Thirty years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, new documents and eyewitness accounts reveal the events leading up to the deadly crackdown. The seven-week protest, which seemed to be on the brink of a democratic revolution, was ultimately thwarted by the students' inability to convince reformers within the Communist Party to engage in dialogue. The Party leaders, fearing long-term turmoil, prioritized avoiding chaos, still reeling from the Cultural Revolution's aftermath.
Tiananmen
The Tiananmen Square protests, which ended in a bloody crackdown by the Chinese military, have left a lasting scar on the nation's history, with the exact number of student deaths still unknown and the Communist Party's silence on the topic remaining a source of controversy.
