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Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest
'I recall being woken by the sound of tanks moving down the Avenue of Eternal Peace. It was 5 o'clock on the morning of 4 June. Tanks, APCs and troop trucks were sweeping down the avenue. Citizens ran for cover. Helicopters hovered above. Foreign media claimed that Chinese troops had fired into the crowds with several hundred casualties.'
More than three decades later, the Tiananmen Square incident refuses to be forgotten. The events that occurred in the summer of 1989 would not only set the course for China's politics but would also re-define its relationship with the world. China's message was it remained committed to market-oriented reform, but it would not tolerate any challenge to the supremacy of the Chinese Communist Party. In return for economic prosperity, the Chinese have surrendered some rights to the state. A democratic future seems far away.
Vijay Gokhale, then a young diplomat serving in Beijing, was a witness to the drama that unfolded in Tiananmen Square. This unique account brings an Indian perspective on an event in China's history that the Chinese government has been eager to have the world forget.
More than three decades later, the Tiananmen Square incident refuses to be forgotten. The events that occurred in the summer of 1989 would not only set the course for China's politics but would also re-define its relationship with the world. China's message was it remained committed to market-oriented reform, but it would not tolerate any challenge to the supremacy of the Chinese Communist Party. In return for economic prosperity, the Chinese have surrendered some rights to the state. A democratic future seems far away.
Vijay Gokhale, then a young diplomat serving in Beijing, was a witness to the drama that unfolded in Tiananmen Square. This unique account brings an Indian perspective on an event in China's history that the Chinese government has been eager to have the world forget.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 7, 2021
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May 28, 2021
The mystery surrounding the tragic happenings on the 4th of June 1989 at Tiananmen Square is as lost to the world as are the cerulean skies to the environment of Beijing itself. While unverified conspiracy theories and unauthenticated ‘protagonist’ accounts abound, the actual facts are unfortunately shrouded in a cloak of anonymity. Every now and then there emerges a precious detritus of truth, which alas forms an insignificant trifle of an otherwise elusive and gigantic jigsaw puzzle. The reporting of the unfortunate events that occurred on the 4th of June, by the Indian media, has putting it mildly, ranged from the lukewarm to the invisible. Maybe the reporting was shaped by the necessities and contours of time itself. The 1980s were times when Sino-Indian relations were on a welcome mend. The shrewd and incisive Deng Xioping as the paramount leader of China, approached India with an avuncular overture by proposing that all border quandaries ought to be resolved through a ‘package deal’. Deng subsequently and effusively welcomed Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi when the latter visited China in December 1988 with the words, ‘I welcome you to China, my young friend.’
Now, more than three decades later, Mr. Vijay Gokhale , former Ambassador to China and an expert on Chinese affairs, provides a very nuanced perspective on the proceedings and procedures, that acted as pre-cursors to the calamitous episode that unraveled itself on the 4th of June. For all those who are looking for a ‘tell-all’ version of the catastrophe, this is certainly not the book. But for those interested in getting an invaluable and firsthand account of the intricacies, intransigence and inviolable precepts surrounding Chinese politics, Mr. Gokhale’s book is an indispensable primer. As Mr. Gokhale himself reveals, “I have always wanted to tell this story since I witnessed it thirty-one years ago in Beijing, but my circumstances prevented me from doing so until now.”
Beginning his book by stirringly charting the rise of the unrelenting, patient, and indefatigable Deng to the highest pinnacle of power in China, Gokhale, chronicles the intricate fabric of relationships threading Deng with some of the most powerful and eccentric characters forming the Chinese Communist Party and the Politburo at the time. Deng brought along with him a few of these people whom he considered to be his faithful allies if not uncomplaining acolytes. Hu Yaobang , one of the veterans of the ‘Long March ’ and an avowed Mao supporter was brought in as the General Secretary.
But for a providential intervention by a powerful local communist commander by the name of Tan Yubao, Hu would have been beheaded after being persecuted and removed from power following the death of Mao . Another Deng favourite whose fall from ignominy was even more spectacular than his rise was Zhao Ziyang , who was named the premier. Popularly referred to as a ‘reformist leader’, Zhao was instrumental in formulating many industrial and developmental policies on a national scale. He also established a series of sprawling Special Economic Zones in coastal provinces with an avowed objective of attracting foreign hubs.
As Mr. Gokhale informs his readers, small but apparent eddies of economic, social, and political discontents were brewing as early as 1985. The Government’s liberal spending on infrastructure had let to an Industrial overheating. Even though Mao’s collectivist farming policies were shown the door and agricultural policies were fine tuned to reflect market conditions, a boom in agricultural productivity failed to translate into industrial gains. Inflation had reared its double digit head. Hu and Zhao in the meantime had got themselves into an internecine tangle with the economic planners led by the veteran Chen Yun on the shape and structure of reforms. While the duo proposed an initiation of urban reforms in the form of price and wage reforms, contentious positions were taken within the party on the primacy of price and wage reforms as against enterprise reforms. Tiny frictions that threatened to end up in a major fracture began to mushroom within party lines.
Meanwhile powerful remnants of the Mao legacy such as Hu Qiaomu , who was in charge of the Party’s Propaganda Department and Deng Liqun , (known as ‘Little Deng’ to differentiate him from Deng Xiaoping,) leader of the Party’s Policy Research Office commenced an ‘anti-bourgeois liberalization’ campaign. This campaign had at its nub, the stifling of what was termed by the party apparatchiks as Western ‘spiritual pollution’. This ideological concoction represented every ilk of promotion of liberal ideas of any kind that would lead to the establishment of Western-style capitalist democracy and thereby usher in the ultimate destruction of the Chinese Communist Party.
The economic eddy found an unlikely handmaiden in the form of a social and intellectual vortex. A troika of ‘liberal intellectuals’ took on Deng and the party rooting for the promulgation of democratic and capitalist principles within the Chinese order. Prominent and the oldest of the trio was Wang Ruowang . Once jailed by Chiang Kai-Shek when he was all of sixteen, Wang 1986, authored a controversial essay titled, ‘One Party Dictatorship Can Only Lead to Tyranny’, which mooted for public discussion between the citizens and their leaders. The second component of the discomfiture inducing band was Liu Binyan . Liu was banished to a labour camp during the infamous Cultural Revolution as he was labelled a “rightist.” He came out of the shadows as a writer for the People’s Daily. In 1985 his article, ‘A Second Kind of Loyalty’, elucidated that cadres should rely on their own conscience and not on the diktat of the Party. Enough to more than just rankle the astute Deng. The unlikeliest member of the trio was an astrophysicist, Fang Lizhi . Also banished by the Party and relegated to the coal mines during the Cultural Revolution , Fang was a very vocal and vociferous proponent of his ideas. On the 15th of December 1986, Fang announced himself in the most inauspicious of all possible ways by giving an interview to the Beijing Review. He boldly but injudiciously opined that the process of modernization in China was ‘bound to involve a change in the concept of who leads in the political and economic fields’, and that ‘it was necessary to create ‘an atmosphere of democracy and freedom in the university … there can be no doctrine that can hold a leading or guiding position in an a priori way’. As expected, all three of them were swiftly and surely expelled from the Party.
Meanwhile, within the hallowed portals and secret bowels of the Party, a political undercurrent was simmering that threatened to erupt into an uncontained disaster if left unheeded. Once protégé of Deng, Hu had begun to assert a need for undertaking a process of ‘political reform’. Nothing could be more blasphemous than even lending freedom to such thoughts. Deng, using all his tact and diplomacy, tried to limit the ambitions and aspirations of Hu. But it was to no avail. Hu even had gone to the extent of demanding a thoughtful and civil deliberation on a phrase, ‘bourgeois liberalization’ that had squirmed and squiggled its way into the draft of a policy document titled ‘the ‘Resolution on Building a Socialist Spiritual Civilization’. Hu’s continued presence and positions were beginning to have deleterious impacts on the Party. Deng decided that enough was enough and Hu was sacked as the general secretary and long term loyalist Jiang Zemin installed in his place.
On the 15th of April 1989, Hu Yaobao died following complications stemming from a cardiac arrest. At his memorial service his widow gave an incendiary speech, on foisted the blame of Hu's death on how harshly the party treated him, telling Deng Xiaoping "It's all because of you people." This indirectly led to the third and most fateful swirl of them all, the student protests. As Mr. Gokhale informs his readers, tens and thousands of students thronged the Tiananmen Square by the 18th of April 1989. The atmosphere began to take on a restive hue since the students in addition to paying obeisance to Hu also began making demands of the Government. They primarily wanted the Party to acquiesce on four uncompromising demands: greater education and job opportunities; the elimination of benefits to the children of cadres; greater responsiveness to the citizens’ needs by the government; and some personal freedoms. There was an electric buzz to the atmosphere which prompted ABC News’ Todd Carrel to exclaim that ‘if history is a guide, they will crack down soon’ with reference to the Chinese law enforcement agencies.
The students themselves as Mr. Gokhale brilliantly illustrates were a divided and abrasive lot. Unbeknownst to the vast teeming and throbbing crowd, the self-proclaimed student leaders had hidden agendas of their own. Wu’er Kaixi , a Uighur by ethnicity and a student at the Beijing Normal University was a showman par excellence who was given to a vacillating sense of duty. Surreptitiously eating on the sly during hunger strikes he was an expert at grandstanding and a natural before the media. Employing a bullhorn he impudently demanded that Premier Li Peng personally come out of the Great Hall of the People to receive a petition from the students.
Yet another prominent student leader was Chai Ling . A graduate student at Beijing Normal University, Chai proposed a hunger strike on the evening of 11 May. This was in spite of the fact that the Beijing Students’ Autonomous Federation had resolved against a hunger strike. The crevices amongst the students and their demands and ideologies were slowly beginning to widen and form a chasm. And all this drama was unfurling, in a singularly embarrassing manner for Deng, on the eve of an extremely important visit by then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev . As Mr. Gokhale reveals, “nothing describes the sense of helplessness better than the words spoken by Mikhail Gorbachev to Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister of India, two months later. Speaking of his meeting with Deng, Gorbachev told Gandhi, ‘At one of the moments of the main conversation with Deng Xiaoping, a group of students nearly got into the building. There were slogans like “Gorbachev, you are talking to the wrong man”, and “58–85, a hint about my age and Deng Xiaoping’s age”.”
