Tiananmen Square Massacre 1989 Significance

The subjugation of the protesters provided an essential meaning to the CCP, they persevered. The rebellion was crushed, callously, despite expectations in the west that the government would collapse and a ‘serious chaotic state’ would appear, they remained. The reality that the government remained distinctly indicated an end to calls from pro-democrats to reorganise a rebellion. Gittings argues that ‘fear of national upheaval with historical memory of the rebellion within the past century remained,’ augmenting Bensons view that the ‘shadow of Tiananmen is unlikely to disappear.’ The remonstrations allowed the government to reassess the political guidance of Dengism, which had inadvertently legitimised the insurgence, as the government declared, ‘the incident taught us…we see more clearly.’ It indicated the importance of protecting economic development besides national sovereignty. The ‘arguably’ unruly conduct of the government illustrated they were seldom tolerating a political mutiny to arise. Source 5 concludes with this line of argument that the government would have done all that was necessary to suppress the protests for the sake of socio-economic and political stability. Source 11 corresponds to this point, detailing the need in stopping the protests by stating the urgency of repressing it as to ensure administrative well-being and prevent defeat of the socialist system. Furthermore, as Benson referenced, concurring with Source 11, it most importantly prevented a seemingly inevitable, and potentially disastrous civil war emerging within China. Therefore it enlightened the quantity of political deliberation that needed to be reinvested into the economic structure, foremost the authoritative return of Maoism. The remonstrations ‘enabled the government to correct and develop’ the system where it was most flawed, as Gray argues, for instance, it provided the government with a robust need for increasing censorship and expurgation, which could now be legitimised