Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace)

Tiananmen or the Gate of Heavenly Peace Tiananmen means the Gate of Heavenly Piece and is the main gate controlling access to the Forbidden City. The Tiananmen gate is located on Chang'an Avenue and is often confused by Westerners with the large square on the other side of Chang'an Avenue. This is more correctly known as Tiananmen Square.

The photograph was taken on the edge of Tiananmen Square, looking across Chang'an Avenue to the gate.

Tiananmen Square has become infamous for the 'Tiananmen Square Massacre' which is alleged to have taken place there in 1989, but many of the Western reports of what happened have to be taken with a large pinch of salt. It is less contentious to talk of the Tiananmen Square Incident or Protests.

As anyone who has studied modern Chinese history will know, Tiananmen Square has long been the traditional site used for political demonstrations. But they have never been spontaneous. They are an indication of a struggle within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the Tiananmen Incident is no exception. In China the incident is often known as the June Fourth Movement, which conforms with the labels given to the other great protest demonstrations that occurred on Tiananmen Square - the May Fourth Movement of 1919, and the April Fifth Movement of 1976.

In previous years the demonstration in Tiananmen Square would have passed off without much comment from the West, but in 1989 the international media had a much greater presence in China. Unfortunately the reporters and presenters who rushed to comment typically had little experience of Chinese politics. As a result a complex struggle within the CCP became misrepresented as a simple democracy movement.

The media was hungry for interviews and there were many ready to oblige. Anti-communist activists from Taiwan and Hong Kong descended on Beijing to put their own spin on what was happening. And then of course went home, one of the most prominent going on a book-signing tour of Europe.

In 1989 there was no hint of a 'massacre' - that term only came into use retrospectively. In recent years there have been attempts to get at the truth of what really happened. John Simpson, an emminent BBC reporter and presenter, had covered the incident, and he admitted that he actually had not had seen any bodies. But it is difficult now to peer through the layers of hype. Today the internet is littered with images which purport to show the 'Tiananmen Square Massacre', although in fact they show the events which led up to the clearing of the square, not the event itself.

The real facts have nothing to do with a 'Democracy Movement'. No one involved in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations was advocating the overthrow of communism. This was an internal Communist Party matter.

In the 1980s the right-wing of the CCP under Deng Xiaoping had been modernising the Chinese economy and introducing Western-style techniques. Universities such as Renmin University in Beijing were expanding and teaching subjects such as Economics and Marketing rather than Marxist theory. Unfortunately the rise in Western-style wealth acquisition was also accompanied by inflation and an an increase in corruption among party functionaries. This led to a feeling of unrest, especially among the intellectuals.

Then on 15 April 1989 Hu Yaobang the ex-Secretary General of the CPC died. He had been a popular figure, forced out of office by Deng Xiaoping. His demise provided the opportunity for a confrontation between the party factions as to which direction Chinese politics should take.

As to be expected the students of Beijing University arrived in Tiananmen Square to demonstrate, and this could never have happened without covert support from a party faction. Beijing University was famed for its left-wing tendencies, and in one sense the students were putting into practise a dictum of Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung) - the continuous revolution. Mao Zedong had stated that all leaderships become corrupt in time, and it was the duty of party to continuously overthrow and replace them.

The two main factions were the old guard under Deng Xiaoping and a self-styled reformist faction centered around Zhao Ziyang, the CPC General Secretary. However what had started as a typical 'Big Character Poster' student demonstration got out of hand.

Zhao Ziyang attempted to resolve the situation by meeting with the student leaders, a meeting which if it had been succesful would have helped Zhao Ziyang to power. But the vast International media coverage had changed the parameters of the political game. The student hot-heads scented power and were unwilling to compromise. They were young and the leadership was old. The world spotlight was on them, and they were not going to listen to anyone.

The Chinese Government under Deng Xiaoping is usually blamed for putting down the demonstration, but it is difficult to see what else Deng could have done. Unrest was spilling over into other towns and cities, and everyone with an axe to grind was making the most of the occasion. There was no doubt that the clearing of Tiananmen square was brutal, but is ahistorical to talk of a 'massacre'.

Zhao Ziyang lost and was placed under house arrest in Beijing. Many of Zhao Ziyang's colleagues and supporters within the party also disappeared from politics at that time. Zhao died, still under house arrest, in 2004.