![1989 Tiananmen Square Protests 1989 Tienanmen Square | massive amount of people at a protest in china](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/029/933/_107211234_tiananmen_protest.jpg)
1989 Tiananmen Square Protests
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Overview
Tiananmen Square Protests or Tiananmen Square Massacre refer to student-led pro-democracy demonstrations held in Beijing in 1989 which were violently suppressed by Chinese military forces, resulting in an estimated death toll from several hundred to several thousand victims. Discussions of the event were subsequently censured and tabooed in China, which in turn inspired memes mocking censorship in the country.
Background
On April 15th, 1989, following the death of the former General Secretary of Communist Party of China Hu Yaobang, a wave of student protests began in China.[1] The protestors demanded democratic reforms in the country, end of corruption within the Communist Party, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and association. Starting on April 15th, groups of students started gathering at the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, with more student gatherings beginning in other Chinese cities in the following days.
![Protests at the Tiananmen Square on May 18, 1988 EX MUFE IS 0URS MY LOVE YOUR](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/295/9bf.jpg)
On the night of April 17th, nearly three thousand Peking University Students joined the protestors, occupying the Tiananmen Square. In the following weeks, thousands of Chinese students staged protests on the square on multiple days, including a nearly 100,000-strong march on the day of Hu Yaobang's state funeral held on the square on April 22nd, 1989.
![Students Marching to the Tiananmen Square on May 4, 1988 EY 人家航先送 李取民王自由](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/292/22c.jpg)
On May 13th, 1989, over 300,000 people gathered on the Square for a massive hunger strike in anticipation of the highly publicized state visit by Soviet leader Michail Gorbachev.
On May 20th, 1989, the Chinese government declared martial law, mobilizing at least 30 military divisions. Around the same time, internal divisions intensified among the protestors, leading to general disorganization of the protests.
On the evening of June 3rd, Chinese state television warned the residents to stay indoors. At about 10 pm, the 38th Chinese Army moved towards the city center, firing warning shots to disperse the crowds and causing several fatalities. At about 12:15 am that night, armored vehicles arrived at the square, sealing the protestors off at about 1:30 am, with military personnel firing shots at arriving demonstrators trying to enter the square. During the events of the night, multiple protesters were killed by the Chinese army, with death toll estimates ranging from 241 victims (official government figure) to 2,600 (Chinese Red Cross estimate).
The violent suppression of the protests was heavily condemned globally, with the Chinese government's response denounced by Western governments and media.
Developments
Censorship
In the following months, the Communist Party of China banned discussions of the Tiananmen Square protests in the country. Within a year following the June 1989 events, 12 percent of all Chinese newspapers, eight percent of publishing companies and over 150 films were banned or shut down.
Internet searches of June 4 Tiananmen Square made within China return censored results or result in temporary severed server connections. Censorship of June 1989 events has been often referenced in online memes and has been used as a trolling tactic against Chinese internet users.
Online Presence
Use in Memes
The censorship of the event in China has been often referenced in history memes communities such as /r/HistoryMemes (examples shown below). For example, one of the most popular posts referencing the event in the /r/HistoryMemes subreddit, posted on April 15th, 2019, gained over 64,500 upvotes in two months (shown below, top left).[13] In many examples, the phrase "nothing happened" has been used as a punchline.
![Hey guys remember in China when nothing happened at all ON THIS DAY 30 YEARS AGO ARR U NOTHING OF SIGNIFICANCE HAPPENED](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/261/f10.jpg)
![target practice Me and the boys preparing to shoot some peaceful demonstrators](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/264/23d.jpg)
![I told you you’d die for that Never Ask A Woman Her Age A Man, His Salary And the Chinese Government, About the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/268/70a.jpg)
Additionally, Tiananmen Square massacre has seen references in ironic memes in related communities such as /r/okbuddyretard and /r/dogelore, as well as on Instagram and iFunny, often used in conjunction with Ironic Doge memes, particularly with Doge in Danger (examples shown below).
![imgflip.com TIANANMEN SQUARE ingip.com ingfip.com imgp.com imglp.com imgip.com imgilp.com GUYS PLEASE HELPWHAT HAPPENEDIN TIANANMEN SQUARE IMDOINGASCHOOL RESEARCH AND CANT FIND INFORMATION ABOUTIT ingflp.com ingfp.com](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/251/74e.jpg)
![Le Tiananmen Square 1989 has arrived TIANANMEN SQUARE? NO DOESNT SOUND IMPORTANT AT ALL, WHY DO YOU ASK?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/257/568.jpg)
![What a peaceful completely normal day in china oh boy I love hanging out in my favorite place, Tiananmen Square, on April 15, 1989 世界人民大团结万岁 中华人民共和国万岁 wait... why is there nothing happening?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/256/acd.jpg)
Tank Man
Tank Man refers to the unidentified protestor who stood in front of a line of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. Photographs of the man's act of civil disobedience have become world-renowned for their historical import and political messaging with many considering them to be among the most important photographs of all time (shown below, left). Due to its prevalence in culture, it has also been subject to many forms of parody, both in popular culture and online (shown below, center and right).
![Jeff Widener's Tank Man](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/203/410.png)
![e25.jpg com/w](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/556/002/e25.jpg)
![tiananmen square? never heard of it China, June 5,1989 E (time to cross the street)](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/260/132.jpg)
Tiananmen Square Copypasta
Tiananmen Square Copypasta refers to a copypasta mentioning Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, free Tibet, Winnie the Pooh and other subjects censored by the Chinese government. When posted in in-game chat in multiplayer games, the copypasta allegedly results in Chinese players being kicked from the server due to the Great Firewall of China automatically interrupting their internet connection.
