HIST 106g Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Tiananmen Square Protests Of 1989, Liberal Democracy, Counter-Revolutionary
Document Summary
Defending china"s socialist democracy: propaganda disguised as formal rhetoric. Counter-revolutionary ideas propagated in china in the 1980s and 1990s. Growing interest in western political ideas led to protests against the abuses of the chinese government and the principles which the communist system claimed to abide by. The size of tiananmen protests in 1989 revealed the extent of the people"s frustration with their government, and the bloody suppression made it evident that the leaders of china were only concerned in self- preservation. Source 100, an article appearing in the people"s daily in march 1990, titled, Bourgeois and the socialist democracies compared, attempts to criticize the ideas raised by the protesters and defend china"s political system by reverting to attacks against american politics and evading the grievances raised against the chinese system. The unsubstantial rhetoric in the article comes across as apologetic propaganda, hinting the corruption of the chinese government and legitimizing the issues expressed by the tiananmen protestors.
