April 15 1989 – Protests Begin in Tiananmen Square
With the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, the People’s Republic of China was sent into an emotional tailspin. A former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and popular member of the National People’s Congress, Hu represented the way of reform for many younger Chinese. Just hours after his passing was announced, students gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn the loss of the influential politician — and, eventually, launched a series of protests which grabbed the attention of the world. Hu joined the Communist Party in his teens, working his way up through the political apparatus during the turmoil surrounding World War II and the post-war revolution against Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Party. Working alongside Deng Xiaoping during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hu gained a reputation for pragmatism and relative economic progressiveness. In 1966, when Mao Zedong returned to power after the disastrous Great Leap Forward eight years before, the Cultural Revolution threatened the lives of Deng, Hu and other “enemies” of Chinese ideals. For a decade, the Party apparatus seemed to act as a carousel under the fitful Chairman Mao: Hu was thrown out and reinstated, then dismissed once again.
