Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
9
Deng Xiaoping was a popular leader in China until June 1989. His
decision to murder his way out of the challenges posed by the
student-led protest movements will eventually stain his historical
legacy, but a decade into the twenty-first century, the official government
line is still that the suppression was warranted. Deng continued to rule
over China's modernization efforts until his death in February 1997.
After Tiananmen, Deng's first order of business was to appoint
people who would support him to the highest levels of the party and
government. He dismissed Zhao Ziyang from his position as head of
the Chinese Communist party and replaced him with the relatively
unknown Jiang Zemin, who had been mayor of Shanghai. Jiang, a poly-
glot but otherwise a relatively bloodless figure and unoriginal intellect,
parroted the line for Deng and emerged as his replacement and the
paramount leader of China in the late 1990s and beyond.
Deng then rounded up thousands of students and their supporters
who had participated in the Tiananmen demonstrations. Several stu-
dent leaders managed to escape fromChina and flee to freedom abroad,
but others did not, including Wang Dan, who was sentenced to 4 years
in prison and then resentenced after his release to another 11 years in
