Government Censorship

Many protesters were average school students but the Chinese military didn't show any mercy on them. Martial law was declared on May 20th and the massacre in the square lasted from June 3rd-June 4th. Troops, tanks, and more dangerous vehicles went into the crowd and killed about 10,000 people. There is no official death toll released by the government so this is only an estimate. Anything that could be related to this incident is taboo in the country so anything or anyone mentioning it is typically removed from the public's view. From 1989 to now, the Chinese government has barely changed for the good. The Tiananmen Square protesters fought for their freedom, rights, and democracy but they didn't receive any of those 3. This topic is important because many young people were killed by the military as a way to stop protests. Some people have began to forget or refuse to believe that the massacre even happened so we have to make sure that this event is marked in history.

Some examples of suppression for people are execution, isolation, imprisonment, and house arrest. Wei Jingsheng was a human rights activist who was sentenced to different prisons for 18 years in total. The reason for this is because he wrote about how bad the conditions in Qincheng Prison were and wrote about how Deng Xiaoping, the leader at the time, was similar to a dictator. The families of the people killed by the military can't even mourn their loved ones because of regulations. Some examples of suppression on the internet are not allowing specific words to be typed and blocking access to the media. You can't say or type the phrase "Winnie the Pooh" because the image of the cartoon is used to symbolize current President Xi Jinping. People in the U.S. just see this fictional character as a cute teddy bear from our childhood. Joking about the Soviet Union is also not allowed because it is considered the same as making fun of communism. Websites and apps like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat are completely banned. The government was and still is very harsh since they want to have all the control over their people. A rebellion in Mainland China would be the end of the communism way of life so a lot of effort is put in to maintain it.