The tinder box was finally lit when Deng issued a strong statement in the newspapers about a group of unruly and intemperate students creating ‘turmoil’ and threatening to disrupt the stability of a nation. Zhao also signed his own political demise by resorting to making impertinent statements and slyly attributing all the incendiary comments hurled at the students, at the doorstep of Deng. What exactly happened on the 4th of June, is not recounted by Mr. Gokhale in detail. However, he provides a fascinating insight on the hypocrisy of the Western media as they went about indulging in brazen speculation and rumour mongering thereby making an absolute and capital mockery of journalistic ethics. A bunch of Australia diplomats claimed that the students had told them of having received “assurances from PLA units in the capital, that these units would prevent fresh PLA units from assaulting the square, and that some of the units from the Beijing Military Region were in revolt.” This was despite the fact that the People’s Daily had reported that all seven military regions, including Beijing, had pledged loyalty to the Party.
Mr. Gokhale ends his book with a very telling chapter that introspects on the naivete of the Western World in its understanding of China, and its inadvertent role in making a behemoth out of an unassuming but ambitious nation. “The Chinese approached their relations with the West with open eyes. Outwardly they courted and feted the West. Inwardly, they concluded that the US represented an existential threat and resolved to tackle it. They are convinced that it is the ultimate aim of the Americans – to subvert the Communist Party of China by introducing ideas about Western capitalism and democracy into China, until it erodes the ideological foundation of the regime. They know it as a ‘peaceful evolution’, first articulated by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in the 1950s. They completely distrust the Americans and are now in a position to challenge them in many areas.”
Now, more than three decades later, Mr. Vijay Gokhale , former Ambassador to China and an expert on Chinese affairs, provides a very nuanced perspective on the proceedings and procedures, that acted as pre-cursors to the calamitous episode that unraveled itself on the 4th of June. For all those who are looking for a ‘tell-all’ version of the catastrophe, this is certainly not the book. But for those interested in getting an invaluable and firsthand account of the intricacies, intransigence and inviolable precepts surrounding Chinese politics, Mr. Gokhale’s book is an indispensable primer. As Mr. Gokhale himself reveals, “I have always wanted to tell this story since I witnessed it thirty-one years ago in Beijing, but my circumstances prevented me from doing so until now.”
Beginning his book by stirringly charting the rise of the unrelenting, patient, and indefatigable Deng to the highest pinnacle of power in China, Gokhale, chronicles the intricate fabric of relationships threading Deng with some of the most powerful and eccentric characters forming the Chinese Communist Party and the Politburo at the time. Deng brought along with him a few of these people whom he considered to be his faithful allies if not uncomplaining acolytes. Hu Yaobang , one of the veterans of the ‘Long March ’ and an avowed Mao supporter was brought in as the General Secretary.
But for a providential intervention by a powerful local communist commander by the name of Tan Yubao, Hu would have been beheaded after being persecuted and removed from power following the death of Mao . Another Deng favourite whose fall from ignominy was even more spectacular than his rise was Zhao Ziyang , who was named the premier. Popularly referred to as a ‘reformist leader’, Zhao was instrumental in formulating many industrial and developmental policies on a national scale. He also established a series of sprawling Special Economic Zones in coastal provinces with an avowed objective of attracting foreign hubs.
As Mr. Gokhale informs his readers, small but apparent eddies of economic, social, and political discontents were brewing as early as 1985. The Government’s liberal spending on infrastructure had let to an Industrial overheating. Even though Mao’s collectivist farming policies were shown the door and agricultural policies were fine tuned to reflect market conditions, a boom in agricultural productivity failed to translate into industrial gains. Inflation had reared its double digit head. Hu and Zhao in the meantime had got themselves into an internecine tangle with the economic planners led by the veteran Chen Yun on the shape and structure of reforms. While the duo proposed an initiation of urban reforms in the form of price and wage reforms, contentious positions were taken within the party on the primacy of price and wage reforms as against enterprise reforms. Tiny frictions that threatened to end up in a major fracture began to mushroom within party lines.
Meanwhile powerful remnants of the Mao legacy such as Hu Qiaomu , who was in charge of the Party’s Propaganda Department and Deng Liqun , (known as ‘Little Deng’ to differentiate him from Deng Xiaoping,) leader of the Party’s Policy Research Office commenced an ‘anti-bourgeois liberalization’ campaign. This campaign had at its nub, the stifling of what was termed by the party apparatchiks as Western ‘spiritual pollution’. This ideological concoction represented every ilk of promotion of liberal ideas of any kind that would lead to the establishment of Western-style capitalist democracy and thereby usher in the ultimate destruction of the Chinese Communist Party.
The economic eddy found an unlikely handmaiden in the form of a social and intellectual vortex. A troika of ‘liberal intellectuals’ took on Deng and the party rooting for the promulgation of democratic and capitalist principles within the Chinese order. Prominent and the oldest of the trio was Wang Ruowang . Once jailed by Chiang Kai-Shek when he was all of sixteen, Wang 1986, authored a controversial essay titled, ‘One Party Dictatorship Can Only Lead to Tyranny’, which mooted for public discussion between the citizens and their leaders. The second component of the discomfiture inducing band was Liu Binyan . Liu was banished to a labour camp during the infamous Cultural Revolution as he was labelled a “rightist.” He came out of the shadows as a writer for the People’s Daily. In 1985 his article, ‘A Second Kind of Loyalty’, elucidated that cadres should rely on their own conscience and not on the diktat of the Party. Enough to more than just rankle the astute Deng. The unlikeliest member of the trio was an astrophysicist, Fang Lizhi . Also banished by the Party and relegated to the coal mines during the Cultural Revolution , Fang was a very vocal and vociferous proponent of his ideas. On the 15th of December 1986, Fang announced himself in the most inauspicious of all possible ways by giving an interview to the Beijing Review. He boldly but injudiciously opined that the process of modernization in China was ‘bound to involve a change in the concept of who leads in the political and economic fields’, and that ‘it was necessary to create ‘an atmosphere of democracy and freedom in the university … there can be no doctrine that can hold a leading or guiding position in an a priori way’. As expected, all three of them were swiftly and surely expelled from the Party.
Meanwhile, within the hallowed portals and secret bowels of the Party, a political undercurrent was simmering that threatened to erupt into an uncontained disaster if left unheeded. Once protégé of Deng, Hu had begun to assert a need for undertaking a process of ‘political reform’. Nothing could be more blasphemous than even lending freedom to such thoughts. Deng, using all his tact and diplomacy, tried to limit the ambitions and aspirations of Hu. But it was to no avail. Hu even had gone to the extent of demanding a thoughtful and civil deliberation on a phrase, ‘bourgeois liberalization’ that had squirmed and squiggled its way into the draft of a policy document titled ‘the ‘Resolution on Building a Socialist Spiritual Civilization’. Hu’s continued presence and positions were beginning to have deleterious impacts on the Party. Deng decided that enough was enough and Hu was sacked as the general secretary and long term loyalist Jiang Zemin installed in his place.
On the 15th of April 1989, Hu Yaobao died following complications stemming from a cardiac arrest. At his memorial service his widow gave an incendiary speech, on foisted the blame of Hu's death on how harshly the party treated him, telling Deng Xiaoping "It's all because of you people." This indirectly led to the third and most fateful swirl of them all, the student protests. As Mr. Gokhale informs his readers, tens and thousands of students thronged the Tiananmen Square by the 18th of April 1989. The atmosphere began to take on a restive hue since the students in addition to paying obeisance to Hu also began making demands of the Government. They primarily wanted the Party to acquiesce on four uncompromising demands: greater education and job opportunities; the elimination of benefits to the children of cadres; greater responsiveness to the citizens’ needs by the government; and some personal freedoms. There was an electric buzz to the atmosphere which prompted ABC News’ Todd Carrel to exclaim that ‘if history is a guide, they will crack down soon’ with reference to the Chinese law enforcement agencies.
The students themselves as Mr. Gokhale brilliantly illustrates were a divided and abrasive lot. Unbeknownst to the vast teeming and throbbing crowd, the self-proclaimed student leaders had hidden agendas of their own. Wu’er Kaixi , a Uighur by ethnicity and a student at the Beijing Normal University was a showman par excellence who was given to a vacillating sense of duty. Surreptitiously eating on the sly during hunger strikes he was an expert at grandstanding and a natural before the media. Employing a bullhorn he impudently demanded that Premier Li Peng personally come out of the Great Hall of the People to receive a petition from the students.
Yet another prominent student leader was Chai Ling . A graduate student at Beijing Normal University, Chai proposed a hunger strike on the evening of 11 May. This was in spite of the fact that the Beijing Students’ Autonomous Federation had resolved against a hunger strike. The crevices amongst the students and their demands and ideologies were slowly beginning to widen and form a chasm. And all this drama was unfurling, in a singularly embarrassing manner for Deng, on the eve of an extremely important visit by then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev . As Mr. Gokhale reveals, “nothing describes the sense of helplessness better than the words spoken by Mikhail Gorbachev to Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister of India, two months later. Speaking of his meeting with Deng, Gorbachev told Gandhi, ‘At one of the moments of the main conversation with Deng Xiaoping, a group of students nearly got into the building. There were slogans like “Gorbachev, you are talking to the wrong man”, and “58–85, a hint about my age and Deng Xiaoping’s age”.”
The tinder box was finally lit when Deng issued a strong statement in the newspapers about a group of unruly and intemperate students creating ‘turmoil’ and threatening to disrupt the stability of a nation. Zhao also signed his own political demise by resorting to making impertinent statements and slyly attributing all the incendiary comments hurled at the students, at the doorstep of Deng. What exactly happened on the 4th of June, is not recounted by Mr. Gokhale in detail. However, he provides a fascinating insight on the hypocrisy of the Western media as they went about indulging in brazen speculation and rumour mongering thereby making an absolute and capital mockery of journalistic ethics. A bunch of Australia diplomats claimed that the students had told them of having received “assurances from PLA units in the capital, that these units would prevent fresh PLA units from assaulting the square, and that some of the units from the Beijing Military Region were in revolt.” This was despite the fact that the People’s Daily had reported that all seven military regions, including Beijing, had pledged loyalty to the Party.
Mr. Gokhale ends his book with a very telling chapter that introspects on the naivete of the Western World in its understanding of China, and its inadvertent role in making a behemoth out of an unassuming but ambitious nation. “The Chinese approached their relations with the West with open eyes. Outwardly they courted and feted the West. Inwardly, they concluded that the US represented an existential threat and resolved to tackle it. They are convinced that it is the ultimate aim of the Americans – to subvert the Communist Party of China by introducing ideas about Western capitalism and democracy into China, until it erodes the ideological foundation of the regime. They know it as a ‘peaceful evolution’, first articulated by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in the 1950s. They completely distrust the Americans and are now in a position to challenge them in many areas.”
