The Monument to the People’s Heroes

Fall, 1980	September 27, 2005
The monument stands in the center of Tian An Men Square. The square had long been a site of protests and repression. On May 4, 1919, a protest by students resulted in mass arrests. The students were protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I and gave German-controlled portions of China to Japan. The treaty was seen as extending China’s humiliation and exploitation by foreign powers. The ensuing “May 4th Movement” of sympathy protests throughout China was sparked by deep-seated Chinese resentment of Western imperialism. Just over four years prior to the time of this photo, on the Qing Ming festival of mourning ( April 5, 1976), two million people gathered, defying government prohibitions, to mourn the death of Zhou Enlai, and placed wreaths and poems at the Monument to the People’s Heros in Tian An Men Square. Many of the poems were sharply critical of the “Gang of Four,” who controlled the government at the time, and the event became a massive protest against the Gang of Four. The wreaths and poems were removed during the night, sparking a huge, spontaneous protest the next day. Militia were sent to the square, beating around a hundred protesters to death, and arresting thousands. The event became known as the “Tian An Men Incident,” and led to the downfall of the Gang of Four after the death of Chairman Mao later that year. This event can be seen as the turning point from which China opened to the outside world, and embarked on a series of economic reforms that have continued essentially unbroken for more than a quarter century.	The Monument, where protestors laid wreaths at the beginnings of both the 1976 and 1989 “Tian An Men Incident(s)”, is now cordoned off and closely guarded to keep the public about 100 meters from its base. Security is tight, with army guards (and I’m sure plain-clothes security men) everywhere. The government clearly has decided to prevent protests, such as those that escalated to the unbelievable carnage the world witnessed in 1989, from ever getting started by removing this focal point for protests from public access. Security all around the square is tight, and very obvious. To be sure, today there are far fewer reasons to protest. Many of the reforms being demanded in 1989 have quietly been put in place. Corruption is still a problem, but it seems like China has turned the corner on getting it under control. The rampant inflation of the late 1980’s has been replaced with a stable currency, enormous trade surpluses, and a general overall economic boom that has greatly improved the lives of most people, while at the same time providing the industrialized world with an abundance of consumer goods at rock-bottom prices. The first three quarters of the twentieth century consisted of almost uninterrupted war and political chaos for China. With the exception of the short-lived chaos in 1989, the last quarter century has been the longest period of political and economic stability China has had in a very long time. The Chinese people have responded to the opportunity and stability by unleashing a latent entrepreneurism that may surprise anyone who ever tried to get service in one of the state-run stores in the days before the reforms took hold. Certainly many people have faired much less-well than others, however, so a serious economic downturn or other crisis could challenge the current stability.