History Ia 2013 Essay

The Tiananmen Square Massacre greatly impacted the way the rest of the world viewed the Chinese government. Imagine not having the freedom of speech that we do today, or living in a country that kills the innocent. In 1989, college students exercised their right to freedom of speech while protesting their communist leaders, and the leaders of Communist China put the demonstration down with military force resulting in possibly thousands killed. But, throughout the last 25 years China has grown and developed into a much different country than it was during the late 1980’s. Granted, the country still has a long way to go before it resembles the democracy present in the United States today, but it seems to be headed in the right direction.

Bob Fu conveys clearly the inexorable control that Communist leaders in China have over their people. For example, after Fu and his friends participated in the Tiananmen Square protests, Fu was coerced, day in day out, to write a confession of his purported misdeeds against China and her people as a “counterrevolutionary” (79-82, 85, 87).

When it comes to modernization, the paths taken by Japan and China were strikingly similar. Well, I say paths taken, however I would argue that it was more along the lines of them being forced upon paths out of necessity in order to survive in a world in which the Western powers of Europe and the United States were increasingly encroaching and interfering in East Asia. The paths I will be looking at for these two nations will both begin with the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan and the Kangxi emperor in China, and several aspects of how these nations and forms of governance operated, as well as large changes in governance. I will look at how these two nations and the West interacted, and how their interactions began to change as time went on. From

The significance of the republic policies were great, they brought a lot of growth in the 20’s allowing the market to strive over lots of trading and the purchase of shares, but was also an unstable market, as the government had no control over what it did and was left up to the

Even with her previous experiences at Beijing University and at Big Joy Farm, Wong still held some belief that the Chinese system wasn’t as bad as it was sometimes made out to be. This event proved to her that it was. “The enormity of the massacre hit home…Although it had been years since I was a Maoist, I still had harbored some small hope for China. Now even that was gone” (259). As a reporter Wong was able to view the progression of the protests in leading up to the massacre, and in viewing it understood that the Chinese people were much more independent than they had previously demonstrated over the past 50 years. She had continuously seen the Chinese people following what they were told between learning in school or with physical labor, yet this protest was one of the first large scale displays of the unacceptance of the regime by the people, and the government did not know what to do with it. But because of this, Wong was able to recognize that the people were not reliant on this way of life that they had previously been bound to, but truly could lead for themselves and take control. The massacre awakened Wong both to the reality that the government was not acting to benefit the people, and that the people were more than capable of acting for

Historians have learned a great deal about the Crusades from chroniclers like William of Tyre and Ibn al-Qalanisi. Today, reporters and newscasters travel all over the world to report on international events, including conflicts. Reporters and world leaders use social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook to connect with the public. Imagine what we might know had there been access to television, cell phones, and social media in the 13th century.

Though termed the Tiananmen Square Massacre, this incident actually took place throughout China. What started out as a peaceful protest calling for political and economic reforms, soon turned to bloodshed. (Hu 2015)This greatly impacted China's international relationships. Contact between China and Western nations declined, official visits were suspended. Western powers imposed arms embargoes and economic sanctions, preventing the sale of military equipment, and approval of loans. (The National Bureau of Asian Research) Understanding the causes of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and its effects on China’s international relationships, aids in better understanding the nuances of this infamous incident.

The apex of Wong’s book is how she displays the emotional overtones in reciting her account of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. She tells of being holed up in a hotel across the street from the square and actually being able to see the violence between the protesting students and citizens, and the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army. When she describes bodies falling from gunshot wounds, people being squashed by tanks, and the bullets ricocheting off their hotel walls, it produces multiple senses of horror, sorrow, and absolute terror. She further hammers this point across by displaying two images taken from the scene (245). The first is of a PLA platoon leader who was beaten, set afire, disemboweled, and to add further insult, positioned so that he would serve as an example of what the proletariats were capable of. The second, was of PLA soldiers examining the destruction of Tiananmen Square after they seized the square. Smoke and debris from the protestors are widely prevalent, and the image was even used in a propaganda brochure for the government.