June 26, 2021
A quick and excellent read. Vijay Gokhale, former Foreign Secretary and Indian Ambassador to China recalls the incidents that lead to the Tiananmen Square incident. Gokhale was a resident diplomat at India's embassy in Beijing, with a bird's-eye view of the square.
The book provides an excellent primer on the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) internal power struggles in the aftermath of the cultural revolution. All the characters are set forth pretty well. We can appreciate how a small student group's request to meet party leaders briefly transformed into a popular movement (that only lasted a few days).
The Western media's biases and tunnel vision are also vividly described. How the free world's media portrayed exactly what they wanted the people to see, which was rarely the truth. The exaggerated death toll and the questionable democratic credentials of the student leaders are described pretty well.
To prevent any threat to me, let me say the golden words: China is prospering under the able guidance of Xi.
The book provides an excellent primer on the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) internal power struggles in the aftermath of the cultural revolution. All the characters are set forth pretty well. We can appreciate how a small student group's request to meet party leaders briefly transformed into a popular movement (that only lasted a few days).
The Western media's biases and tunnel vision are also vividly described. How the free world's media portrayed exactly what they wanted the people to see, which was rarely the truth. The exaggerated death toll and the questionable democratic credentials of the student leaders are described pretty well.
To prevent any threat to me, let me say the golden words: China is prospering under the able guidance of Xi.
February 1, 2024
Upon selecting Tiananmen Square by Vijay Gokhale, my limited knowledge of the incident expanded, revealing its broader implications for China's historical trajectory and geopolitics. The book explores the 1989 pro-democracy protests led by students in Beijing, demanding political reform, freedom of speech, and an end to corruption.
The subsequent government lockdown on June 4, 1989, marked a tragic turning point, shaping China's political landscape.
Vijay Gokhale adeptly details the aftermath, exposing government control, censorship, and the delicate balance between economic growth and political liberalization. While the book scrutinizes Western media's portrayal and the CCP's strategic international maneuvers, the authors' writing lacks a captivating narrative for a broader audience. Despite this, the book contributes significantly to understanding modern Chinese history.
Read the detailed review here - Books Chharming
The subsequent government lockdown on June 4, 1989, marked a tragic turning point, shaping China's political landscape.
Vijay Gokhale adeptly details the aftermath, exposing government control, censorship, and the delicate balance between economic growth and political liberalization. While the book scrutinizes Western media's portrayal and the CCP's strategic international maneuvers, the authors' writing lacks a captivating narrative for a broader audience. Despite this, the book contributes significantly to understanding modern Chinese history.
Read the detailed review here - Books Chharming
June 6, 2021
The West, a colloquialism that clumps disparate geographies of North America, Western Europe and paradoxically the islands of New Zealand and Australia, has assumed for itself a role of being arbiter of what is true and what is not. Simultaneously, the propaganda arm of the West ie the so-called liberal and mainstream media extols the favourite tropes of the West ie human rights violations and the spread of democracy. So blind are these outlets to their own governments' pretensions and tokenisms to the same, that they conveniently go along with whatever sells, forgetting the complicity of the West in exacerbating and in many places creating conditions for the very evils that they try to place the blame on the so-called Third World. If ever an accusatory finger is found that points to the West, it is explained away as realpolitik.
Now that the context is laid out, it is time to start with what the book is about and what it aims to accomplish. Written by the ex Foreign Secretary of India, Ambassador Vijay Gokhale, this book recounts the buildup to and the underlying factors responsible for the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. Without going into the sundry details, I will talk about the book itself.
It is a first hand account, as the author was himself present at the time of the incident and provides both a bird's eye and a close up view of the complexities of Chinese politics and the conversations within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Viewed as a monolith, this account demolishes the so-called unity of CCP and lays bare the leadership struggles, dissensions and power projections within the Party. I would have given the book 5 stars but for the dry style of writing that plagues it for the first 40 pages. For a book that is 140 pages long (or short), that is placing way too much confidence on the patience of a post Web 2.0 reader.
Major points worth listing here, and the reason for a very MAGAfied first paragraph is that the Tiananmen Square incident was not what it is made out to be, the advantages of adding context and culture to something in retrospect. It was not and never meant to be a 'pro-democracy' movement. It was a Student's movement which had already fizzled out before the first tanks rolled in. The protests were just a pawn's move in the power struggle within the CCP and the shape China would take in the future. It was finally also a clash between two alternate POVs of economic and political reforms, the end game of which was a decision taken by the CCP leadership as a whole that political reforms, as alluded to by the West in forms of a liberal democracy, will never be entertained by the Chinese one-party state.
What is interesting about the book, whose readability gains strength like a snowball with the turning of each page, is its total negation of the Western version of the events. The protests did not result in thousands of deaths and casualties as reported by the press. Mr Gokhale very cogently explains the reasons behind the West's presumption about the nature of the protests in the mistaken assumption that the Chinese mirrored or hoped to mirror the Western society. He also provides excellent context for Deng Xiaoping's "bide your time" aphorism to the Chinese, and reflects on how self-fulfilling prophecies sometime come true, to the detriment of the entire Western led liberal order. On an ending note, he dispels the notion of an unbiased global media and the hypocrisy of the Western governments that always catered to their mercantilist instincts over any disabused notions of human rights.
Mr Gokhale's warnings about China's one-party state system also concern its adversaries looking for a chink in the Chinese armour. He has laid two priorities and pillars for the CCP's existence and hold over power which is economy and claim as vanguard of Chinese nationalism. Lessons can be learned from him.
Now that the context is laid out, it is time to start with what the book is about and what it aims to accomplish. Written by the ex Foreign Secretary of India, Ambassador Vijay Gokhale, this book recounts the buildup to and the underlying factors responsible for the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. Without going into the sundry details, I will talk about the book itself.
It is a first hand account, as the author was himself present at the time of the incident and provides both a bird's eye and a close up view of the complexities of Chinese politics and the conversations within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Viewed as a monolith, this account demolishes the so-called unity of CCP and lays bare the leadership struggles, dissensions and power projections within the Party. I would have given the book 5 stars but for the dry style of writing that plagues it for the first 40 pages. For a book that is 140 pages long (or short), that is placing way too much confidence on the patience of a post Web 2.0 reader.
Major points worth listing here, and the reason for a very MAGAfied first paragraph is that the Tiananmen Square incident was not what it is made out to be, the advantages of adding context and culture to something in retrospect. It was not and never meant to be a 'pro-democracy' movement. It was a Student's movement which had already fizzled out before the first tanks rolled in. The protests were just a pawn's move in the power struggle within the CCP and the shape China would take in the future. It was finally also a clash between two alternate POVs of economic and political reforms, the end game of which was a decision taken by the CCP leadership as a whole that political reforms, as alluded to by the West in forms of a liberal democracy, will never be entertained by the Chinese one-party state.
What is interesting about the book, whose readability gains strength like a snowball with the turning of each page, is its total negation of the Western version of the events. The protests did not result in thousands of deaths and casualties as reported by the press. Mr Gokhale very cogently explains the reasons behind the West's presumption about the nature of the protests in the mistaken assumption that the Chinese mirrored or hoped to mirror the Western society. He also provides excellent context for Deng Xiaoping's "bide your time" aphorism to the Chinese, and reflects on how self-fulfilling prophecies sometime come true, to the detriment of the entire Western led liberal order. On an ending note, he dispels the notion of an unbiased global media and the hypocrisy of the Western governments that always catered to their mercantilist instincts over any disabused notions of human rights.
Mr Gokhale's warnings about China's one-party state system also concern its adversaries looking for a chink in the Chinese armour. He has laid two priorities and pillars for the CCP's existence and hold over power which is economy and claim as vanguard of Chinese nationalism. Lessons can be learned from him.
July 10, 2022
A proper understanding of the nature of the Chinese state is critical as china becomes a superpower. The 1989 Tiananmen Square incident by offering a glimpse into the nature of Chinese politics under the Communist Party of China, adds to the knowledge about an institution that reveals little about itself even as it aspires to become the global hegemony by 2024.
A great book by #VijayGokhale titled "TIANANMEN SQUARE THE MAKING OF PROTEST A DIPLOMAT LOOKS BACK"
Explains how the incident of Tiananmen Square open the gateways to the reforms that happened in CPC Politically and Economically in China that helped it to be World Super Power by the next 10-15 years (or) already it had been the superpower.
A great book by #VijayGokhale titled "TIANANMEN SQUARE THE MAKING OF PROTEST A DIPLOMAT LOOKS BACK"
Explains how the incident of Tiananmen Square open the gateways to the reforms that happened in CPC Politically and Economically in China that helped it to be World Super Power by the next 10-15 years (or) already it had been the superpower.
June 25, 2021
Excellent account of the controversial chapter in Chinese modern history.
September 20, 2022
A hasty, shallow book on the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989 in China. Like a true diplomat, the author’s focus was on internal paper-pushing and the utterances of the Chinese politicians rather than the larger picture or the enduring aftermath. #FacePalm
This is one of the most important events of the late 20th century and but for the enigma surrounding it, and the scarce material available - this book would have been 2/5
This is one of the most important events of the late 20th century and but for the enigma surrounding it, and the scarce material available - this book would have been 2/5
August 11, 2021
Book: Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest
Author: Vijay Gokhale
Publisher: HarperCollins India (7 May 2021)
Language: English
Paperback: 176 pages
Item Weight: 180 g
Dimensions: 20 x 14 x 4 cm
Country of Origin: India
Price: 274/-
“The Tiananmen Square Incident of 4 June marked the conclusion of a decade of political and economic experimentation by the communists. Deng and the Party elders worked out a new modus vivendi. First, economic reform and opening up must proceed unhindered and without reversal. Second, political reform was not open for discussion. The highest principle of politics would be the perpetuation of the Party’s control on power. A new political arrangement was intended to give effect to this principle.” --
The author acknowledges at the very onset of this book that there was a succinct revival of interest in the premature years of the 2000s, when tapes recorded by the former general secretary Zhao Ziyang found their way to Hong Kong. It was his version of the truth, and was intended to prove his innocence.
In the fifty days that the drama played out in Tiananmen Square, there was no solemn effort by the Indian media to cover the happenings.
Two courageous young media persons from India Today – Shekhar Gupta and Prashant Panjiar – were the only people to cover the events in Beijing.
The larger story has remained untold from the Indian perspective.
This is a story that needs narration as China is our neighbour and our people need a much deeper comprehension of China than is currently the case.
