On June 3 and 4, 1989, several hundred civilians were shot and killed by the Chinese army during a military operation to crush a democratic protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The demonstrators, mostly students, had occupied the square peacefully for seven weeks, refusing to move until their demands for democratic reform were met. The bloody end to the protests lessened the concept of political liberalization in Communist countries that was popular in the late 1980s. Dr. Harold Tanner, University of North Texas associate professor of history and an expert on the People's Republic of China, is available to discuss the impact of the Tiananmen Square massacre on China today. He is the author of a number of books and articles on Chinese policing, criminal justice and modern Chinese military history. His most recent book, China: A History, presents a broad overview of the history of the country from Neolithic times through the present. Tanner says the students' democracy movement, which began April 15, 1989, came at a time of economic stress, popular dissatisfaction with economic reform and with the Communist Party leadership, anger over blatant corruption, and "frustration at the lack of legitimate, democratic channels for the expression and redress of grievances." "The movement surely changed the lives of the participants and their families, often in tragic ways. But for China as a whole, in the longer term, the most obvious changes have been that the Communist Party and Chinese government, having learned the lessons of 1989, have taken steps to strengthen patriotic education in China's schools, colleges, and universities," he says. The government has also trained its police forces in non-lethal techniques of crowd and riot control and continued to prevent the establishment of any truly independent religious, labor, or political organizations, Tanner says. "In essence, as they considered their own experience in 1989, the fall of socialism in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union, China's leaders learned that the best strategy for preserving the Leninist one-party state was to continue to combine sustained, market-driven economic growth with strict political controls," he says. "So far, the Communist Party's social control policies, coupled with sustained economic growth and with the Party's ability to present itself as an effective protector and promoter of China's national sovereignty and respect in the international arena have preserved a high degree of social and political stability." A sustained economic downturn in China, he says, might undermine the Party's position. "In that case, popular protest movements might bring up the events of the spring of 1989 as a point of reference. But until such a situation develops, if it develops at all, the events of 1989 will continue to fade from memory as younger generations, who do not learn about or share the concerns of the students of 1989, move through the schools and the workplaces, develop their own dreams for the future of their country and pursue their own careers," Tanner says. Tanner first visited China in 1984 and lived in Beijing for three years during the late 1980s and early 1990s while studying at the Beijing Languages Institute and at Beijing University. He has traveled extensively in China and regularly teaches courses on all aspects of Chinese history, ancient to modern, and on U.S.-China diplomatic relations. Tanner may be reached by e-mail at htanner@unt.edu or by cell phone at 940-206-6316. |
