China: The Asian Civilization - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 251

Figure 16.9. Tiananmen Square 1989
In April 1989 students began gathering in Tiananmen Square (named after the Gate of
Heavenly Peace in what was once the Forbidden City). In May the government forbade all
such gatherings and declared martial law on May 20, ordering that the square be cleared.
In silent protest, 50,000 students and workers in the square began a hunger strike, erecting
as a symbol of their goals a statue, the “Goddess of Liberty.” The numbers soon welled to
an estimated 100,000. On June 3 and 4, soldiers and tanks entered the square with orders
to use deadly force to clear it. Because of a state visit by Mikhail Gorbachev, television
crews were filming in Beijing. As viewers around the world watched, tear gas and bul-
lets crushed the demonstrators. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 died, and perhaps as many as
7,000 to 10,000 were injured. The “Tiananmen Massacre,” as it was dubbed by newsmen,
enabled the Communist Party to hold tight the apparatus of political control, while ventur-
ing further into a state-controlled market economy.
MAO IN RETROSPECT
Mao's body continues to lie in state in Beijing. His face stares out from the Gate of
Heavenly Peace and from every Chinese bank note. The Party continues to rule with a
heavy hand, but his economic policies have been repudiated. His death-laden policies (the
Great Leap, the Cultural Revolution) are mildly criticized but not repudiated. To do so
might subject the Party itself to repudiation. [226]