Gokhale has divided his book into ten chapters, alongwith a Prologue and Epilogue. The sections are:
1. The Principal Player
2. The Remaining Cast
3. Storm Clouds on the Horizon
4. Strong Winds
5. The Lull
6. The Spark
7. Conflagration
8. The Blaze
9. Dousing the Flames
10. Doubling Down
In that one year, 1989, the governing system known as ‘Communism’ was dealt a near-mortal blow. That year, Communist governments across Eastern Europe, which had ruled since the post–World War II years of the late 1940s, buckled individually, with the fall of the Berlin Wall the greatest representation of those events.
Even the Soviet Union, the first major Communist power and a nation whose military capacity had propped up communism in Eastern Europe since World War II, had calls for reform in 1989. Communist leaders there also witnessed the first stirrings of the dissolution of the Soviet empire, a process that was complete by 1991.
The People’s Republic of China, the world’s second largest Communist power, was also agitated by calls for the sorts of democratic reforms arising elsewhere in 1989. But these calls, made recurrently by university students during April, May, and June of that year in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, were uncompromisingly silenced by China’s government.
The students’ protests, which had been reinforced by tens of thousands of ordinary citizens, ended with a crackdown involving China’s People’s Liberation Army.
The toll of those who died or were wounded in the crackdown, and the number of those arrested afterward, is still unknown. Unlike the Soviet Union or its Eastern European satellite states, China remained a one-party Communist dictatorship.
Before 1989, modern China had gone through other periods when there were wide calls for Western-style reforms. Long before the Communist takeover, back in 1919, large numbers of university students staged what was to be called the May Fourth Movement, advocating strong nationalism and greater social equality.
In the 1950s, China’s new Communist leadership opened the country to assorted ideas on social, cultural, and economic issues in the Hundred Flowers Movement. Leaders believed that China would thrive if they encouraged a “hundred flowers to bloom,” meaning ‘a wide variety of viewpoints to be put forward and tested’.
While the May 4th Movement enjoyed modest success and created small traditions of national unity and student protest, the Hundred Flowers Movement was deemed a failure.
Mao disapproved of the criticisms of his government that appeared and engaged in a crackdown targeting thousands of people.
Students began a new wave of activism in the 1980s, demanding greater political openness to accompany the economic freedom then promising to enrich China.
Many of them believed that, of necessity, political and economic freedom went hand in hand, as this had been the experience of Western nations since the late 1700s.
Their first large-scale demonstrations took place in 1986 and 1987. Students complained about government’s strict controls of even small aspects of their daily lives, voiced concerns about corruption at high levels, and argued that the People’s Republic’s elaborate bureaucracy stood in the way of democratic reforms.
Gokhale perceptively surveys about Hu Yaobang.
Yaobang, a top official who was sympathetic to calls for reform, was forced to step down from his post as general secretary of the Communist Party of China and, in effect, to take the blame for these protests. Hu Yaobang died on April 15, 1989, and state officials planned for a funeral in his tribute for April 22.
University students in China’s capital of Beijing, whose hopes for reform had received support in recent months by the writings of such dissident leaders as Fang Lizhi and Wang Dan as well as the stirrings of reform in Communist Eastern Europe, almost impulsively began to use Hu’s death as the occasion for new demonstrations.
The first took place on April 15, when a diminutive group of students gathered at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square. By April 22, some 100,000 students had joined the protests and similar movements had arisen in other Chinese cities.
The Tiananmen Square protests lasted for seven weeks and received prevalent attention around the world. Although the protesters had little in the way of a specific program of reforms to advocate, their youth and apparent willingness to sacrifice garnered a great deal of sympathy.
Indeed, at two key points protest leaders like Chai Ling and Wu’er Kaixi took memorable steps to try to maintain the momentum of the demonstrations. One, beginning on May 13, was a hunger strike eventually involving up to one thousand people.
Another, on May 30, was the unveiling in Tiananmen Square of a 33-foottall statue greatly resembling the Statue of Liberty. Made by Beijing art students, the protesters called the statue a “Goddess of Democracy.”
Meanwhile, Chinese leadership, mostly composed of men in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, proved mostly unwilling to negotiate with the protesters, with the one exception being Zhao Ziyang, general secretary of the Communist Party of China.
On May 20, Deng Xiaoping had declared martial law and sent units of the People’s Liberation Army into Beijing to maintain control. Dissent within the Communist Party’s ruling politburo, or policy-making committee, delayed direct action on the army’s part, but eventually Zhao Ziyang was ousted and the decision made to use military force to disperse the protesters.
The emptying of Tiananmen Square began late in the evening of June 3 and lasted until the dawn hours of June 4. Some students were killed or wounded, but most of them, after tense negotiations, agreed to leave the square.
The greatest number of victims of the crackdown was apparently non-students, ordinary Chinese people who engaged in their own protests, angry at their government for being so ready to use overwhelming force against students. Among them may well have been the “Tank Man” of June 5. His specific identity, as well as his ultimate fate, remains unknown.
He may still live freely, or he may have been one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese people killed or imprisoned in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests.
While the movement earned support for its schema and sympathy abroad through wide international media coverage, the most potent challenge to the legitimacy and authority of the Communist Party since Mao Tsetung’s 1949 victory against the Nationalists was crushed at Tiananmen Square by military force on 3 and 4 June 1989, seven weeks after it had begun. Hundreds of protesters and bystanders were presumed dead, thousands wounded and imprisoned.
From documents smuggled out of China and published in the United States, it appears that factional struggles among China’s leaders and the fear of international shame delayed military action.
Gokhale points out instances of media-blackout, staing that the Chinese state, which had been closely monitoring the foreign media and embassies that were regularly visiting the square, now decided to cut access to ground zero. Strict orders were issued prohibiting any foreigner from participating in or even reporting on anti-government activities.
TV broadcasts became more difficult for the foreign media, though the Western print media still braved the martial law and continued to go to the square and talk to student leaders. From some of them, men such as Gokhale gathered that on the ground the situation remained parlous and government orders were initially not implemented.
In the tenth chapter of the book, entitled ‘Doubling Down’, the author writes: ‘The Tiananmen Square incident marked the end of a decade of political and economic experimentation by the communists.’
In 1979, with China staggering from the catastrophe of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and facing an unsure political future, revitalization seemed complicated. Yet the Chinese Communist Party had proved competent in reinventing itself in 1949 when a rebel army transformed itself into a government, and it would prove so again under Deng’s leadership.
The economic restructuring that took place between 1980 and 1988 laid down the bases for the renovation of the Chinese economy into what was expected to become the world’s largest economy by 2030. Politically, too, Deng was able to initiate complete reform that alleviated the leadership and minimized the risk of China reverting to a neo-Maoist state, even though the fall of Zhao Ziyang in May 1989 was Deng’s second failed attempt at ensuring a logical succession.
In the Epilogue to the book, the author makes the following remarks which put matters in perspective fairly radiantly:
1) China has undergone numerous changes on the surface. Its GDP has grown from less than US $500 billion in 1990 to US $14 trillion in 2019, and its people have become affluent. The Benz has replaced the Hong Qi automobile, milk products like ice cream and yoghurt are consumed with zeal by a people who thirty years ago hardly drank milk. The Western suit is the preferred attire.
2) The Party still rules in China, and it is still helmed by the Red Aristocracy. It still places the Party before the nation. It still commands the unconditional loyalty of the armed forces. As it celebrates the centenary of its founding in 2021, it remains determined to make China in its own image.
3) The students and youth have never again tried to protest. They may not have reason to. In the past three decades, China has thrived and conditions have considerably improved in universities. Jobs and opulence have been delivered to the people. In return, they have surrendered many of their rights to the state.
4) There are still those who dream of a democratic China, but most of them emigrate to the West and are immaterial to most Chinese. There is no sign yet that the majority of the people want to exchange their present for a democratic future.
The author remarks wryly: ‘As far as the foreign media is concerned, the self-styled guardians of democracy and human rights in the world, to be a correspondent in China after 1990 was tantamount to a one-way ticket to success and glory. It was well known in media circles that it was preferable to cohabit with the Chinese foreign ministry if they wanted access to news.’
The story that the author narrates throughout this fast-paced book, is intended to deduce the facts, to some of which he was bystander, with the advantage of hindsight.
While three decades have have passed, Tiananmen still remains an occurrence of decisive significance in recent Chinese history. China has changed, yet the communist system remains. Personalities have come and gone, but the Red Aristocracy still rules China and stays focussed on ‘preservation instinct’ and self-perpetuation.
Indians can no longer afford to have a shallow understanding of events involving their largest neighbour and to-be-hegemon, other than at their own hazard.
And today when China has unleashed its worldwide curse of Covid-19 in all its shimmy and paraphernalia, I was having an almost ‘out of body’ experience while reading this book.
As if the entire south Asian landmass in particular and the global community in general is China’s Tiananmen Square.
Brisk and blunt, it was a good read.
Author: Vijay Gokhale
Publisher: HarperCollins India (7 May 2021)
Language: English
Paperback: 176 pages
Item Weight: 180 g
Dimensions: 20 x 14 x 4 cm
Country of Origin: India
Price: 274/-
“The Tiananmen Square Incident of 4 June marked the conclusion of a decade of political and economic experimentation by the communists. Deng and the Party elders worked out a new modus vivendi. First, economic reform and opening up must proceed unhindered and without reversal. Second, political reform was not open for discussion. The highest principle of politics would be the perpetuation of the Party’s control on power. A new political arrangement was intended to give effect to this principle.” --
The author acknowledges at the very onset of this book that there was a succinct revival of interest in the premature years of the 2000s, when tapes recorded by the former general secretary Zhao Ziyang found their way to Hong Kong. It was his version of the truth, and was intended to prove his innocence.
In the fifty days that the drama played out in Tiananmen Square, there was no solemn effort by the Indian media to cover the happenings.
Two courageous young media persons from India Today – Shekhar Gupta and Prashant Panjiar – were the only people to cover the events in Beijing.
The larger story has remained untold from the Indian perspective.
This is a story that needs narration as China is our neighbour and our people need a much deeper comprehension of China than is currently the case.
Gokhale has divided his book into ten chapters, alongwith a Prologue and Epilogue. The sections are:
1. The Principal Player
2. The Remaining Cast
3. Storm Clouds on the Horizon
4. Strong Winds
5. The Lull
6. The Spark
7. Conflagration
8. The Blaze
9. Dousing the Flames
10. Doubling Down
In that one year, 1989, the governing system known as ‘Communism’ was dealt a near-mortal blow. That year, Communist governments across Eastern Europe, which had ruled since the post–World War II years of the late 1940s, buckled individually, with the fall of the Berlin Wall the greatest representation of those events.
