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Deng Xiaoping restored to power
After he was removed from power in 1976, Deng Xiaoping is restored to power. He didn't want to follow everything Mao said and began to change China. People were given more freedom and the ill effects of the cultural revolution were fixed. -
Zhou Enlai dies
He was the Premier of the People's Republic of China and important to the development of the economy. He wanted peaceful coexistence with the West. -
Tiananmen Incident
On this day (the traditional day of mourning) thousands of people went toTiananmen Square to mourn the death of Zhou Enlai and to lay wreaths and leave notes expressing their ideas and criticising the leaders. The Chinese Communist Party was alarmed at the number of poeple and removed all wreaths and notes. -
Mao Zedong dies
Mao Zedong dies at age 82 and a month of mourning is declared. -
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Democracy Wall
People expressed their views by creating and hanging large posters on the 'Democracy Wall' at Xidan intersection in Beijing. Posters that showed the communist system in a positive light were urged whereas posters thought to be too radical were objected. When things got out of hand, the hanging of posters on the wall was banned. -
Hu Yaobang becomes Party Secretary General
Hu came from a peasant family and had a long history in the Chinese Communist Party. He wanted collective leadership and supported Mao's political philosophy. -
Students demonstrate against Japanese economic invasion
Students come together in Tiananmen Square to remember the Japanese invasion of China and to demonstrate against the Japanese economic invasion of their country and call for a boycott of Japanese goods. They also protest against police cruelty and lack of freedom. Students in other cities also demonstrated. -
People protest in Urumqi
In the capital of Xinjiang people protested against the testing of nuclear weapons in the region. -
Government places a limit on all demonstartions
Deng Xiaoping, an important leader in China, wanted to stop the protests. It was announced by the government that there was a plot to overthrow the government and they placed a limit on all demonstrations. -
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Chinese students protest against lack of freedom
Students in different cities across China protested against their lack of freedom. Some called for change while others wanted to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party. -
Zhao Ziyang replaces Hu Yaobang
At the beginning of the year Deng demoted a umber of members of the party for being too sympathetic towards the protestors. -
Death of Hu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang was the General Secretary of the Communist Party in China from 1982 to 1987, prior to which he was an influential member of the party. The people of China believed that if he had lived longer he could have helped to change the system. -
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Tiananmen Square Protests
Demonstartions and protests start after the death of Hu Yaobang. Between the 21st and the 22nd of April up to a hundred thousand people demonstarted in Tiananmen Square for freedom and democracy. The students were seen as 'troublemakers' and the demonstartion as a 'counter-revolutionary rebellion'. -
Students begin hunger strike
Up to 3000 students began a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square on this day as part of the ongoing protests. -
People support the hunger strikers
A million people took to the streets to support the hunger strikers. The following day martial law was declared 'in some parts of Beijing'. Zhao Ziyang, General Secretary of the Communist Party, asked if some of the students demands could not be met, but was Deng Xiaoping refused. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Troops from the 27th Army were called in to end the protests and clear Tiananmen Square. The students resisited and the troops open fired. It is unclear how many were killed and wounded, though it is estimated to be in the thousands.
It was announced officially that there was no massacre and that the troops were defending themselvesater they were attacked by the students.