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Tiananmen Square protests

Graphic of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s tech weapons roll in to quell demonstrations, identify protesters

Free speech

The latest demonstrations across China ended when the central government unleashed a digital arsenal that was less deadly than the tanks used to quell the 1989 protests, but just as effective. China managed to use the internet to defuse national outrage over President Xi Jinping’s strict COVID-19 policies without firing a single shot.

Demonstrators wearing masks hold their cell phones, with the flashlights on, over their heads as they are crowded together in a street

Tiananmen leader on Hong Kong protesters: ‘They are ready to burn together’

Hong Kong politics
A crowd of activists holds candles in Hong Kong at night.

Chinese students and workers are uniting again, 30 years after Tiananmen Square crackdown

Conflict & Justice
Protesters in Tiananmen Square hold up a sign that says absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in photos

Photography
Agnes Chow, 17, started going to protests in high school. She's been a fixture at Hong Kong demonstrations over nearly two weeks of pro-democracy protests.

Loved or loathed, Hong Kong’s new generation of student protest leaders pushes for change

Global Politics
Protesters stand on a bridge as they block the main street to the financial Central district outside of the government headquarters building in Hong Kong on September 30, 2014.

In central Hong Kong, the protest movement keeps growing

Global Politics

Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Revolution seems to only get bigger as the days go by. At the center of the protests, demonstrators say they’re not planning on leaving any time soon, even as their demands to Beijing remain unclear.

A protester walks in tear gas fired by riot policemen after thousands of protesters blocked the main street to the financial district outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014.

Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’ isn’t deterred by clashes with police

Conflict

Days after demonstrations began in the center of Hong Kong, tens of thousands of demonstrators are still in the streets despite the use of tear gas and pepper spray by the police. And, by all appearances, the pro-democracy protesters are settling in for the long haul.

A group of journalists supports the pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square, Beijing May 17, 1989.

The Tiananmen Square story was historic for the international news business — but it was also a fluke

Arts, Culture & Media

The protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 were a huge news story around the world. But part of the reason for that was a fluke of history. The foreign media was already in Beijing — at the invitation of the Chinese government.The protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 were a huge news story around the world. But part of the reason for that was a fluke of history. The foreign media was already in Beijing — at the invitation of the Chinese government.

The famous 'tank man', alone and unarmed, stands passively in front of a convoy of tanks on the Avenue of Eternal Peace in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. The iconic image is banned in China but has permeated popular and protest culture around the globe

For many Chinese born after the Tiananmen Square protests, 1989 is the year nothing happened

Global Politics

The Chinese government whitewashed the history of Tiananmen Square so effectively, a child born in Beijing didn’t even hear about it until she was 14.The Chinese government whitewashed the history of Tiananmen Square so effectively, a child born in Beijing didn’t even hear about it until she was 14.

Chinese police monitor a march by tens of thousands of protesters in the special economic zone of Shenzhen in southern China on May 22, 1989. Hundreds of people were killed in Beijing on June 4, 1989 when Chinese troops crushed demonstrations which called

25 years ago, there was dissent within the Chinese military about killing Tiananmen protesters

Conflict & Justice

25 years ago, China’s military crushed the demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. But there was some dissent within the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army about using force. 25 years ago, China’s military crushed the demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. But there was some dissent within the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army about using force.