Even the Soviet Union, the first major Communist power and a nation whose military capacity had propped up communism in Eastern Europe since World War II, had calls for reform in 1989. Communist leaders there also witnessed the first stirrings of the dissolution of the Soviet empire, a process that was complete by 1991.
The People’s Republic of China, the world’s second largest Communist power, was also agitated by calls for the sorts of democratic reforms arising elsewhere in 1989. But these calls, made recurrently by university students during April, May, and June of that year in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, were uncompromisingly silenced by China’s government.
The students’ protests, which had been reinforced by tens of thousands of ordinary citizens, ended with a crackdown involving China’s People’s Liberation Army.
The toll of those who died or were wounded in the crackdown, and the number of those arrested afterward, is still unknown. Unlike the Soviet Union or its Eastern European satellite states, China remained a one-party Communist dictatorship.
Before 1989, modern China had gone through other periods when there were wide calls for Western-style reforms. Long before the Communist takeover, back in 1919, large numbers of university students staged what was to be called the May Fourth Movement, advocating strong nationalism and greater social equality.
In the 1950s, China’s new Communist leadership opened the country to assorted ideas on social, cultural, and economic issues in the Hundred Flowers Movement. Leaders believed that China would thrive if they encouraged a “hundred flowers to bloom,” meaning ‘a wide variety of viewpoints to be put forward and tested’.
While the May 4th Movement enjoyed modest success and created small traditions of national unity and student protest, the Hundred Flowers Movement was deemed a failure.
Mao disapproved of the criticisms of his government that appeared and engaged in a crackdown targeting thousands of people.
Students began a new wave of activism in the 1980s, demanding greater political openness to accompany the economic freedom then promising to enrich China.
Many of them believed that, of necessity, political and economic freedom went hand in hand, as this had been the experience of Western nations since the late 1700s.
Their first large-scale demonstrations took place in 1986 and 1987. Students complained about government’s strict controls of even small aspects of their daily lives, voiced concerns about corruption at high levels, and argued that the People’s Republic’s elaborate bureaucracy stood in the way of democratic reforms.
Gokhale perceptively surveys about Hu Yaobang.
Yaobang, a top official who was sympathetic to calls for reform, was forced to step down from his post as general secretary of the Communist Party of China and, in effect, to take the blame for these protests. Hu Yaobang died on April 15, 1989, and state officials planned for a funeral in his tribute for April 22.
University students in China’s capital of Beijing, whose hopes for reform had received support in recent months by the writings of such dissident leaders as Fang Lizhi and Wang Dan as well as the stirrings of reform in Communist Eastern Europe, almost impulsively began to use Hu’s death as the occasion for new demonstrations.
The first took place on April 15, when a diminutive group of students gathered at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square. By April 22, some 100,000 students had joined the protests and similar movements had arisen in other Chinese cities.
The Tiananmen Square protests lasted for seven weeks and received prevalent attention around the world. Although the protesters had little in the way of a specific program of reforms to advocate, their youth and apparent willingness to sacrifice garnered a great deal of sympathy.
Indeed, at two key points protest leaders like Chai Ling and Wu’er Kaixi took memorable steps to try to maintain the momentum of the demonstrations. One, beginning on May 13, was a hunger strike eventually involving up to one thousand people.
Another, on May 30, was the unveiling in Tiananmen Square of a 33-foottall statue greatly resembling the Statue of Liberty. Made by Beijing art students, the protesters called the statue a “Goddess of Democracy.”
Meanwhile, Chinese leadership, mostly composed of men in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, proved mostly unwilling to negotiate with the protesters, with the one exception being Zhao Ziyang, general secretary of the Communist Party of China.
On May 20, Deng Xiaoping had declared martial law and sent units of the People’s Liberation Army into Beijing to maintain control. Dissent within the Communist Party’s ruling politburo, or policy-making committee, delayed direct action on the army’s part, but eventually Zhao Ziyang was ousted and the decision made to use military force to disperse the protesters.
The emptying of Tiananmen Square began late in the evening of June 3 and lasted until the dawn hours of June 4. Some students were killed or wounded, but most of them, after tense negotiations, agreed to leave the square.
The greatest number of victims of the crackdown was apparently non-students, ordinary Chinese people who engaged in their own protests, angry at their government for being so ready to use overwhelming force against students. Among them may well have been the “Tank Man” of June 5. His specific identity, as well as his ultimate fate, remains unknown.
He may still live freely, or he may have been one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese people killed or imprisoned in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests.
While the movement earned support for its schema and sympathy abroad through wide international media coverage, the most potent challenge to the legitimacy and authority of the Communist Party since Mao Tsetung’s 1949 victory against the Nationalists was crushed at Tiananmen Square by military force on 3 and 4 June 1989, seven weeks after it had begun. Hundreds of protesters and bystanders were presumed dead, thousands wounded and imprisoned.
From documents smuggled out of China and published in the United States, it appears that factional struggles among China’s leaders and the fear of international shame delayed military action.
Gokhale points out instances of media-blackout, staing that the Chinese state, which had been closely monitoring the foreign media and embassies that were regularly visiting the square, now decided to cut access to ground zero. Strict orders were issued prohibiting any foreigner from participating in or even reporting on anti-government activities.
TV broadcasts became more difficult for the foreign media, though the Western print media still braved the martial law and continued to go to the square and talk to student leaders. From some of them, men such as Gokhale gathered that on the ground the situation remained parlous and government orders were initially not implemented.
In the tenth chapter of the book, entitled ‘Doubling Down’, the author writes: ‘The Tiananmen Square incident marked the end of a decade of political and economic experimentation by the communists.’
In 1979, with China staggering from the catastrophe of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and facing an unsure political future, revitalization seemed complicated. Yet the Chinese Communist Party had proved competent in reinventing itself in 1949 when a rebel army transformed itself into a government, and it would prove so again under Deng’s leadership.
The economic restructuring that took place between 1980 and 1988 laid down the bases for the renovation of the Chinese economy into what was expected to become the world’s largest economy by 2030. Politically, too, Deng was able to initiate complete reform that alleviated the leadership and minimized the risk of China reverting to a neo-Maoist state, even though the fall of Zhao Ziyang in May 1989 was Deng’s second failed attempt at ensuring a logical succession.
In the Epilogue to the book, the author makes the following remarks which put matters in perspective fairly radiantly:
1) China has undergone numerous changes on the surface. Its GDP has grown from less than US $500 billion in 1990 to US $14 trillion in 2019, and its people have become affluent. The Benz has replaced the Hong Qi automobile, milk products like ice cream and yoghurt are consumed with zeal by a people who thirty years ago hardly drank milk. The Western suit is the preferred attire.
2) The Party still rules in China, and it is still helmed by the Red Aristocracy. It still places the Party before the nation. It still commands the unconditional loyalty of the armed forces. As it celebrates the centenary of its founding in 2021, it remains determined to make China in its own image.
3) The students and youth have never again tried to protest. They may not have reason to. In the past three decades, China has thrived and conditions have considerably improved in universities. Jobs and opulence have been delivered to the people. In return, they have surrendered many of their rights to the state.
4) There are still those who dream of a democratic China, but most of them emigrate to the West and are immaterial to most Chinese. There is no sign yet that the majority of the people want to exchange their present for a democratic future.
The author remarks wryly: ‘As far as the foreign media is concerned, the self-styled guardians of democracy and human rights in the world, to be a correspondent in China after 1990 was tantamount to a one-way ticket to success and glory. It was well known in media circles that it was preferable to cohabit with the Chinese foreign ministry if they wanted access to news.’
The story that the author narrates throughout this fast-paced book, is intended to deduce the facts, to some of which he was bystander, with the advantage of hindsight.
While three decades have have passed, Tiananmen still remains an occurrence of decisive significance in recent Chinese history. China has changed, yet the communist system remains. Personalities have come and gone, but the Red Aristocracy still rules China and stays focussed on ‘preservation instinct’ and self-perpetuation.
Indians can no longer afford to have a shallow understanding of events involving their largest neighbour and to-be-hegemon, other than at their own hazard.
And today when China has unleashed its worldwide curse of Covid-19 in all its shimmy and paraphernalia, I was having an almost ‘out of body’ experience while reading this book.
As if the entire south Asian landmass in particular and the global community in general is China’s Tiananmen Square.
Brisk and blunt, it was a good read.
July 18, 2021
Have always been fascinated by the Tiananmen Square protests which unfolded in the summer of '89. Viewing it from a western lens, it was a heavily-romanticized student-driven pro-democracy movement against the atrocities of CCP.
A modern day David-vs-Goliath classic re-told.
However, taking a skeptical(read, worldly) look at the same, via the grey-tinted glasses of other numerous "democracy" movements around the globe, one does realize, that movements such as these, though might initially sprout from a healthy/ideologically-honest seed, but post an if-successful coup, have a (very)high chance of failing in the post-coup governance litmus test.
The author recounts his first-hand account, a comparatively toned-down version - from CCP perspective, of the incident. This could be partly owing to the fact that he held a highly respected foreign governance position in the then China, which bars him from doing a tell-all version of the incident, or he is just sticking to the facts at his disposal rather than recount an anecdotal version of the incident. I would prefer to think its the later option at play here.
Whichever it is, the political/economic groundwork leading to the "turmoil" is well established before we actually move on to the event the book is named against. Due credit is given to Deng Xiaoping for steering China, post the cultural revolution times, in the path of "growth"(which enjoys very different definitions in communism and capitalism contexts). As with any other country, here too there has always been an (undercurrent of - considering it's China)opposition to the ruling party. In China, it was primarily because of the heavy handedness of the CCP in dealing with dissent. The party was already mired in charges of corruption and nepotism, which were duly disregarded by the party, being in the heady insobriety of power.
Till the economy allowed them to have their basic necessities met, majority people were quite happy to indulge themselves in a "vacuous", "bourgeois"(in CCP terms) lifestyle leaving governance issue's aside. It was only when the economy was also going though a leaner phase and jobs tanked, that the dissent found its voice.
We are introduced to the dissenting voices, the knights-in-shining-armor, of the western media, each serving to their own different agenda.
The politics within the party is also duly elaborated, what with use of propaganda tools and leaked news bytes, each member trying to gain an upper hand over one another. From the outside, it projected it's united facade - that in fighting "bourgeois capitalism". It was quite a revelation as to the need for a government to be always "politically correct" while dealing with mass media which acted as its mouthpiece, lest it gives out the wrong/unintended signals, which could lead to an eventual "turmoil".
