![]() ![]() This segment of Assignment: China focuses on the stories of journalists who struggled to understand what was happening in Beijing that spring and to help Americans get a sense of the issues and forces at play. In December 1986, for example, two television crews were detained and had their videotape confiscated as they attempted to cover student demonstrations. Covering China remained (and remains) complicated and difficult. The American press corps in China had grown since the first journalists arrived with the establishment of diplomatic relations, but it was still relatively small compared to today. As the political center of China, most of the world’s attention was focused on the protests there. What followed was an extraordinary seven weeks where large numbers of Chinese in dozens of cities marched and demonstrated to express their grievances and to call for change. Chinese leaders were divided on how to handle the protests that ensued. When Hu Yaobang died on April 15, students seized on the opportunity to remember him and to criticize his successors. Unrest in Tibet boiled over in March, and Tibet Party Secretary Hu Jintao imposed martial law there. Inflation was high, more people had been charged with official corruption, and rumors abounded that the families of party-state leaders were unfairly cashing in on their connections. Deng Xiaoping and his fellow elders held Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang for having failed to effectively battle “bourgeois liberalization” among young Chinese and intellectuals and compelled his resignation, replacing him with Premier Zhao Ziyang.īy 1989, Zhao and Premier Li Peng had sought to cool China’s economy and impose an austerity program. Some joined protests, most notably in winter 1986-87 when protests erupted in 17 cities. Many expected that with economic development, China’s political system would change to permit them greater freedom and to hold officials more accountable to those they governed. Trade was increasing steadily, Americans were visiting China, and increasing numbers of Chinese were coming to the U.S., mostly on business or to study.Įconomic gains and greater openness in China led many, and especially university students, to increased awareness of the outside world and rising expectations for life in China. Two signs of how interested Americans were in China and how optimistic they had become about China’s future were that a) twice, for 1978 and for 1985, Time Magazine’s editors selected Deng Xiaoping as their “person of the year,” and b) the Gallup Organization survey of American “favorability” toward China in February-March 1989 found that 72% of Americans saw China in a favorable light, an increase from 64% in 1979. Deng’s policies of economic reform and opening to the outside world had invigorated China and won the admiration of many. by Deng Xiaoping, ties between the two countries had improved significantly. Since the restoration of formal diplomatic ties in 1979, which included a triumphant visit to the U.S. ![]() Video from some of those making presentations after the screenings is included. This video is also available on the USCI YouTube Channel.Ĭlick here to see a list of public screenings of Assignment: China - Tiananmen Square.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |