Beijing, as one of China's biggest metropolitan areas, has been a hub of government ideology and protest since the begginings of China's history, but particularly during and since Mao's regime. The Tiananmen Square "incident" or massacre, as it's known in the 

western press, was one of the most violent of the pro-democracy movements that have been taking place since Communist 

China's founding- Others include the May 4th movement. University students exposed to western ideas have been at the 

center of many of these movements, and were in the May 4th movement at the end of world war 1 protesting the Treaty

of Versailles grants of Chinese territories to Japan, and students were also at the center when the Tiananmen Square protests

turned deadly- with estimates of causulties from hundreds to thousands. 

 

 

 

 

"Tiananmen Square Incident | Chinese History." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://www.britannica.com/event/Tiananmen-Square-incident>.