The Gathering Storm: Tiananmen Square in Photos Before the Tragic Crackdown of 1989

In the spring of 1989, Tiananmen Square in Beijing became a vibrant hub for peaceful protests. The square, known for its historical significance, became filled with thousands of students and citizens demanding change. They sought democracy, freedom of speech, and an end to corruption in the Chinese government.

The protests began in April, following the death of Hu Yaobang, a former Communist Party leader who supported reform. His death sparked anger and a desire for change among the people. Students organized gatherings to honor him, but soon, these gatherings turned into calls for broader reforms.

As more people joined the protests, the atmosphere in the square changed. It became a place of hope and unity. Demonstrators set up tents, shared food, and created a sense of community. They held banners with slogans that expressed their demands, such as “Democracy” and “Freedom.” Music and speeches filled the air as people shared their visions for a better future.

The protests attracted a diverse group of supporters. Students, workers, and even some intellectuals came together, all sharing a common goal. The square became a stage for speeches and discussions about democracy and human rights. Many believed that their voices could bring about real change in China.

The Chinese government viewed these demonstrations as a threat. They worried that the protests could inspire more unrest across the country. In response, the government declared martial law on May 20, 1989. This decision heightened tensions between the protesters and the authorities. However, the demonstrators remained determined to continue their fight for change.

As the weeks went by, the square filled with more people. Each day, more citizens came to support the movement. The atmosphere was charged with excitement, but also anxiety. Many knew that the government might respond harshly to the protests, but they felt compelled to stand up for their beliefs.

The events leading up to June 4 showed the power of the people coming together in a shared cause. Tiananmen Square was a place of hope, where citizens stood united in their demands for democracy and reform. The peaceful protests marked a significant moment in Chinese history, highlighting the desire for change in a society that felt increasingly stifled.

#1 A People’s Liberation Army Soldier sits alone with his weapons Sunday after his convoy was stopped by demonstrators seen in the background.

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#2 President Bush stands on his car and waves in Tiananmen Square in Beijing during a visit to China in this Feb. 25, 1989 photo.

On the wall in the background is a portrait of Mao Tse-tung at the entrance to the Forbidden City. Now that the elder Bush’s son is about to become President George W. Bush, the Chinese are uneasy. While campaigning, George W. Bush and his foreign policy advisers asserted U.S. interests in ways China finds threatening.

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#3 In this April 18, 1989 file photo, a Chinese student leader reads a list of demands to students staging a sit-in in front of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

A quarter century after the Communist Party’’s attack on demonstrations centered on Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, the ruling party prohibits public discussion and 1989 is banned from textbooks and Chinese websites.

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#4 A Chinese security guard gently tries to move a weeping young woman away from the ornate entrance to the Chinese Communist Party headquarters, Zhongnanhai, early on Wednesday, April 19, 1989 in Beijing. University students converged on Zhongnanhai after demonstrating in Tiananmen Square all day on Tuesday. The students tried to storm the gate, but were fought back by Chinese security.

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#5 A student leader tries in vain to settle down a crowd of Beijing University students who converged on the Chinese Communist Party headquarters at Zhongnanhai early on Wednesday, April 19, 1989 in Beijing after demonstrating in Tiananmen Square all day on Tuesday. The students later tried to storm the gate, but were fought by Chinese security.

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#6 University students hold hands as they sing the Chinese National Anthem during a protest, April 21, 1989 in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

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#7 Tens of thousands of students and citizens crowd at the Martyr’s Monument at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, April 21, 1989.

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#8 Chinese students link arms in solidarity at dawn on Saturday, April 22, 1989 in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square after spending the night there in order to be on hand for memorial services for the late purged party chief Hu Yaobang.

The students defied warnings against demonstrating and gathered by the tens of thousands forcing officials to back down and allow them to stay.

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#9 Students from Beijing University of Engineering carry a banner, top, reading ‘Democracy, Bathed in Blood,’ as they march into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to join tens of thousands of other students early on Saturday, April 22, 1989. The students plan to spend the night in the square and wait for the funeral of Hu Yaobang later in the day.

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#10 Beijing residents read a copy of a newspaper printed by students and placed on a streetlight pole near the Beijing University campus describing the student demonstrations on Friday and Saturday at Tiananmen Square, April 24, 1989.

