Tiananmen Square incident

Chinese history [1989]

Also known as: 6/4, June Fourth incident

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May 28, 2026 •History

Tiananmen Square incident, series of protests and demonstrations in China in the spring of 1989 that culminated on the night of June 3–4 with a government crackdown on the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Although the demonstrations and their subsequent repression occurred in cities throughout the country, the events in Beijing—especially in Tiananmen Square, historically linked to such other protests as the May Fourth Movement (1919)—came to symbolize the entire incident. By the spring...