June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown · Full chronicle and history

On November 6, the Macau Court of First Instance sentenced 69-year-old former pro-democracy legislator and long-time organizer of June 4th memorial activities, Au Kam-san, to 12 years and 6 months in prison on charges of subversion of state power, colluding with foreign organizations to endanger national security, and violating confidentiality. This is the first national security criminal case since Macau's sovereignty handover. Au was arrested in July 2025 and tried behind closed doors in September this year. His family questioned the restrictions on his choice of legal counsel, and Human Rights Watch criticized the case for violating due process.

A netizen posted that their roommate needed to submit political vetting materials for their parents to apply for CCP membership, with one section requiring them to fill in their parents' performance during the 'June 4th turmoil'. The roommate, not understanding what this meant, asked Doubao (a product under ByteDance) and received the reply: 'I cannot answer this question.'

On October 14, 2026, Beijing time, the X account @clashreport released a secret interview recording allegedly from a survivor of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. In the recording, the interviewee describes scenes of the military firing on civilians, including the deaths of children, and states that people viewed the government as "barbaric" and "inhumane." The tweet received 16 likes and 4 retweets.

On October 10, a user posted a screen recording of the game Minecraft on Douyin, questioning why NetEase's chat system flags the number “64” as a violation when other players can send it normally.

On October 5, a TikTok blogger uploaded a number meme video; after comments that appeared to allude to 64 showed up in the comment section, it was blocked, and neither the video nor the account could be searched.

On October 5, a Douyin blogger uploaded a number meme video titled "68 and Its Two Goblin Neighbors." Comments suspected of alluding to June Fourth appeared in the comment section, after which the comment section was blocked, and neither the video nor the posting account could be found.

On October 3, a netizen posted that QQ Music was offering premium numbers for 68 yuan. Screenshots showed numbers from 19890601 to 19890603 and 19890605 on sale, with only 19890604 — corresponding to June 4, 1989 — missing, suspected to have been blocked due to censorship.

During the National Day holiday on October 1, TF Family trainee Yang Bowen posted a video of night-riding to Tiananmen in Beijing. It was deleted shortly after a fan member account reposted it; netizens speculated that the scene of cycling to Tiananmen evoked the famous footage of young people cycling to Tiananmen during the 1989 June Fourth student movement.

On September 30, a netizen in Zhejiang posted a video of a handmade model tank made to welcome National Day, with the words "Long Live the Chinese Communist Party" written on its side; some netizens in the comments section covertly alluded to the 1989 June Fourth incident through combinations of number-based idioms and comments such as "Deng Nian."

Chris Smith and John Moolenaar jointly wrote to the Acting Attorney General, asking to investigate whether the vandalism of the June Fourth Memorial Museum involves transnational repression by the Chinese government, and to strengthen coordination between federal and local law enforcement.

On June 3, 2026, on the eve of the 37th anniversary of the June Fourth incident, the candlelight vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong continued to be banned under the Hong Kong national security law, while overseas Hong Kongers and Taiwanese civic groups held a large-scale June Fourth memorial evening in relay at Liberty Square in Taipei.

On June 4, the 37th anniversary of the June Fourth incident, a netizen posted that three people spent a total of 192 yuan on a meal, but a WeChat group payment of 64 yuan could not be transferred, leaving them to eat the loss themselves, and complained that the Commies were making a big fuss.

On June 1, 2026, the Beijing Public Security Bureau formally notified the June Fourth victims' family group, the Tiananmen Mothers, that they are strictly forbidden from visiting Wan'an Cemetery on June 4 to mourn their killed relatives, changing a convention of many years and marking the first time in over 30 years that the victims' families have been completely banned from holding a public memorial.

Ahead of the June Fourth anniversary, the June Fourth Memorial in Los Angeles, California, was broken into and vandalized by unknown individuals. Multiple exhibits, walls, and display spaces were spray-painted, and the museum management has reported the incident to the FBI and Congress.

On June 4, 2007, the Chengdu Evening News published a classified advertisement paying tribute to the strong mothers of the June Fourth victims, after which three editors were fired.

On February 24, 2004, Jiang Yanyong wrote to the National People's Congress, the CPPCC, the leaders of the CCP Politburo and the State Council, calling for a reevaluation of June Fourth, 1989, and recounting what he witnessed at the 301 Hospital in treating the casualties.

