Jeffrey Wasserstrom

potential intellectual leaders of the country and admiration for scholars is part of this that people turn out when students protest, something very different from the American case where there's a kind of often suspicious of student activists being necessarily on the same side as everybody else. But in China, there had been from the history of the 20th century, a sense of

students as potentially a vanguard. So once there are labor activists joining the movement, then troops are called in and there's a massacre near Tiananmen Square on the middle of the night of June 3rd and early June 4th.

students as potentially a vanguard. So once there are labor activists joining the movement, then troops are called in and there's a massacre near Tiananmen Square on the middle of the night of June 3rd and early June 4th.

students as potentially a vanguard. So once there are labor activists joining the movement, then troops are called in and there's a massacre near Tiananmen Square on the middle of the night of June 3rd and early June 4th.

And the army just moves in and begins behaving very much like an army of occupation, which is something the People's Liberation Army is supposed to be the one that saves China from foreign aggression. And they're acting like an invading force.

And the army just moves in and begins behaving very much like an army of occupation, which is something the People's Liberation Army is supposed to be the one that saves China from foreign aggression. And they're acting like an invading force.

And the army just moves in and begins behaving very much like an army of occupation, which is something the People's Liberation Army is supposed to be the one that saves China from foreign aggression. And they're acting like an invading force.

The tanks roll in, and I think also you have that famous image of the man standing in front of the tank that's a banned image within China. And I really think the reason why it's considered so toxic by the regime is because it just shows the People's Liberation Army looking like an invading force, not like a stabilizing force.

The tanks roll in, and I think also you have that famous image of the man standing in front of the tank that's a banned image within China. And I really think the reason why it's considered so toxic by the regime is because it just shows the People's Liberation Army looking like an invading force, not like a stabilizing force.

The tanks roll in, and I think also you have that famous image of the man standing in front of the tank that's a banned image within China. And I really think the reason why it's considered so toxic by the regime is because it just shows the People's Liberation Army looking like an invading force, not like a stabilizing force.

It's an amazing symbol. You know, he's on this boulevard near the square with this long line of tanks. And it's unquestionably this act of incredible bravery. And there's some interesting things about it, some that are forgotten. One is that in the end, he climbs up on the tank and the tank swerves, you know, it doesn't run him over.

It's an amazing symbol. You know, he's on this boulevard near the square with this long line of tanks. And it's unquestionably this act of incredible bravery. And there's some interesting things about it, some that are forgotten. One is that in the end, he climbs up on the tank and the tank swerves, you know, it doesn't run him over.

It's an amazing symbol. You know, he's on this boulevard near the square with this long line of tanks. And it's unquestionably this act of incredible bravery. And there's some interesting things about it, some that are forgotten. One is that in the end, he climbs up on the tank and the tank swerves, you know, it doesn't run him over.

And the Chinese Communist Party initially showed video of this and said, look, the Western press is talking about how vicious we were, but look at the restraint. Look at this. He wasn't mowed down. And they tried this whole story with Tiananmen initially of saying, look, The students were out of control. Everybody should remember what happened during the Cultural Revolution.

And the Chinese Communist Party initially showed video of this and said, look, the Western press is talking about how vicious we were, but look at the restraint. Look at this. He wasn't mowed down. And they tried this whole story with Tiananmen initially of saying, look, The students were out of control. Everybody should remember what happened during the Cultural Revolution.

And the Chinese Communist Party initially showed video of this and said, look, the Western press is talking about how vicious we were, but look at the restraint. Look at this. He wasn't mowed down. And they tried this whole story with Tiananmen initially of saying, look, The students were out of control. Everybody should remember what happened during the Cultural Revolution.

And the army showed restraint. And there were a small number of soldiers who were actually burned alive in their tanks. Once the massacre began, people got outraged and they attacked the soldiers. But by selective use of footage, the Communist Party could say, look, actually, look at this. The heroes, the martyrs were these soldiers.

And the army showed restraint. And there were a small number of soldiers who were actually burned alive in their tanks. Once the massacre began, people got outraged and they attacked the soldiers. But by selective use of footage, the Communist Party could say, look, actually, look at this. The heroes, the martyrs were these soldiers.

And the army showed restraint. And there were a small number of soldiers who were actually burned alive in their tanks. Once the massacre began, people got outraged and they attacked the soldiers. But by selective use of footage, the Communist Party could say, look, actually, look at this. The heroes, the martyrs were these soldiers.

And they try for the first months after it to try to get this narrative to stick. They talk about Tiananmen a lot. They talk about these things. They show images of the tank man. The problem with it is that lots and lots of people around Beijing had seen what happened and knew that, in fact, there had first been the firing on unarmed civilians with automatic weapons.