Chinese communism and its evolution over the years makes for a separate engaging reading topic. Whether it qualifies to be ideologically sane when measured by the textbook definition of communism available across the globe in their various avatars or if it is better than capitalism in its present form, is a moot point. But the social experiments that had been conducted on it and the colorful(aptly, 'red') history that it unfolds therein makes for some fascinating read.
It's makes for an interesting thought experiment, as to what could have happened if the protests had gone on to take the form of a large scale civil war and a successful coup post that. Would China be in a better state than it is today ? There ran a greater chance of the movement being hijacked by other countries to serve their own separate agenda's. It could have been Chiang and the remnants of his Kuomintang (KMT) government, who could have stepped up to the opportunity and made inroads into China once again, with the help of foreign powers.
A modern day David-vs-Goliath classic re-told.
However, taking a skeptical(read, worldly) look at the same, via the grey-tinted glasses of other numerous "democracy" movements around the globe, one does realize, that movements such as these, though might initially sprout from a healthy/ideologically-honest seed, but post an if-successful coup, have a (very)high chance of failing in the post-coup governance litmus test.
The author recounts his first-hand account, a comparatively toned-down version - from CCP perspective, of the incident. This could be partly owing to the fact that he held a highly respected foreign governance position in the then China, which bars him from doing a tell-all version of the incident, or he is just sticking to the facts at his disposal rather than recount an anecdotal version of the incident. I would prefer to think its the later option at play here.
Whichever it is, the political/economic groundwork leading to the "turmoil" is well established before we actually move on to the event the book is named against. Due credit is given to Deng Xiaoping for steering China, post the cultural revolution times, in the path of "growth"(which enjoys very different definitions in communism and capitalism contexts). As with any other country, here too there has always been an (undercurrent of - considering it's China)opposition to the ruling party. In China, it was primarily because of the heavy handedness of the CCP in dealing with dissent. The party was already mired in charges of corruption and nepotism, which were duly disregarded by the party, being in the heady insobriety of power.
Till the economy allowed them to have their basic necessities met, majority people were quite happy to indulge themselves in a "vacuous", "bourgeois"(in CCP terms) lifestyle leaving governance issue's aside. It was only when the economy was also going though a leaner phase and jobs tanked, that the dissent found its voice.
We are introduced to the dissenting voices, the knights-in-shining-armor, of the western media, each serving to their own different agenda.
The politics within the party is also duly elaborated, what with use of propaganda tools and leaked news bytes, each member trying to gain an upper hand over one another. From the outside, it projected it's united facade - that in fighting "bourgeois capitalism". It was quite a revelation as to the need for a government to be always "politically correct" while dealing with mass media which acted as its mouthpiece, lest it gives out the wrong/unintended signals, which could lead to an eventual "turmoil".
Chinese communism and its evolution over the years makes for a separate engaging reading topic. Whether it qualifies to be ideologically sane when measured by the textbook definition of communism available across the globe in their various avatars or if it is better than capitalism in its present form, is a moot point. But the social experiments that had been conducted on it and the colorful(aptly, 'red') history that it unfolds therein makes for some fascinating read.
It's makes for an interesting thought experiment, as to what could have happened if the protests had gone on to take the form of a large scale civil war and a successful coup post that. Would China be in a better state than it is today ? There ran a greater chance of the movement being hijacked by other countries to serve their own separate agenda's. It could have been Chiang and the remnants of his Kuomintang (KMT) government, who could have stepped up to the opportunity and made inroads into China once again, with the help of foreign powers.
November 22, 2021
Hooter: First hand account of the protests at Tiananmen Square and the run up to it.
Vijay Gokhale, ex Foreign Secretary was in China during that eventful period of 1989 which has defined most Western views of the struggle for democracy. Vijay breaks that myth and explains why the Western version of events has a lot of generalisations, exaggerations to the actual events that played out. It wasn't so much as a protest for democracy as it was a power struggle between factions of the China Communist party - often painted as a giant well oiled singular monolith think tank to the outside world. He provides the run up to it from the 70s highlighting the key players and their struggles in the battle between political dominance and economic upheaval and the different thoughts on how to achieve the same. The book felt super dry and tough to trawl through initially making me wonder if I was prepping for UPSC but he warms up to his narrating style as he closes in on the actual events rather than a politico who's who biography of all the players.
If you are interested in Chinese political history and want a quick refresher on the players and the groups in the 80s primarily , this forms a good concise read on the same from the perspective of a former ambassador and an expert on China from an Indian perspective.
Vijay Gokhale, ex Foreign Secretary was in China during that eventful period of 1989 which has defined most Western views of the struggle for democracy. Vijay breaks that myth and explains why the Western version of events has a lot of generalisations, exaggerations to the actual events that played out. It wasn't so much as a protest for democracy as it was a power struggle between factions of the China Communist party - often painted as a giant well oiled singular monolith think tank to the outside world. He provides the run up to it from the 70s highlighting the key players and their struggles in the battle between political dominance and economic upheaval and the different thoughts on how to achieve the same. The book felt super dry and tough to trawl through initially making me wonder if I was prepping for UPSC but he warms up to his narrating style as he closes in on the actual events rather than a politico who's who biography of all the players.
If you are interested in Chinese political history and want a quick refresher on the players and the groups in the 80s primarily , this forms a good concise read on the same from the perspective of a former ambassador and an expert on China from an Indian perspective.
January 12, 2022
For years, many of us have carried the impression of mass murder at Tiananmen Square in the fateful day of June 4, 1989. These events have often been seen as a symbol of the brutality that the Chinese Communist Party is capable of, in order to protect its hegemony.
However, Vijay Gokhale’s book brings out a very different and not often discussed truth of the whole event.
To be clear, there was a massive build up of events leading to the fateful day of June 4, 1989, starting with the death of Hu Yaobang. This death sort of opened the dam for a reasonably broad based set of protests across the youth in China, driven more by weak economic conditions than a purely ideological aspirations.
However, the end was not as much a massacre as a masterfully crafted response by Deng Xioping, who while largely remaining behind the scenes, settled each aspect of the counter-revolutionary events including the deep schism in the CCP.
A wonderful narrative by Vijay Gokhale, from his vantage point in the Indian embassy in Beijing.
A quick but very insightful read into the Chinese politics and the paranoia surrounding the real and perceived position of the CCP.
However, Vijay Gokhale’s book brings out a very different and not often discussed truth of the whole event.
To be clear, there was a massive build up of events leading to the fateful day of June 4, 1989, starting with the death of Hu Yaobang. This death sort of opened the dam for a reasonably broad based set of protests across the youth in China, driven more by weak economic conditions than a purely ideological aspirations.
However, the end was not as much a massacre as a masterfully crafted response by Deng Xioping, who while largely remaining behind the scenes, settled each aspect of the counter-revolutionary events including the deep schism in the CCP.
A wonderful narrative by Vijay Gokhale, from his vantage point in the Indian embassy in Beijing.
A quick but very insightful read into the Chinese politics and the paranoia surrounding the real and perceived position of the CCP.
June 27, 2021
A concise and to the point book, it sheds light on what exactly happened in 1989 at Tiananmen Square. The author, Vijay Gokhale who retired as the Foreign Secretary of India was present in Beijing during the incident and is a known expert on China in the foreign affairs sphere. The author gives a good background on the situation in China during the reign of Deng Xiapong and the outline on the different stakeholders provides the reader with the opportunity to appreciate the context under which the said incident took place.
The author dispels many notions the Western media has came to create about the incident. It is worth noting how the incident in 1989 has gone to define the China that we know today. By putting profit over principles, Western powers encouraged the growth of China. China hasn't seen any major protest since 1989 and the only way Communist China can be brought down like autocratic powers of the past like the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the 20th century is when China fails to meet the satisfactions of its highly ambitious population.
The author dispels many notions the Western media has came to create about the incident. It is worth noting how the incident in 1989 has gone to define the China that we know today. By putting profit over principles, Western powers encouraged the growth of China. China hasn't seen any major protest since 1989 and the only way Communist China can be brought down like autocratic powers of the past like the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the 20th century is when China fails to meet the satisfactions of its highly ambitious population.
September 18, 2021
Written by former Foreign Secretary of India, this book narrates the Tiananmen square incident in great detail and with a white box account of the then Chinese top leadership and their internal tussles. Mr Gokhale was at the time in Beijing and gives a first hand account of troop and protest marches.
This book was an eye opener in the sense that Tiananmen has always been made out to be a huge massacre by the Chinese govt. But in reality it was a relatively minor affair.
This book was an eye opener in the sense that Tiananmen has always been made out to be a huge massacre by the Chinese govt. But in reality it was a relatively minor affair.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2023
The importance of an Ambassador's recounting of the Tiananmen incident can never be understated. Not for diplomacy, not for internal affairs.
The storytelling prowess is just an icing on the cake.
A complete joy-ride for the aficionados.
The storytelling prowess is just an icing on the cake.
A complete joy-ride for the aficionados.
June 9, 2021
The book is all about the first-hand experience of the author as a diplomat during that time. The book revolves around the protest that happened on June 4 1989. Author details how the internal power struggle of the communist party of China and how they failed to address the issue of students. Also, he details how biased western media was as they couldn't grasp what was happening and reported false narratives.
Good for people interested in Tiananmen incident.
Good for people interested in Tiananmen incident.
May 15, 2021
Well written analysis of the events leading up to the happenings at Tiananmen and how these events shaped Chinese politics up till now.
March 4, 2022
Before we dismiss certain historical narratives as Western propaganda or exaggerated accounts, a fair reminder is necessary that the author himself was a senior diplomat in China during the event that unfolded in 1989. As a direct witness to the students protests, Vijay Gokhale had given us a concise narration of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.
After Mao’s disastrous Cultural Revolution that had resulted in the Great Famine and mistreatment of rebelling party members, Deng Xiaoping, after the death of Mao managed to overcome the Gang of Four, to establish his supremacy within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By the end of the 1970s, he came with his four-modernization program akin to liberalization to strengthen the military, agriculture, industry, science, and technology. However, by the time his party members started promulgating ‘democracy’ as the fifth modernization for China, their voices were suppressed leading to inter-party factionalism and infighting. Along with that, the economy was on a hot pot with peaking inflation, and students’ exposure to intellectualism had given rise to the demand for certain political reforms.
