this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
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What's the historical significance of Tiananmen Square? People sure seem to like talking about it, but personally I don't really see why it warrants so much attention, in the grand scheme of things.
It's significant as a potential turning point, in that it was an existential crisis for the Party and had it succeeded we'd be looking at a very different China today.
In Chinese politics I think you could argue that it was such a threatening and frankly embarrassing incident for the Party that they've been far more responsive to public attitudes since, to head-off the growth of oppositional-to-government movements again. I mean there's a reason we haven't seen anything remotely similar happen in China since.
In terms of how Westerners see it though, it's not really significant beyond being a stick to beat China with. It was definitely a tragedy that should've been avoided, but the attention given to it over 30 years later is only there because it's geopolitically convenient.