Tiananmen Square incident
Chinese history [1989]
Also known as: 6/4, June Fourth incident
Tiananmen Square incident, series of protests and demonstrations in China in the spring of 1989 that culminated on the night of June 3–4 with a government crackdown on the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Although the demonstrations and their subsequent repression occurred in cities throughout the country, the events in Beijing—especially in Tiananmen Square, historically linked to such other protests as the May Fourth Movement (1919)—came to symbolize the entire incident. By the spring of 1989 there was growing sentiment among university students and others in China for political and economic reform. The country had experienced a decade of ...(100 of 955 words)