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Cary Huang

No event in history has tarnished the image of the Chinese Communist Party and undermined the legitimacy of its rule as severely as the Tiananmen Square crackdown three decades ago.
And this is exactly why the best way for the party to boost recognition of its leadership and governance today would be to revisit the horrors of June 4, 1989.
It is an episode in China’s history that is too important – and too painful – to ignore or suppress, however much successive communist leaderships have tried to do so.
An official reassessment of what went on that day, aimed at establishing truth and justice, would help to heal the wound that has festered for so long.




The June 4, or the 1989 Democracy Movement, was a nationwide student-led and non-violent protest that ended with a bloody military crackdown on hunger strikers in Tiananmen Square.
No event like it has stirred such emotion from all walks of life, and no event like it has brought so much condemnation upon China from the international community.
This is why the government’s relentless efforts to keep this skeleton in its closet cannot stop it haunting the leadership.
Hu Yaobang: an icon of China’s reform – and of how little has changed
Decades have passed since that fateful day, yet it is not too late to make amends. The leadership of today could correct the mistakes of leaders past by reversing the party’s official verdict on the tragedy.
Indeed, doing so is more important now than ever. China urgently needs to undertake democratic reform and embrace a system based on rule of law so that – after decades of reforming its economy – the Chinese people can finally realise their dream of national rejuvenation. The communist state’s need to embark upon a democratic path is made only greater by rising international suspicions over its claim that it is aiming for a “peaceful rise”. The United States is already leading a global alliance that seems bent on isolating and containing China, which it sees as a rising authoritarian power that threatens world peace.




Beijing could learn from many protests throughout history that have striking parallels to June 4 and its bloody end but that have been turned into positives by the governments involved.
The 2/28 incident, which took place in Taipei in 1947 when the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) ordered a massacre against local protesters, is one such event. In 1995, the KMT recognised its mistake and took steps to redress the pain and injustice suffered by the victims and their families by designating a Peace Memorial Day. Having reassessed the tragedy, Taiwan has gone on to flourish as a democracy.
China has a lot to celebrate in 2019, but it also has old wounds to heal
The Gwangju Uprising in South Korea, sometimes called the May 18 Democratic Uprising, is another such incident. It took place in 1980 when pro-democracy Chonnam University students were fired upon, beaten and killed by government troops. Again, the country’s leadership recognised its error, and by 1997 a national cemetery and day of commemoration had been established.

Even in the history of mainland China and the Communist Party itself, there are examples that show the way. The party led numerous similar protests when it fought against the authoritarian rule of Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT government between 1921 and 1949 in the Chinese Civil War.
Zhao Ziyang, the party chief who was blamed for the 1989 movement and later ousted, appeared to acknowledge the need to recognise errors when he wrote about the June 4 incident in a letter to the party leadership in 1997.
Why China’s youth don’t talk about Tiananmen
“People won’t forget about it no matter how long we sit on this. It is better we solve this issue earlier and by our own initiative,” he wrote. “It is better we solve it when the country is stable and people are rational. [Reversing our position] will create a conducive environment for our country’s reform and opening up.”
There are important similarities, too, between June 4, 1989, and the May 4 Movement of 1919, when a student protest against China’s weak response to the Treaty of Versailles after the first world war snowballed into a nationwide cause. Both occasions were missions to achieve freedom and democracy and helped to define the nation.

Political reform has been stalled in China since 1989, but the June 4 spirit still reverberates today. For evidence of this, just look to the hundreds of thousand of Hongkongers who have attended the annual candlelight vigils in Victoria Park over the past 30 years. On Tuesday night’s 30th anniversary commemoration, a particularly large crowd can be expected.
How Hong Kong has kept the June 4 flame alive for 30 years
June 4 has become a litmus test for the direction of China’s political development. A truly confident leadership should have the political will and courage to face up to this most unfortunate episode of Chinese history. Only by bringing truth, fairness and justice to the victims of this tragedy can the party boost its legitimacy and improve its governance.
If China’s leaders are clever, they will salvage something good from what is tragic and use this opportunity to usher in a new era. ■
Cary Huang is a veteran China affairs columnist, having written on the topic since the early 1990s


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A man takes a picture with his mobile phone as people hold candles to commemorate China's 1989 Tiananmen Square events during a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on June 4, 2014. Up to 200,000 people were set to take part in a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on June 4 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, as China seeks to wipe the incident from memory. AFP PHOTO / Philippe Lopez

‚ÄúGuarding Mao‚Äù Beijing, China, June 5, 1989 One day after the bloody crackdown on protesters, soldiers with a tank stand guard in front of the Forbidden City and its portrait of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong. The area, opposite Tiananmen Square, was closed to the public, so Widener took this image while riding on a public bus. Photograph by Jeff Widener/Associated Press

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No event in history has done so much to tarnish the Communist Party. If it is to boost its legitimacy, it must revisit the horrors of June 4
In doing so, it can turn the event into a catalyst for a new era


No event in history has done so much to tarnish the Communist Party. But it is not too late to salvage something good from this stain on its history


Tiananmen Square crackdown 30th anniversary

China’s Communist Party

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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