On September 12th, 2016, a South Korean 4chan user posted the first known version of the copypasta in a reply to a Chinese user on /int/ board (shown below).[2] In the following years, the copypasta has been reused by South Korean 4chan users multiple times.[3][4]
![/int/ Post #64771233 Anonymous Mon 12 Sep 2016 04:18:57 No.64771233 E Report Quoted By: >64771315 >64771488 64771607 64765985 I Love Chinese dude >动态网自由门六四天安門事件The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 198964天安門大屠殺The Tiananmen Square Massa cre反右派鬥爭The Anti-Rightist Stnuggle 大躍進政策The Great Leap Forward文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution人權Human Rights 民運Democratization自由 Freedom獨立Independenae多黨制Multi-party system 台灣臺灣 Taiwan Fomosa中華民國 Republic of China西藏 土伯特唐古特Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama法輪功 Falun Dafa新疆維吾爾自治區The Xnjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region諾貝爾和平獎Nobel Peace Prize劉暁波Liu Xiaobo 民主言論思想反共反革命抗議運動騷亂暴亂 騷擾 擾亂抗暴平反維權示威游行李洪志法輪大法大法弟 子強制種強制堕胎民族爭化人體實驗肅清胡耀邦 趙易魏京生王丹還政於民和平演變激流中國北京之春 大 紀元時報九評論共産黨獨裁專制壓制監視鎮壓迫害侵略掠奪破壞拷問屠殺活摘器官 誘拐買賣人口遊進走私 毒品賣淫春畫賭博 Free uyahur Free Tibet六合彩](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/246/92c.jpg)
On February 2018, Redditor VR-induced-psychosis posted a screenshot of a YouTube comment in which a Japanese user claimed that texting "June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre" to Chinese con artists resulted in their internet access being cut off by the Communist Party of China.[5] In the following days, the post also appeared on 4chan, Funnyjunk and other online communities.[6][7]
![Japanese know how to handle Chinese thugs Im Japanese. Recently, Chinese con-artists tried to contact us with Japanese texting app (like whatsapp) But Japanese know how to handle Chinese thugs. Just texting em back "june 4th Tiananmen Square massacre" in Chinese languge( ) Then BOOM! That poor Chinese guy's internet access is cut out by CCP. You can try this when Chinese harass you online. 2 hours ago (edited)](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/198/845.jpg)
On October 8th, a Chilean /int/ user posted the copypasta, commenting "If you're going to banish them, do it right" (shown below, left).[8] In the following months, the copypasta received significant spread on 4chan, used as a trolling technique against Chinese users on the imageboard.[9] On November 26th, 2018, an anonymous 4chan user made a post claiming that he had used the copypasta against Chinese players on a World of Warcraft server (shown below, right).[10] Reddit repost of thet thread gained over 32,900 upvotes in the six months.[11]
![/int/ Post #95878369 View Report /int/ Anonymous Mon 08 Oct 2018 00:51:41 No.95878369 >958781 95 动态网自由门天安門天安门法輪功李洪志 Free Tibet六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門 大屠殺The Tiananmen Square Massacre反右派鬥爭The Anti-Rightist Struggle大躍進政策The Great Leap Forward文 化大革命The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution人權Human Rights民運Democratization 自由 Freedom獨立 Independence多黨制Multi-party system台灣臺灣 Taiwan Fomosa 中華民國 Repubic of China西藏土伯特唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪勒 Falun Dafa新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xnjang Uyghur Autonomous Region諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波Liu Xiaobo民主言論思想 反共反革命抗議運動騷亂暴亂騷擾擾亂抗暴平反維權示威 游行李洪志法輪大法大法弟子強制断種強制堕胎民族淨化人體實驗肅清胡躍邦 魏京生王丹還政於民 和 平演變激流中國北京之春大紀元時報九評論共産黨獨裁專制壓制統一監視 鎮壓迫害侵各掠奪破壞拷問居殺 活摘器官誘拐買賣人口遊進走私毒品賣淫春畫賭博六合彩天安門天安门法輪功李洪志 Free Tibet劉曉皮动态 网自由门 If you're going to banish them, do it right.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/249/318.jpg)
![/b/ Post #785900431 Anonymous 11/26/18(Mon)19:35:16 No.785900431 >be me, playing WoW >play on asian servers because NA servers are too easy >2 Chinese players bully me >type "June 4th 1989, Tian an Men Square Massacre" 22 KB JPG >Both disconnect >mfw I just sent two inncoent children to a Chinese Labor Camp and got their whole family executed](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/499/200/333.jpg)
On December 12th, Redditor AstroHamsta posted the copypasta to /r/copypasta subreddit, gaining over 1,100 upvotes in six months.[12]
动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – 1989 Tiananmen Square protests
[2] 4chan – /int/ Post #64771233
[3] 4chan – /int/ Post #69244451
[4] 4chan – /int/ Post #74521221
[6] 4chan – /v/ Thread #408164954
[8] 4chan – /int/ Thread #95878369
[9] 4chan – int/ Thread #95878555
[10] 4chan – /b/ Post #785900431
[11] Reddit – Anon plays WoW.
[12] Reddit – A copypasta that causes China to ban the site with said pasta
[13] Reddit – Hey guys remember in China when nothing happened at all
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