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In Pictures: Remembering Tiananmen

A look back at the violent demonstrations that took place in the heart of Beijing 25 years ago.

Protests began with a march by students after the passing Communist party leader and liberal reformer Hu Yaobang, who died a week before.
Published On 5 Jun 2014

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Tiananmen Square, located in the heart of Beijing, has historically been a hub of political activity. 

But it is the 1989 protests that mark recent memory. 

In the early morning hours of June 4th an unauthorised, student-led pro-democracy movement was silenced as an uneasy government declared martial law.

What began as a hunger strike, aiming to catalyse reforms for greater democracy and freedom of speech in the country, was quickly quashed by the People’s Liberation Army. 

Hundreds were killed as the military retook the square back from protesters ushering in a new age of conservatism in China.

The following pictures document the events that occurred 25 years ago as one million occupied Tiananmen Square in protest.

Chinese students had been dissenting peacefully since April engaging in marathon hunger strikes as part of mass protest against the Chinese government.
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In May, people applauded the unveiling of the pro-democracy statues in Tiananmen Square just a few days before the massacre which took place on the 3rd and 4th of June, 1989.
Art students made the polystyrene and plaster statue named the "Goddess of Democracy" to represent their desire for a more democratic rule in Communist China, which they erected in Tiananmen Square before the crackdown.
On June 4th, the Chinese Communist party sent 200,000 troops to stop the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
Most of the clashes took place right outside Tiananmen Square as the Chinese Liberation Army retook the square from protesters.
Twenty-five years later, we are left with the symbolic image of one person, the (***)Tank Man(***), standing up to the military in non-violent protest.
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The number of protesters said to have been killed range from the hundreds to the thousands, but exact numbers will never be known.