Maia England March 6, 2013
Global 2 Ms. Rokicki

Extra Credit: The Tiananmen Square Massacre
According to Kallie Szczepanski, “Most people in the western world remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre this way: Students protest for democracy in Beijing, China, in June of 1989. Chinese government sends troops and tanks to Tiananmen Square. Student protesters are brutally massacred.” What really happened was in April-May 1989, nearly a million Chinese people gathered into the Tiananmen Square to protest for a greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders that were seen as to “repressive.” The protest was also a big memorial for a government official, Hu Yaobang. He was forced out of office in January 1987 because he was reformist who supported the rehabilitation of victims during the Cultural Revolution and wanted social and economic reforms. University students marched Tiananmen Square because the government gave a brief mention of Hu’s death in the media and did not plan a state funeral. On April 22, Hu’s memorial service took place. The government thought that after the service the protest would subside, but that didn’t happen. The students were very angry because on April 19, the government refused to receive a delegation from petitioners. They continued to protest and made slogans that were even more expressive about their protesting.
On June 4, 1989 divisions of the People’s Liberation army went into Tiananmen