Reform, Repression, and Today

Tiananmen Square Massacre Challenges Today

Do-NowIMAGINE-You are ‘tank man’ what is going through your mind at this moment?

Economic Reforms

Some private ownership of property and free-market policies were allowed

Families could sell extra crops Entrepreneurs were allowed to set up

their own businesses Joint ventures with foreign

companies Special enterprise zones

Tiananmen Square

By the late 1980s, some Chinese were demanding greater political freedom and economic reform.

The crackdown showed that China’s Communist leaders were determined to maintain control. To them, order was more important than political freedom.

In May 1989, tens of thousands of demonstrators occupied Tiananmen Square and called for democracy.

The government sent in troops and tanks. Thousands of demonstrators were killed or wounded. Others were arrested and tortured.

Aftermath Tiananmen Square received continuous coverage during the first

day of the massacre, representing one of the earliest efforts by U.S. news media to devote non-stop air-time to a breaking International news event. But in one of the most dramatic moments of the event audiences were able to watch a Chinese government official physically unplug the satellite transmitter carrying CBS's broadcast.

The clearing of Tiananmen Square was criticized around the world. The US immediately put economic sanctions on China, and large-scale

protests took place in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chengdu, and other cities. Many of the people who had protested in Beijing left the

country, and many countries around the world offered them visas and refugee status. Some of those who remained were arrested and sentenced to long

prison terms. The Tiananmen Square Massacre remains a banned topic in

China as of 2012, and any mention of it in media, literature, or art is subject to censorship.

Jigsaw Activity: China-TodayJigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that enables

each student of a "home" group to specialize in one aspect of a topic (for example, one group studies habitats of rainforest animals, another group studies predators of rainforest animals). Students meet with members from other groups who are assigned the same aspect, and after mastering the material, return to the "home" group and teach the material to their group members. With this strategy, each student in the "home" group serves as a piece of the topic's puzzle and when they work together as a whole, they create the complete jigsaw puzzle.(student 3-B for example, will read text B with a group of

students and then report back to group 3, where a student has read text A, C, D, and E). 

Challenges TodayChina’s human rights abuses have brought strong

pressure from trading partners such as the United States.

Population growth strained the economy and posed a challenge for the future.

As communist ideology weakened, government corruption became a growing problem.

Many state-run industries were inefficient, but could not be closed without risking high unemployment and economic chaos.

Inequalities between rich and poor urban and rural Chinese continued to grow.

Reporting on China’s Human Rights

Remember the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?You will read a report on China from the Human Rights

Watch 2012 World Report Take notes on your assigned section, compare to the

UDHRDetermine which (if any) of the articles from the

Declaration apply to it. Whether positively or negatively. You will then prepare a report of your section and the

human rights issues (articles) that apply. Pretend that you are an advisor to the UN’s Committee on

Human Rights and that you must report to the Committee on how China is doing. Use evidence from your section!

Give China a rating from 1-10 in regard to your issue. (1 is perfect, 10 is awful)

This report will receive a quiz grade

Reporting on China’s Human Rights

Remember the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?You will read a report on China from the Human Rights

Watch 2012 World Report You will be assigned a group and a section from the

China report. Each group will read their assigned section and

determine which (if any) of the articles from the Declaration apply to it.

Your group will then prepare a report of their section and the human rights issues (articles) that apply. Pretend that you are advisors to the UN’s Committee on

Human Rights and that you must report to the Committee on how China is doing.

Give China a rating from 1-10 in regard to your issue. (1 is perfect, 10 is awful)

This analysis will be reported to the rest of the class in a ‘Mock UN’