Message from staylor

[Anonymous]

It seemed to me that from the readings the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident had roots that were farther reaching than I ever knew. I was completely unaware of this "Democracy Wall" in the 1970s that seemed to greatly upset the Party leaders, who realized allowing it was a "mistake" to allow the wall to remain up for as long as it did. I would like to know more about this "Wall"...how did it get started? Why did the government not smash it to pieces immediately? How much of an impact did this have on people's belief that democracy was necessary for China to advance? Did Nixon's visit to China have any impact on the increased desire among Chinese citizens to have democracy due to increased trade and communication?

It is interesting to note with regards to Tiananmen Square, the huge disparity in the arguments of the students and the argument of Deng. The students make claims of corruption, nepotism, oppression, poor pay for soldiers, and more while Deng simplifies his argument into stating the students want to destroy socialism and overthrow the government. I can understand why and how both sides came up with their arguments, to convince the largest group to side with them. I am unclear about exactly what happened in June of 1989 when Deng ordered the Square cleared by the military. Were there any groups of soldiers who sided with the students against the government? How successful were these 'revolts' in and outside of Beijing? In this day and age, I wonder how long and how successful China's government can be regarding the coverup of this incident...