Social+Causes

Outline the SOCIAL causes of the Tiananmen Square massacre here.

__Short Term__ Death of Hu Yaobang - seen as a champion of political reform, his death had a pround impact on the student's psyche and their mourning led to the initial protests Students were concerned about the social controls that the Communist Party of China still had Sought the same reform as Russia after the arrival of Gorbachev The area of Tiananmen Square held great significance as it was where the People's Republic was held in 1949

__Mid-Term__ Massive loss of culture (Taoism, Feng Shui, etc.) as a result of the cultural revolution Education - iliteracy rose again and there was a narrow framework for education (e.g. Mao's Little Red Book) Mao educated the youth to rebel and this attitutude was still in the minds of the people The students, who had grown up believing that the only protest that existed was a revolutionary one – via Party propaganda of their own revolution – saw their demonstration the same way Living conditions of the students was poor The threat of being sent to re-education as a punishment for speaking out Students were exposed to radical ideals of democracy when they travelled to western countries for study Many segments of society experienced disparities in the cultural revolution and earlier CCP policies

__Long Term__ China has consistently been in turmoil After 1911,