Rhetorical Trajectories of Tiananmen Square (original) (raw)
In April and May of 1989, the protest movement that began in Tiananmen Square, in the center of Beijing, became one of the most dramatic and defining episodes in the presidential administration of George H.W. Bush. Bush indicated that had he not kept the lines of communication open, it would have taken significantly longer for China-U.S. relations to heal. But understanding of the Tiananmen movement, and its diplomatic consequences, does not come easily. In the West, there is still a widespread incomprehension about why the Chinese government reacted the way it did and condemnation over the lengths it took to maintain its grasp on power. Moreover, in spite of the rapid economic gains of the almost two decades since the events, and the accompanying social and cultural changes that have radically altered so many aspects of Chinese society, the Tiananmen movement remains largely undiscussed in China. Younger generations of students across China know almost nothing of the events, beyond that a “counter-revolutionary group” sought to “overthrow the government.” This essay seeks to illustrate the vast gulf between rhetorical constructions of the event, and the impact of those constructions on subsequent foreign policy.
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