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#11 A Beijing University student leader argues with a policeman about the students’ right to march as they are told not to march when emerging from their campus. Students from more than forty universities march to Tiananmen Square in protest of the April 26 editorial in the Communist Party newspaper despite warnings of violent suppression.

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#12 Chinese marchers are jubilant as they surround and stop an army truck at Tiananmen Square, April 27, 1989 in Beijing.

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#13 Students demonstrators scuffle with police as they try to break the guard line to march to the Tiananmen Square on Thursday, April 27, 1989 in Beijing.

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#14 Chinese police try in vain to convince students from Beijing University not to march as they emerged from their campus on Thursday, April 27, 1989 in Beijing.

The students from several Beijing universities began a planned march to Tiananmen Square on Thursday in defiance of a government demand they end their campaign for political reform.

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#15 Jubilant student marchers, arms lined, pass under a bridge lined with local supporters, Thursday, April 27, 1989, Beijing, China. Students in the ten of thousands from several Beijing schools demonstrated in defiance of a government ban.

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#16 A student at Beijing University points to a map of the march route on a poster up on campus as he recounts a tale of how marchers pushed through police lines on their way to Tiananmen Square, April 28, 1989.

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#17 Chinese students shout after breaking through a police blockade during a pro-democracy march to Tiananmen Square, Bejing, May 4 1989.

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#18 Chinese police try in vain to contain a huge crowd of student marchers during a pro-reform demonstration in Beijing, China, May 4 1989.

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#19 Calling for freedom and democracy, demonstrating students surround policemen near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Thursday afternoon on May 4, 1989. Approximately 100,000 students and workers marched toward the square demanding democratic reforms.

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#20 More than seven thousand students from local colleges and universities march to Tiananmen Square, Beijing, May 4, 1989, to demonstrate for government reform.

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#21 Students of Teachers University raise their hands to appeal to supporting citizens near Tiananmen Square, Thursday, May 4, 1989 in Beijing.

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#22 Chinese military items, including rifles, helmets, and a hat, are displayed during the pro-democracy demonstration that lasted from mid-April to early June 1989 on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The demonstration ended with a government crackdown on June 4, 1989, leaving hundreds dead.

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#23 Calling for freedom and democracy, demonstrating students surround policemen near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Thursday afternoon on May 4, 1989. Approximately 100,000 students and workers marched toward the square demanding democratic reforms.

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#24 University students sit in Tiananmen Square on Saturday, May 13, 1989 in Beijing on a hunger strike for freedom and democracy. The students vow to sit until the arrival of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday.

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#25 About 3,500 university students from more then a dozen school demand democracy and freedom keep on hunger strike at night, Saturday, May 14, 1989 in Beijing at Tiananmen Square.

Students said they would end the hunger strike only when the government agrees to “equal and sincere” talks to their demands.

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#26 Student protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square sleep leaning on one another at sunrise, Sunday, May 14, 1989 in Beijing. The protesters, some of them on a hunger strike, plan to remain in the square for the official welcoming ceremony for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday.

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#27 A Beijing university student sits bound in a cardboard box as the strike for democracy continues for the third day in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Tuesday, May 16, 1989. The box indicates he cannot use his hands so he cannot eat.

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#28 Employees of CCTV, Central China Television, flash their press cards as they join student strikers for democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square at night, Tuesday, May 16, 1989.

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#29 A Beijing University student collects contributions to support the hunger strike from passers by in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Tuesday, May 16, 1989. The strike is now is its fourth day.

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#30 A student protestor flashes a victory sign during a demonstration in Tiananmen Square, Wednesday, May 17, 1989, Beijing, China.

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#31 Beijing youths ride atop a car as they parade to Tiananmen Square for a freedom rally, Wednesday, May 17, 1989 in Beijing.

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#32 Students and police link area to keep crowd of people, many of the relatives of strikers, from Tiananmen Square, where students have been on hunger strike since Saturday, Thursday, May 18, 1989, Beijing, China.

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#33 A Beijing policeman encourages university students demonstrating for democratic reforms on Friday, May 19, 1989 in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

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#34 Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang speaks with fasting university students in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to urge them to call off their hunger strike. The strike is in its sixth day.

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#35 Beijing University students use a monument to the late chairman Mao Tse-Tung at his tomb in Tiananmen Square to press their case for democratic reforms in Beijing, Friday, May 19, 1989. The picture hanging on the statue is the late Premier Chou En-Lai.

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#36 An effigy of the Statue of Liberty stands in front of the Shanghai city government offices as demonstrators rally for democratic reform May 20, 1989.

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#37 Demonstrators showing victory signs head to Tiananmen Square, Saturday, May 20, 1989, Beijing, China.

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#38 A convey of soldiers from the Peoples’ Liberation Army is completely engulfed by demonstrators who stopped the Tiananmen Square bound troops by blocking the road with the bus in the foreground, May 21, 1989, Beijing, China.

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#39 Li Nan, left, of Du Yiju Restaurant, and Yuan Chi, a monk with the China Buddhist Association, receive cheers from students in Tiananmen Square, Sunday, May 21, 1989, Beijing, China. They have donated over $53,000 worth of food to the protestors in the square.

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#40 A young unidentified couple, two out of thousands of university students who are holding Tiananmen Square occupied for nine days, pass the time with a lively dance on Monday morning, May 22, 1989 in Beijing, China.

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#41 The famous portrait of Chairman Mao looking out over Tiananmen Square, Beijing, from the Forbidden City, May 23, 1989, was spattered with paint during the continuing demonstration in the square.

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#42 A Beijing University student sounds off during a rally, Thursday, May 25, 1989 in Beijing in Tiananmen Square.

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#43 University students rest in Tainanmen Square, Beijing, on May 26, 1989, wher their strike for government reforms is in its 13th day.

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#44 This is a May 27, 1989 photo of student leader Wang Dan in Tiananmen Square Beijing calling for a city wide march.

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#45 A group of students rest before their tattered tents in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, on May 27, 1989, where thousands of students continue their sit-in protest to press the government for political reforms.

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#46 A man who identified himself as a former political prisoner relates his experiences to striking students in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, on May 28, 1989. Students have held the square in a democracy demonstration for more than two weeks.

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#47 Beijing University students listen as a strike spokesman details plans for a rally in Tiananmen Square, which they have occupied for the last two weeks, Sunday, May 28, 1989, Beijing, China.

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#48 A child sleeps on his mother’s shoulder as she crosses Tiananmen Square, Beijing, on May 29, 1989. Many students have tired and returned to their classes following three weeks of pro-democratic rallies.

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#49 A young Chinese girl dances on Tiananmen Square about June 1, 1989, as pro-democracy protesters continued to occupy the square. Hundreds were killed a few days later in violent clashes between the demonstrators and government troops.

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#50 A woman soldier sings among pro-democracy protesters occupying Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, about June 2, 1989. Police and military would occasionally mix with protesters in an attempt to keep the demonstration peaceful. In the early morning hours of June 4, 1989, soldiers overran the square, leaving hundreds dead overnight.

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#51 A man tries to pull a Chinese soldier away from his comrades as thousands of Beijing’s citizens turned out to block thousands of troops on their way towards Tiananmen Square early Saturday morning, June 3, 1989.

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#52 PLA soldiers locked in arms try to march past a human blockade of students outside of the Great Hall of People in this June 3, 1989 photo. Soldiers were reported to resort to teargas and amunitions.

On Friday, it will be 10 years since the military assault that killed hundreds and ended seven weeks of protests centered on Tiananmen Square.

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#53 Beijing residents ask soldiers what they were going to do with the machine gun on their dashboard as they surround and stop a carload of chinese soldiers on their way towards to Tiananmen Square in this June 3, 1989 photo.

Friday June 4, 1999 is the 10th anniversary of the military assault on pro-democracy protesters who had occupied the square for seven weeks. Hundreds died in the early hours of June 4, 1989 when troops shot their way through Beijing’s streets to retake the square.

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#54 A young woman is caught between civilians and Chinese soldiers, who were trying to remove her from an assembly near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 3, 1989. Pro-democracy protesters had been occupying Tiananmen Square for weeks.

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#55 An anti-government protester in Beijing holds a rifle in a bus window, June 3, 1989. Pro-democracy protesters had been occupying Tiananmen Square for weeks; hundreds died that night and the following morning in clashes with Chinese troops.

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