On September 21, 1998, television networks broadcast footage of President Bill Clinton testifying before a federal grand jury, addressing his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and defending his denial of the affair.

Following the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, Deng Xiaoping ordered the official closure of Kanghua Company to isolate risks.

On June 21, 1989, Xu Guoming, Bian Hanwu, and Yan Xuerong, who had been sentenced to death in the Guangxin Road crossing incident in Shanghai, were executed. They had been sentenced to death in the first instance on June 15, and the West German ambassador to China had called for the three not to be put to death.

On June 15, 1989, the Shanghai Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xu Guoming, Bian Hanwu, and Yan Xuerong to death in the first instance, to be executed immediately, with political rights stripped for life; only 9 days elapsed from the case on June 6 to the verdict.

After the Guangxin Road crossing incident, Shanghai police arrested those involved, including Xu Guoming, Bian Hanwu, and Yan Xuerong. English-language materials say 11 people were arrested at the scene; the claim of dozens of arrests and nighttime raids from June 7 to 9 could not be verified.

In the early morning of June 5, 1989, students from some universities in Shanghai set up barriers and sat on the tracks around the Guangxin Road crossing on the Beijing–Shanghai Railway to obstruct rail traffic in protest of the June Fourth crackdown; more than 47 passenger trains were disrupted that day.

Chinese students and citizens gathered in Beijing Tiananmen Square to demand reforms, anti-corruption measures, and freedom, and were met with a military crackdown by troops and tanks.

As a power crisis loomed, Deng Xiaoping used tanks and machine guns to suppress the student movement, blocking China's path to freedom and democracy.

On June 15, 1989, Xu Guoming, Bian Hanwu, and Yan Xuerong were sentenced to death in the first instance by the Shanghai Intermediate People's Court for June Fourth, and were executed by firing squad on June 20, faster than in Beijing.

The 'Democracy Songs for China' concert was held in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, to support the student movement in Beijing. Andy Lau and others expressed their support via long-distance phone calls and appeared on the big screen.

After Li Peng announced martial law in Beijing, Jiang Zemin was the first to signal firm support for the martial law order to the Central Committee, sending a plaintext telegram in the early hours of May 20.

On May 4, 1989, reporters and editors from the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Guangming Daily, and China Youth Daily took to Chang'an Avenue, carrying banners demanding that the news must tell the truth.

During the June Fourth turmoil of 1989, Zhu Rongji broke with convention by appearing on television to make an appeal, saying that Shanghai was different from Beijing and that troops and police would not be deployed, and stating that no one could conceal the historical facts; this footage was later circulated repeatedly.

People’s Daily published an editorial titled “We must unequivocally oppose this unrest,” labeling the student movement as unrest.

Deng Xiaoping summoned Premier of the State Council Li Peng, labeling it as "turmoil", setting the tone for the subsequent clearing operation.

Because the World Economic Herald published an article commemorating Hu Yaobang, Shanghai Municipal Party Secretary Jiang Zemin ordered the article pulled and suspended editor-in-chief Qin Benli for self-reflection, sparking protests by journalists and students.

On March 8, 1989, Li Peng issued a martial law decree for Lhasa on behalf of the State Council, following Deng Xiaoping's approval of martial law in Tibet, preventive arrests, and the decision that journalists and cadres could be shot on the spot; troops entered Lhasa on March 7.

In 1989, Zhao Ziyang bluntly told visiting Gorbachev that Deng Xiaoping was the absolute authority ruling from behind the curtain. During the June Fourth period, as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, he was unwilling to order the massacre, and was therefore politically purged.

The Chinese Communist Party's attempt to abolish the dual-track system and implement price reform triggered panic buying and severe inflation, becoming a major economic background for the outbreak of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

At the end of 1986, student unrest erupted nationwide; students from more than ten universities in Shanghai took to the streets, and Jiang Zemin responded with a carrot-and-stick policy.

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party adopted the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, repudiating the Cultural Revolution and distinguishing Mao Zedong's later errors from Mao Zedong Thought.

Lin Biao, the successor handpicked by Mao Zedong, was accused of staging a coup and died in 1971 in a plane crash shrouded in mystery while flying to Moscow.

The Comintern dispatched Kinski to China, assisting Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in founding the Chinese Communist Party.

Yuan Shikai died in 1916, and his attempt to declare himself emperor ended with him; subsequently, China entered the Warlord Era.