The Tiananmen papers

About “The Tiananmen papers”

On the night of June 3-4, 1989, Chinese troops suppressed the largest pro-democracy demonstrations in the history of the communist regime. The Tiananmen Papers present the story of these demonstrations through internal government and Communist Party documents, offering the perspective of the leaders who made the decision to crush the protests. This collection includes hundreds of documents that reveal how the student movement of April and May 1989 divided the ruling elite into factions with differing approaches to the unrest. The material shows that key decisions were made not by formal political institutions but by the "Elders," an informal group led by Deng Xiaoping. The book includes meeting minutes where the Elders decided to remove Zhao Ziyang and replace him with Jiang Zemin, declare martial law, and send troops to clear the square.