The two historical documents, Narrative of Lavinia Bell written by an anonymous author in the Montreal Gazette and the Letter to an English Abolitionist by James Henry Hammond, shared their strong opinions on the important issue of slavery. These documents were written in the 1800’s during an era of progressive changes. One can identify similarities and many differences in their opinions, motives, and goals for their writings. I believe Bell’s account was written to show the perspective of slaves’ brutal view, compared to Hammond’s letter justifying slavery and the rights of the slaveholders.

Nonetheless, the popularization of the internet enables the Chinese to get in touch with the Western values. Thus, activism for human rights has appeared online. This essay will argue how online activism has influenced Chinese understandings of human rights; formed the attitude toward the authoritarian regime; and shaped the Chinese society. Two cases are selected namely 1) Shanxi black brick kiln slave scandal; 2) Lei Yang incident. At the same time, I will illustrate how the authority response to the two incidents which are positive and negative respectively. The positive is that the social welfare has been improved, while the negative is that the government tightened the cyber control.

The 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in China or the June Fourth Incident was one of the most famous student protests in the world’s history. The Massacre took place on June 4th 1989 – the last day of a series of pro-democracy demonstrations around Tiananmen Square beginning from April 14. The Tiananmen protest ended in tragic failure and bloodbath as the Chinese state decided to put down the protest with a martial law. At last, army troops and tanks were sent to take control of the city and were ordered to clear the square by firing at the crowd of protesters. The number of deaths has been a matter of controversy over the world until now, which ranges from several hundreds to thousands. In spite of the massiveness and the great influence of

The Tiananmen Square protest occurred in 1989 in Beijing, China and was primarily student led. Protesters were anxious about the country’s future with political elites, and no longer wanted a communist regime. In 1980, government reforms left the economy in a disaster, which benefited only a certain few private citizens and government elites. Grievances included “inflation, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy, and restrictions on political participation.” (edcuationrays) Students desired democracy, freedom of speech and press, and more accountability - all inspired by Westerners. When leader Hu Yaobang died, people took to Tiananmen Square to protest. At its height, one million individuals occupied the Square. In response, China’s new leader, Deng Xiaoping, used force and declared martial law. As a result, 300,000 troops were sent to Beijing, leading to widespread arrests and deaths. This event is extremely important because it led to more intense sanctions on the citizens of China - the opposite of what they hoped. The government responded by suppressing freedom of press and speech and there was negative implication on international trade . By analyzing grievance theory, relative deprivation, and collective action and how these describe how citizens protested in Tiananmen Square, we can see why the protest erupted. Yet, it is not obvious by the theories why the protest was unsuccessful and why the government responded with more

With thousands left wounded, a seemingly countless number of citizens reported dead, and a country left with a reputation in jeopardy. All of these were the consequences of a shocking and devastating event which happened on the 4th of June 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre. Overtime this has been viewed as a major turning point in Chinese history. It catalyzed movements for generations across the world.

At the end of the Cold War there were some countries left in ruins. India and Pakistan, were both affected by the dispute. According to a research study conducted by scholars at the London School Of Economics, "following the success of economic liberalisation in the 1990s, which generated growth rates in excess of 8% and a rising middle class, expectations have grown that India might become a superpower, particularly in a West that sees in India's democratic heritage the potential for strategic partnership." In contrast, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the involvement of Pakistan's government in terrorist activities. In a leaked document of the British Defence Ministry it was reported that: "Indirectly Pakistan (through the ISI) has been supporting terrorism and extremism--whether in London on 7/7 [the July 2005 attacks on London's transit system], or in Afghanistan, or Iraq." Although these are not events that occurred during the time frame of the research, it goes on to show and serve as evidence that Pakistan came out a troubled nation. In addition to the involvement in terrorism, the citizens of the Muslim republic face poverty and are subject to a lot of instability in

One of such events that shook the world became the student protest on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, in 1989 which eventually