China And Democracy
During the 1980’s, China came under the rule of a new man. His name was
Deng
Xiaoping. China’s culture and views on trade were greatly influenced
by Deng,
yet he failed in establishing a democratic China. Contrary to many
people’s
beliefs, Deng did not create any democracy in China. The event that
occurred at
Tiennamen Square shows how much that Deng would rather give
in to the people of
China. June 5th, 1989 is a day that will live in
infamy and shame for many
Chinese. Many citizens of China gathered in
Tiennamen Square to protest
communism and promote the acceptance of
democracy. The freedom found in
democracy was a dream that many Chinese had
because they lived in communism for
all of their lives. Many of the teachers
and students at the rally had actually
experienced the wonders of democracy
first hand on visits to America. The
protestors were determined to get their
point across to the government and the
Chinese public that did not know
that they could live in freedom. Along with a
30 foot statue dubbed the
"Goddess of Democracy", the protestors brought
along radios that played the
speeches of their democratic heroes. The protestors
held their meetings at a
local Kentucky Fried Chicken. Since the protestors
refused to leave the
squared, the government sent armed men and tanks to help
with the
negotiations. Just as 17 tanks lined up to get ready to execute
the
protestors, a man stepped in front of the line of tanks and refused to
move.
This courageous man’s name was believed to be Wang Weilin. As the
tanks tried
to move around Wang, he proceeded to step in from of them,
stopping their
ability to move forward and hurt the other protestors. Wang
then did something
that shocked everyone, especially the Chinese Government.
He jumped up onto the
lead tank and peeked inside and said something to the
driver of the tank that
made the driver stop trying to move ahead. This
outraged the Chinese government
so much that they had everyone in the square
killed. This massacre proved that
freedom should definitely not be taken for
granted because people give up their
lives so that their descendants can live
without the worries of communism. Now,
in Tiennamen Square, a large statue of
Mao Tse Tung stands, and it is a very
popular statue, not only because it
represents China’s most influential
leader, it shows that China is so
ignorant as to wash away the blood at
Tiennamen Square and try to cleanse
it with a symbol of China’s lack of
freedom. A small step towards democracy
has taken place in China’s lowest
government. Village officials are now
elected by the citizens of the village.
Although the officials are
elected, the candidates have to be chosen by the
local communist party. This,
in many ways, is just a false sense of freedom
given by the government. Deng
Xiaoping predicted that China’s highest form of
government would not see free
election for at least 50 years. But there is new
action being taken by Jaing,
China’s new leader. Jaing is currently working
with the United States to
bring China closer to
democracy.