The Struggle Between Continuity and Change in Tiananmen Square Essay Sample
The events of Tiananmen Square in 1989 present the battle between continuity and alteration through the clashing ideals of the Communist party and the civilians. particularly the pupils. of China. The pupils. who leaned towards western ideals. demanded for political and economic reform that would finally take to a more democratic and free society. They besides campaigned against corruptness. and this resulted in much support from the working category who had been exploited by the authorities. The westernised ideals of the pupils nevertheless. wholly contradicted the positions of the bing authorities of China. The communist authorities. which had ruled since 1949. was based on a socialist system and was the complete antonym of a democracy. To allow the students’ demands required a alteration in authorities. an improbable scenario. as authorities functionaries gained much wealth from their places and therefore had no ground to alter Chinese society.
The events of Tiananmen Square began with the decease of Hu Yaobang who was “considered the most progressive member of the post-Mao leading. ” Many pupils gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn his decease and to keep a memorialization but it shortly escalated into a “protest for far-reaching alteration. ” The pupils demanded constitutional freedoms. the right to set up independent newspapers. a democratic system and economic reform.
The protest in Tiananmen Square was non merely influenced by the decease of Hu Yaobang but besides by the market reforms that had been introduced by Deng Xiao Ping ten old ages earlier. The reforms caused high rising prices rates of up to 30 per centum and this resulted in a general sense of insecurity among the people. In fact. for many old ages before the Tiananmen Square protests. the desire for alteration had existed among the Chinese. In late 1985 and 1986. there were smaller organized protests against the authorities and the province of Chinese society. The push for reform that had been ignored by the authorities for so long resulted in a strong build-up of the desire and demand for alteration. The
The Communist authorities on the other manus. was the party forcing for continuity. The chief ground why the authorities pushed so strongly for continuity was because the Communists were basically socialist and merely could non adhere to the demands of the pupils without releasing their power over China. Besides. the corruptness that existed in China meant that authorities officers gained much wealth from their places and hence strongly rejected the democratic political system that the pupils wanted by saying that Western cultural influences were “spiritual pollution”
Driven by the desire for continuity. the authorities attempted to rock the turning support for the pupil motion by let go ofing an article in the People’s Daily. They stated that the motions were a “well- planned secret plan to confound the people and throw the state into convulsion. ” The publication. which was released with the purpose of spreading the protests. merely reignited the pupil motion. Citizens pointed out that “blame for the presentations finally lay in the weaknesss of the party itself. without which the pupils would hold no demand to protest. ”
The pupils who were frustrated by the deficiency of authorities action taken to make their demands. decided to establish a hungriness work stoppage in revenge.
When it was clear that the pupils would non yield with their demands or discontinue their hungriness work stoppage. members of the Communist authorities visited Tiananmen Square to negociate a via media. However. fact that their ideals were so different meant that neither side could come to an understanding. The pupils would non give up their desire for reforms and a democratic system nor could the authorities give up their Communist system.
After the failed dialogues to stop the pupil protests. the authorities declared soldierly jurisprudence. Troops moved towards Tiananmen Square to discontinue the turning support for democracy and to reenforce the Communist regulation over China. Initially. the authorities decided to utilize the ground forces for bullying intents. An anti-riot squad used gum elastic slugs and rupture gas tins to coerce the pupils out of the country. The crowd. believing that they would non be earnestly harmed in the confrontation. pressed frontward and threw stones and tins at the soldiers. When these tactics failed. the authorities believed that force was the lone option and declared soldierly jurisprudence. which was unusual at the clip.
In their quest to retain power over the state and halt the rebellion against communism. the authorities sent armored autos. ground forces trucks. soldiers and armored combat vehicles into the square. The ground forces was ordered to “crush presentations and protests by the country’s pupils and workers. and stop their demands for political alteration. ” Those who refused to travel out of the square and resisted the ground forces were gunned down. The Communist leader of the clip. Deng Xiaoping. justified his party’s determination to utilize soldierly jurisprudence was a reaction to halt the “counter- radical rebellion” that aimed to tumble the authorities.
The battle between continuity and alteration can be seen through the events of Tiananmen Square and the opposing positions of the participants. the pupils and the authorities. The pupils. the party favoring alteration. coveted political reform while the authorities. which was Communist. was loath to come Forth with the reforms. Though efforts were made to negociate a via media. the contrasting positions of both parties meant that there was failure to make an understanding. From this peculiar battle between alteration and continuity. the stronger party. the communist authorities. achieved its end of continuity.
