large city square in the centre of Beijing, can be said to represent the essence of Chinese culture, being the site of several important events in the country's history. It is characterized as being a vast open ground centered on and defined by a series of monuments constructed over a period of 500 years. Named after the Tiananmen gate, one that means the 'Gate of Heavenly Peace', the square is located towards the north of the gate, separating it from the Forbidden City. Considered the fourth largest city square in the world, its dimensions are 440,000 square meters. Outside China, the square has come to be best known as the pivotal point of the protests of 1989 which were part of a pro-democracy movement which ended on June 4, 1989, with the declaration of martial law in Beijing by the government, and a casualty rate of thousands of civilians. The square's gate has a special status as the "Gate of the Nation", as can be seen from its successive names. It normally remained closed, except when the Emperor passed through. Commoner traffic was diverted to side gates at the western and eastern ends of today's square. Because of this diversion in traffic, a busy marketplace called "Chessgrid Streets" developed in the big, fenced square to the south of this gate. The events that took place at this Square include the annual mass military displays on each anniversary of the 1949 proclamation, and the 1984 military parade for the 35th anniversary of the People's Republic of China which coincided with the ascendancy of Deng Xiaoping. It also staged military displays and parades on the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic in 1999 and on the 60th anniversary in 2009. In addition, many mark the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident in 2001 as the downfall of this grand monument. Nonetheless, a series of mass movements taking place here have become landmarks in modern Chinese history: the demonstration on 4 May 1919 in protest against the Treaty of Versailles handing over Chinese lands to Japan; the patriotic march on 18 March 1926; the demonstration on 9 December 1935, which started the resistance movement against the Japanese invasion; the anti-autocratic movement during the Civil War on 20 May 1947; the mass memorial to the former prime minister Zhou Enlai on 5 April 1976; and finally the 1989 student uprising. Parallel to these grass-roots movements runs another sequence of "demonstrations" mobilized by authorities to display power including the Victory March in 1900, with the Allied Army celebrating their occupation of Beijing. Tiananmen Square: The Site of China's Most Infamous Protests chronicles the history of the square, including the protests held there in 1989. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Tiananmen Square like never before, in no time at all.
