In the spring of 1989, more than a million Chinese citizens filled Tiananmen Square in Beijing to demand free speech and an end to government corruption.
The protests united students and workers in a call for change. “It was something we had never dreamed of,” said Rose Tang, who was a student leader in the demonstrations.
The movement grew to include hunger strikes and nationwide marches. But the Communist Party leadership refused to grant protesters’ demands, which included an end to press censorship and more funding for education. The Tiananmen demonstrations ended in a violent and deadly crackdown ordered by Deng Xiaoping.
The story of Tiananmen Square, told through the voices of Chinese students, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ambassador Winston Lord, raises important questions about the tensions between human rights and economic interests in foreign policy.
View transcript here.