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This compelling book, now in a thoroughly revised and expanded anniversary edition, provides a vivid first-hand account of the student demonstrations and violent crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Uniquely placed as a Western observer drawn into active participation through Chinese friends in the uprising, Philip J Cunningham offers a remarkable day-by-day account of Beijing students desperately trying to secure the most coveted political real estate in China in the face of ever-more daunting government countermoves. He brings to life the story of the demonstrations, from the tentative early marches to the huge outpouring of support, from the hunger strikes and jostling for influence among student leaders, to the senseless bloody crackdown. This remarkable testament to a searing Beijing spring that changed China forever serves witness to the rise and fall of an uprising, capturing the plaintive and lyrical beauty of a dream that endures and continues to haunt the country today.
List of contents
Prologue to the 25th Anniversary Edition: Tiananmen: Trying to Remember, Trying to Forget
Preface
Part I: New Moon
May 3 (AM): Blue Skies over Tiananmen
May 3 (PM): In Search of the Real China
May 4 (AM): The New May Fourth Spirit
May 4 (PM): Running with Rebels
May 10 (AM): Ten Thousand Bicycles
May 10 (PM): People's Daily
Part II: Waxing Moon
May 13 (AM): Democracy Walls
May 13 (PM): Hunger Strike
May 14 (AM): Sun and Stars
May 14 (PM): Overnight Vigil
May 15 (AM): Food for Fasters
May 15 (PM): Looking for Gorbachev
May 16: Working-Class Heroes
May 17: Rising Tide of Rebellion
May 18 (AM): Water Strike
May 18 (PM): Criminal Elements
May 19 (AM): The New Red Guards
May 19 (PM): Breaking the Fast
Part III: Waning Moon
May 20: Martial Law
May 22: Provincial Vagabonds
May 23: Egg on the Face of Mao
May 24: Tiananmen Headquarters
May 26: Radical Camp
May 27: BBC Does the Countryside
May 28: Last Will and Testament
May 28: Clandestine Interview
May 28: Going Underground
May 28: Midnight Rendezvous
May 29: The Goddess
Part IV: No Moon
June 2 (Night): Troops Are Coming
June 3 (Morning): Behind the Great Hall
June 3 (Evening): Point of No Return
June 3 (Night): Of Tanks and Men
June 3-4: Eve of Destruction
June 4: The Sky Is Crying
Afterword
About the author
By Philip J Cunningham