Following the death of Hu Yaobang, who was previously expelled by the CCP on the grounds of liberal activism, hundreds and thousands of students began to gather at the Tiananmen Square, demanding political reforms such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of association and voicing their protest against the ruling CCP. With the Statue of Democracy erected opposite to Mao’s portrait in Tiananmen Square, dismissing them as misguided liberal bourgeoisie and counterrevolutionary elements, Deng swiftly moved in the People Liberation Army (PLA) to suppress the growing protest. Though the official figures of death from military action were kept secret for the next three decades, Western Diplomats had put the range between 300 to 1000.
Today, though the incident is erased from the public memory and remembered in line with the CCP propaganda which portrayed the student's protests as an isolated move to overthrow the State, Vijay Gokhale’s book is a good piece of work to understand the one-party Benthamite system in China, where rule by law is considered supreme.
After Mao’s disastrous Cultural Revolution that had resulted in the Great Famine and mistreatment of rebelling party members, Deng Xiaoping, after the death of Mao managed to overcome the Gang of Four, to establish his supremacy within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By the end of the 1970s, he came with his four-modernization program akin to liberalization to strengthen the military, agriculture, industry, science, and technology. However, by the time his party members started promulgating ‘democracy’ as the fifth modernization for China, their voices were suppressed leading to inter-party factionalism and infighting. Along with that, the economy was on a hot pot with peaking inflation, and students’ exposure to intellectualism had given rise to the demand for certain political reforms.
Following the death of Hu Yaobang, who was previously expelled by the CCP on the grounds of liberal activism, hundreds and thousands of students began to gather at the Tiananmen Square, demanding political reforms such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of association and voicing their protest against the ruling CCP. With the Statue of Democracy erected opposite to Mao’s portrait in Tiananmen Square, dismissing them as misguided liberal bourgeoisie and counterrevolutionary elements, Deng swiftly moved in the People Liberation Army (PLA) to suppress the growing protest. Though the official figures of death from military action were kept secret for the next three decades, Western Diplomats had put the range between 300 to 1000.
Today, though the incident is erased from the public memory and remembered in line with the CCP propaganda which portrayed the student's protests as an isolated move to overthrow the State, Vijay Gokhale’s book is a good piece of work to understand the one-party Benthamite system in China, where rule by law is considered supreme.
June 2, 2023
Vijay Gokhale in one of his interviews has talked about how an average Indian wouldn't be able to tell the names of a couple of Chinese cities or the past heads of states, in contrast to USA, whose world is much more familiar to people outside of it . This deficit leads to a sickly understanding of China, which is perhaps more important for us to understand right now than US.
This is Gokhale's first book on a particularly important event in modern communist China's history. It is an absolutely riveting read. Gokhale talks about how he wanted to write books on China that an ordinary Indian would be able to understand, and I think he does that job incredibly well. Language is supremely important for non fiction books, because the same stories can seem dry or exciting purely depending upon the treatment. Having finished his first work, I can say we're privileged that Gokhale decided to write books, and on China especially, because to have an experienced professional diplomat detail his understanding and views of the world, in such a lucid language, is about as good as it gets.
The Tiananmen Square Crisis/Massacre/Event - the choice of word here is important - is described in this book through roughly 4 stages: the winding up, the winding down, the cover up, and aftermath. This is a considerably short book, and hence doesn't delve much deeper into the last three parts. That is perhaps my only complaint with this book, because I felt the part that dealt with the way CCP actively contained and covered up the entire event was perhaps the most important for understanding CCP out of all the 4 stages.
The key understanding that shines through is how Gokhale insists, quite correctly, on knowing the social / political / cultural context of a particular country to interpret its functioning. Throughout the book he talks about how the western embassies and the western media, due to their own faulty and jaundiced understanding of China, misinterpreted and misrepresented the happenings of the years leading upto 1989.
For countries like China or Russia, or in Africa or Middle East, and even perhaps India, it is essential to understand the country and its people in its own socio-cultural or historical context, rather than seeing it all through a Western lens or comparing everything to western standards.
Understanding these countries becomes even more crucial when we think about the necessity of effectively dealing and engaging with these countries in difficult circumstances like the Ukraine war or deteriorating US - China relations in present times.
I almost never like sequels, but Vijay Gokhale is so far proving to be an exception. His 2nd book, 'After Tiananmen', a sequel of sorts to this one, is even better!
This is Gokhale's first book on a particularly important event in modern communist China's history. It is an absolutely riveting read. Gokhale talks about how he wanted to write books on China that an ordinary Indian would be able to understand, and I think he does that job incredibly well. Language is supremely important for non fiction books, because the same stories can seem dry or exciting purely depending upon the treatment. Having finished his first work, I can say we're privileged that Gokhale decided to write books, and on China especially, because to have an experienced professional diplomat detail his understanding and views of the world, in such a lucid language, is about as good as it gets.
The Tiananmen Square Crisis/Massacre/Event - the choice of word here is important - is described in this book through roughly 4 stages: the winding up, the winding down, the cover up, and aftermath. This is a considerably short book, and hence doesn't delve much deeper into the last three parts. That is perhaps my only complaint with this book, because I felt the part that dealt with the way CCP actively contained and covered up the entire event was perhaps the most important for understanding CCP out of all the 4 stages.
The key understanding that shines through is how Gokhale insists, quite correctly, on knowing the social / political / cultural context of a particular country to interpret its functioning. Throughout the book he talks about how the western embassies and the western media, due to their own faulty and jaundiced understanding of China, misinterpreted and misrepresented the happenings of the years leading upto 1989.
For countries like China or Russia, or in Africa or Middle East, and even perhaps India, it is essential to understand the country and its people in its own socio-cultural or historical context, rather than seeing it all through a Western lens or comparing everything to western standards.
Understanding these countries becomes even more crucial when we think about the necessity of effectively dealing and engaging with these countries in difficult circumstances like the Ukraine war or deteriorating US - China relations in present times.
I almost never like sequels, but Vijay Gokhale is so far proving to be an exception. His 2nd book, 'After Tiananmen', a sequel of sorts to this one, is even better!
July 19, 2021
It is a book about a country the world is keenly watching at present vis-à-vis Covid 19. And the subject is one which has always aroused intrigue and interest.
The protests at Tiananmen Square by students in China in May-June 1989 has been a matter of great debate: courage and bravery of students, of democracy being smothered, historic protests ….always a topic of curiosity, but masked over by China….. forgotten and never talked about.
Vijay Gokhale , the author of the book and previous Ambassador to China and Former Foreign Secretary of India was posted in the Indian embassy at the time when this momentous event took place taking the world by storm.
This book is an account of the run-up, culmination and the end of the protests by the students. Vijay Gokahle has written a book which is a fast, quick and easy read. A lesson in Chinese politics against the backdrop of the incident.
This book makes interesting reading as it is like peeping behind one of the world’s most secretly guarded system and governance. In fact, at some places, the protest recede into the background as the China’s political machinations come forth.
All important characters on China’s political landscape, hitherto just names, come to life as their roles and political and personal ambitions are sketched in the book. Hu Yaobang whose death fuels the protests and Zhao Ziyang who desperately gets involved in a power struggle with Li Peng and loses out to fade into oblivion.
Two interesting notes about the book:
One, China was always firmly committed to economic reforms. But the supremacy of Communist party of China could never be infringed upon. Political Reforms were never an option.
Second, the questionable role of Western media covering the event. In Mr Gokhale’s opinion, the Western media was far removed from the happenings, reporting miscalculated facts to the rest of the world.
Also, Mr Gokhale hints at the double standards of the Western powers in dealing with China…. the economics and politics far outweighed the necessity to strongly condemn and deal with a rising economic super power.
Deng Xiaoping emerges strongly as the powerful leader of China who deals with dissent, global distrust and yet goes on to set off the fast-paced economic progress of the country.
This is a book which should be read to understand and get a peek behind the closed curtains of the country.
The protests at Tiananmen Square by students in China in May-June 1989 has been a matter of great debate: courage and bravery of students, of democracy being smothered, historic protests ….always a topic of curiosity, but masked over by China….. forgotten and never talked about.
Vijay Gokhale , the author of the book and previous Ambassador to China and Former Foreign Secretary of India was posted in the Indian embassy at the time when this momentous event took place taking the world by storm.
This book is an account of the run-up, culmination and the end of the protests by the students. Vijay Gokahle has written a book which is a fast, quick and easy read. A lesson in Chinese politics against the backdrop of the incident.
This book makes interesting reading as it is like peeping behind one of the world’s most secretly guarded system and governance. In fact, at some places, the protest recede into the background as the China’s political machinations come forth.
All important characters on China’s political landscape, hitherto just names, come to life as their roles and political and personal ambitions are sketched in the book. Hu Yaobang whose death fuels the protests and Zhao Ziyang who desperately gets involved in a power struggle with Li Peng and loses out to fade into oblivion.
Two interesting notes about the book:
One, China was always firmly committed to economic reforms. But the supremacy of Communist party of China could never be infringed upon. Political Reforms were never an option.
Second, the questionable role of Western media covering the event. In Mr Gokhale’s opinion, the Western media was far removed from the happenings, reporting miscalculated facts to the rest of the world.
Also, Mr Gokhale hints at the double standards of the Western powers in dealing with China…. the economics and politics far outweighed the necessity to strongly condemn and deal with a rising economic super power.
Deng Xiaoping emerges strongly as the powerful leader of China who deals with dissent, global distrust and yet goes on to set off the fast-paced economic progress of the country.
This is a book which should be read to understand and get a peek behind the closed curtains of the country.
July 10, 2021
The Tiananmen Square protest and crackdown in 1989 was years in the making and was the result of a dispassionate leadership that was too distracted by internal politics to sense the mood of the public. It was also the result of the ambitions and aspirations of youth which was more well informed closer to the turn of the 20th century. As a young diplomat in China in 1989 who witnessed the unfolding events and with the benefit of hindsight owing to his experience as India’s ambassador to China later on and India’s top diplomat in his last official assignment, Ambassador Gokhale offers a fantastic insight on the series of decisions and oversights that led to the protest. He also offers a concise view of how the events in 1989 came to define the Communist Party of China’s strategy for the silent rise of China over the next three decades.
The author also beings out various nuances involving miscalculations and sometimes deliberate misinterpretations by the Western media and diplomats in 1989 and clarifies assumptions that the main agenda for the protesters was introduction of democratic reforms in the political system.
The first couple of chapters might be a bit hard to follow for those who may not already have a general idea of the power struggle in China in the 70s and 80s, but the subsequent chapters were a fairly easy to follow. The concluding parts of the book were very helpful in offering insights on how the CPC/CCP continues to remain the most formidable political power, marking its 100th year in 2021. The book couldn’t have come out at a better time. Also, at 125 pages, it’s very not overwhelming or difficult to absorb.
