Word: tiananmen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...that the P.L.A. was being used against the people that they ambushed stray groups of soldiers with fire bombs, bricks, clubs, even bare hands. Later, outgunned and powerless, the resistance turned to words. In the shadow of the Beijing Hotel, a young man spotted a military helicopter hovering over Tiananmen and wrathfully wished destruction on it. "Fall down!" he cried. "Fall down!" Across the square, a worker stared angrily at a group of soldiers and muttered, "So many died, but not in vain. It's not over yet, just you wait. We'll get you in due time...
Other vengeful visions proved illusory. When units of the 38th Army, a contingent normally based in Baoding, rolled into the city three days after the Tiananmen bloodletting, residents cheered them on, hoping they would drive out the hated 27th. "Let it be blood for blood!" shouted bystanders. But the 38th Army supported the 27th and martial rule...
Constant and mysterious military movements stirred confusion and alarm. Tank convoys rumbled to the east, away from Tiananmen, only to return a few hours later. Armored vehicles were deployed at a strategic cloverleaf east of the square, as if awaiting attack by another military force. Rumors of skirmishes, even artillery duels between the "bad" 27th Army and the "good soldiers" of the 38th Army, fluttered through the capital. With fear of an armed confrontation rampant, foreign governments ordered the evacuation of their nationals. Beijing airport was packed with diplomats, tourists and businessmen waiting for tickets and specially chartered planes...
...fact, the expected confrontation between military factions never materialized. By the end of the week, 27th Army soldiers who had participated in the Tiananmen assault had decamped and were replaced by fresh troops from other regiments unconnected with the massacre. Only hours after Deng's appearance on TV, long columns of armor left the city. The military maneuvers served mainly to camouflage a deep political conflict. The massacre at Tiananmen may have been just a violent stage in the ongoing struggle of succession, not unlike the turmoil that has occurred throughout Chinese history whenever a dynasty waned...
...death of Hu last April precipitated a crisis. When expressions of grief sparked in Tiananmen the demands for greater democracy, differences between the factions left the leadership impotent to take a united stand on how to cope with an unprecedented event. As the leaders dithered, the protest swelled...