Product Description

This is a unique, day-by-day, hour-by-hour reconstruction of the massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989, as well as of the crucial events in Beijing during the previous weeks that largely precipitated the massacre. The author focuses on the army (the People's Liberation Army), which, with its motto 'Serve the People', had always prided itself on its close ties to the civilian population. What were the intentions of the Chinese government in mobilizing the army against civilians? Why did the troops act as they did, and what does this say about how the army would act on the next such occasion? How does the military suppression of the democracy movement help us to understand China's current predicament concerning democratization and human rights?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444167 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Eyewitness reports, hospital records and student documents buttress this authoritative study of the birth, development and sudden death of the 1989 Democracy movement in China. The book's centerpiece is a detailed reconstruction of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 3 and 4, 1989. Brook explains the catalytic effect of General Secretary Hu Yaobang's death, defines the rationale behind the student hunger strikes and the goverment's imposition of martial law, and describes the styrofoam statue of the Goddess of Democracy as a "brilliant gesture" on the students' part. Brook establishes that between two and three thousand citizzens of Beijing were slaughtered by the People's Army, which was acting on orders from the highest civilian authority (i.e., Deng Xiaoping), and that at one point China was on the brink of civil war as army units threatened to turn against one another. Brook has uncovered detailed material revealing how government propagandists attempted to whitewash the bloody events of Tiananmen Square even as the long process of arrests and repression began. Brook is associate professor of history at the University of Toronto. (Sept.)do you happen to have a spare copy of this one, gen? /pre/alas, no. but ifyou'll give Sam Baker a note requesting this--include author, publisher and pub date, as we get closer to the time when finished books are likely to be available, we'll request a copy for you.gs
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre shocked the world. While publications on the event are numerous, most have concentrated on analyzing the political system, evaluating the strategy of the student-led democratic movement, and speculating on the future of China. Brook's book has a more moderate goal, setting out to "establish a reasonable record of the historical incident" and to "chronicle and evaluate the use of violence against civilians." With the tight control of official media of the Chinese government and the numerous, often contradictory eyewitness accounts, the author seeks to avoid the deflation of the government's distorted reports as well as the inflation of the activists' emotional accounts. He has worked with newspaper articles, eyewitness memoirs, interviews, and government documents to reconstruct a fairly detailed chronicle of the incident distinguished by the craft and objectivity of a historian. Recommended for academic libraries.
- Mark Meng, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Customer Reviews

A true historical, non-sensational view of the tragedy.
The Tiananmen square tragedy can be analyzed, according to Brook, as the result of a single order from the CCP for the PLA to attack civilians. The PLA members and leaders could individually question the order, but once it was given, the order commanded the PLA as a unit to uphold its mandate to protect the CCP from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Therefore, the soldiers, given only deadly weapons with which to protect the party, necessarily did so with deadly force. Unlike other analyses of tragedies that have been produced recently, such as Iris Chang's 'Rape of Nanking' with all its errors, this is an actual work of history that traces the order to attack back to its origin, and therefore answers the painful question of how the party claiming to be the dictatorship of the proletariat could through its military might against its own people. Avoiding sensationalism, Brook analyzes what happened and why without overstepping the bounds of reasonable conjecture. Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone interested in understanding the tragedy of May Fifth.