The author also beings out various nuances involving miscalculations and sometimes deliberate misinterpretations by the Western media and diplomats in 1989 and clarifies assumptions that the main agenda for the protesters was introduction of democratic reforms in the political system.
The first couple of chapters might be a bit hard to follow for those who may not already have a general idea of the power struggle in China in the 70s and 80s, but the subsequent chapters were a fairly easy to follow. The concluding parts of the book were very helpful in offering insights on how the CPC/CCP continues to remain the most formidable political power, marking its 100th year in 2021. The book couldn’t have come out at a better time. Also, at 125 pages, it’s very not overwhelming or difficult to absorb.
January 27, 2022
This book is as important to know about thinking process and working of Chinese Communist Party as it is about that seminal incident of ‘turmoil’ at Tiananmen Square in midst of summer of 1989. Vijay Gokhale, former Indian foreign secretary and carrier diplomat has given fairly vivid account of incident. This is authentic and highly informative read for Indian readers who are starving for good books on China by Indian authors.
This is unbiased account of events that unfolded in that summer of 1989. As book is very brief, there is lot more seems left out, mainly why exactly students started protest, clear description of their thinking process and what actually happened on the ground between protesters and PLA personnel is missing. However there is enough in this book for ignorant Indians to ignite imagination about China and nature of Chines politics.
One thing we as a Indian surly realize after reading this book is how little we know about China.
Concluding with Deng Xiaoping’s advise which China followed for almost two decades after 1989 ; “Observe calmly, secure our position, cope with affairs calmly, hide our capabilities and bide our time, be good at maintaining a low profile and never claim leadership”
This is unbiased account of events that unfolded in that summer of 1989. As book is very brief, there is lot more seems left out, mainly why exactly students started protest, clear description of their thinking process and what actually happened on the ground between protesters and PLA personnel is missing. However there is enough in this book for ignorant Indians to ignite imagination about China and nature of Chines politics.
One thing we as a Indian surly realize after reading this book is how little we know about China.
Concluding with Deng Xiaoping’s advise which China followed for almost two decades after 1989 ; “Observe calmly, secure our position, cope with affairs calmly, hide our capabilities and bide our time, be good at maintaining a low profile and never claim leadership”
May 1, 2023
I always wanted to read book on Tiananmen square massacre. This book is really well-balanced book. It gives us neutral point of view. Vijay Gokhale was diplomat at that time in China, who else will be better person to write this book. This book is one of the comprehensive book on the acts that led to the dreadful event. We always tend to look at China with western lens which is always problematic for us Indians. I used to have lots of admiration for Diang Xiaoping for development he did in China. Now I have different views on him after reading this book. The book not just gives an account of the making of a protest but also a glimpse of how Chinese leadership works. It is necessary to learn about how it reached this stature. There is no doubt that Tiananmen Square has played a major part in the emergence of China.
Recommended for anyone who is interested in learning about China. It will help you in knowing about their leaders, their policies, their thinking, their actions during a crisis. Vijay Gokhale observations about the ignorance, the pre-judgements, the limitations by the western media are worth understanding. It is still very much relevant.
Recommended for anyone who is interested in learning about China. It will help you in knowing about their leaders, their policies, their thinking, their actions during a crisis. Vijay Gokhale observations about the ignorance, the pre-judgements, the limitations by the western media are worth understanding. It is still very much relevant.
September 14, 2021
Not an easy book to read. It's filled with Chinese names and Chinese politics which is alien to any outsider. Given the number of question this book attempts to answers about the incident, it becomes a must read for anyone interested to know about the incident.
It uncovers how the Tiananmen square incident was not solely about "democracy" as the western media projected it to be. It shows the duplicity of the west, their shortsightedness which lead to China's dominance in the global order, and the "free" western media who's agenda was on full display during the incident.
The mass murder as some section of media portrayed it to be most likely didn't happen, and the protest was mostly about the internal politics in the Chinese communist party than bringing democracy to China. The book is written by a senior diplomat who was present in Beijing during the incident. I would highly recommend it.
It uncovers how the Tiananmen square incident was not solely about "democracy" as the western media projected it to be. It shows the duplicity of the west, their shortsightedness which lead to China's dominance in the global order, and the "free" western media who's agenda was on full display during the incident.
The mass murder as some section of media portrayed it to be most likely didn't happen, and the protest was mostly about the internal politics in the Chinese communist party than bringing democracy to China. The book is written by a senior diplomat who was present in Beijing during the incident. I would highly recommend it.
March 4, 2025
4.5/5
Great account of the Tiananmem Square massacare through a serving Indian diplomat’s eyes. The run-up to these tense couple of months in early 1989 reads like a thriller packed with nuggets from the power struggles tearing into the Communist Party of China. The sequence of events & student demonstrations were narrated with a lot of color by Western media who were expecting the unravelling of China under Deng Xiaoping, but nothing of that sort happened. In fact what happened as a result of the student protests was the tightening of the Party policies & weeding out of anyone inimical to the concept of collective leadership.
Deng Xiaoping was pretty certain about what he wanted to achieve in life, and I think he ended up achieving most of those goals (including normalizing ties with the Soviets). I’d love to read may be a biography of Deng who is often regarded as the father of the Chinese economic miracle.
Great account of the Tiananmem Square massacare through a serving Indian diplomat’s eyes. The run-up to these tense couple of months in early 1989 reads like a thriller packed with nuggets from the power struggles tearing into the Communist Party of China. The sequence of events & student demonstrations were narrated with a lot of color by Western media who were expecting the unravelling of China under Deng Xiaoping, but nothing of that sort happened. In fact what happened as a result of the student protests was the tightening of the Party policies & weeding out of anyone inimical to the concept of collective leadership.
Deng Xiaoping was pretty certain about what he wanted to achieve in life, and I think he ended up achieving most of those goals (including normalizing ties with the Soviets). I’d love to read may be a biography of Deng who is often regarded as the father of the Chinese economic miracle.
June 4, 2021
Tiananmen Square - The making of a protest
To understand wolf warriors whining in their middle kingdom syndrome, it is essential to take a step in the history. Former Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s recollection of the Tiananmen Square incident (1989) is a good point to start with.
The events narrated in the book unfolds effortlessly like watching a documentary , offering a glimpse into the nature of the Chinese politics under the Communist Party China .
At this juncture , it's high time that we take departure from “just knowing” our largest neighbour and the to-be-hegemon , for Napoleon had once said “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world" ( It surely did ! )
To understand wolf warriors whining in their middle kingdom syndrome, it is essential to take a step in the history. Former Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s recollection of the Tiananmen Square incident (1989) is a good point to start with.
The events narrated in the book unfolds effortlessly like watching a documentary , offering a glimpse into the nature of the Chinese politics under the Communist Party China .
At this juncture , it's high time that we take departure from “just knowing” our largest neighbour and the to-be-hegemon , for Napoleon had once said “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world" ( It surely did ! )
July 3, 2021
Quite honestly I had a very limited understanding of the eruption of protests at the China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, that would probably go down in China’s history as one of the most important chapters ever.
A group of students with their reasonable assortment of demands set out to the T-square and challenged the authority, which in itself was facing some political unrest within the party. How this gathering then resulted into a massive protest and an eventual deployment of martial law within the land, is something you need to really read in this book.
Vijay Gokhale, the then ambassador to China, gives a blazing account of what unfolded into this historic event and how the Chinese autocracy truly works within. Please read. 📚
A group of students with their reasonable assortment of demands set out to the T-square and challenged the authority, which in itself was facing some political unrest within the party. How this gathering then resulted into a massive protest and an eventual deployment of martial law within the land, is something you need to really read in this book.
Vijay Gokhale, the then ambassador to China, gives a blazing account of what unfolded into this historic event and how the Chinese autocracy truly works within. Please read. 📚
March 6, 2023
This is a good book to read if you want to understand what led to the infamous Tiananmen Square event in 1989, how it began in 1985, and who the key players were in this event.
However, this book failed to answer one simple question: what happened on the night of 3-4 June 1989 in Tiananmen Square in the aftermath of the CCP's imposition of marital law.
This book provides an excellent account of all of the key players who were instrumental in opening up the Chinese economy in the late 1980s, how the CCP made decisions, and how Deng Xiaoping united the CCP, the elders, and all of the key players.
However, this book failed to answer one simple question: what happened on the night of 3-4 June 1989 in Tiananmen Square in the aftermath of the CCP's imposition of marital law.
This book provides an excellent account of all of the key players who were instrumental in opening up the Chinese economy in the late 1980s, how the CCP made decisions, and how Deng Xiaoping united the CCP, the elders, and all of the key players.
November 20, 2021
What a well researched book on the Tiananmen Square incident!
It talks about how and what role each member played till the Dooms Day. Gives insights into how Communist Party is run, internal communications, the persona of Deng and the way he handled things and how the social messaging is done in the Communist China.
The book also highlights the role played by the Western Media and how casualty numbers were extrapolated and randomly estimated.
A great book by one of the best China experts, Diplomat and a scholar. Those with interest in Int’l Relations should give it a read!
It talks about how and what role each member played till the Dooms Day. Gives insights into how Communist Party is run, internal communications, the persona of Deng and the way he handled things and how the social messaging is done in the Communist China.
The book also highlights the role played by the Western Media and how casualty numbers were extrapolated and randomly estimated.
A great book by one of the best China experts, Diplomat and a scholar. Those with interest in Int’l Relations should give it a read!
June 22, 2022
Great book. For me, this is the first book that covers the Tiananmen incident objectively. How the western media misreported and distorted what really happened, and most importantly.. the real fact.
We all were told that this is about a "democracy movement". What really happened was much more complex. A political and economic reforms went wrong, internal power struggle, mass movement hijacked by radicals.. never read anything so detailed. As Vijay Gokhale is a former Indian diplomat who was on the ground zero when this incident happened, this book is really a must.
We all were told that this is about a "democracy movement". What really happened was much more complex. A political and economic reforms went wrong, internal power struggle, mass movement hijacked by radicals.. never read anything so detailed. As Vijay Gokhale is a former Indian diplomat who was on the ground zero when this incident happened, this book is really a must.
July 15, 2023
Conflicted about the rating. It is, overall, informative and well-written. It captures a lot of history in 150 pages. However, I personally sensed vested interests / hidden agendae in the author's thinly veiled criticism of the Western media. This made me question what other parts of the author's narrative may be skewed.
I would recommend reading it once; it definitely opens ones eyes and mind to an important historical event.
I would recommend reading it once; it definitely opens ones eyes and mind to an important historical event.
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