In the song, "hypnotize" by system of a down, they reference tinammen square, what is/ what happened there?

Answer 1

It happened 18 or 19 years ago - I watched it on TV. Some students (thousands, actually) in China were having a peaceful demonstration asking for democracy, and the Chinese government brutally stopped the demonstration.

Do a search for Tianammen (SP) Square, and you can get the full story.

JCL - it wasn't a bulldozer the student stood in front of - it was a Chinese Tank!!! That's probably the one image that pretty much sums up the whole event.

Answer 2

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, June 4th Incident, or the Political Turmoil between Spring and Summer of 1989 by the Chinese government, were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals and labour activists in the People's Republic of China between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989, leaving (according to Chinese authorities) between 2000 and 3000 civilians dead, and between 7,000 and 10,000 injured. An initial report from local hospitals put the number at around 2,000 dead.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

Since 1978, Deng Xiaoping had led a series of economic and political reforms which had led to the gradual implementation of a market economy and some political liberalization that relaxed the system set up by Mao Zedong. By early 1989, these economic and political reforms had led two groups of people to become dissatisfied with the government.

The first group included students and intellectuals, who believed that the reforms had not gone far enough and that China needed to reform its political systems, since the economic reforms had only affected farmers and factory workers; the incomes of intellectuals lagged far behind those who had benefited from reform policies. They were upset at the social and political controls that the Communist Party of China still held. In addition, this group saw the political liberalization that had been undertaken in the name of glasnost by Mikhail Gorbachev. The second group were those, including urban industrial workers, who believed that the reforms had gone too far. The loosening economic controls had begun to cause inflation and unemployment, which threatened their livelihood.

In 1989, the primary supporters of the government were rural peasants who had seen their incomes increase considerably during the 1980s as a result of the Party's reforms. However, this support was limited in usefulness because rural peasants were distributed across the countryside. In contrast to urban dwellers who were organized into schools and work units, peasant supporters of the government remained largely unorganized and difficult to mobilize.

The Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 were in large measure sparked by the death of former Secretary General Hu Yaobang. Hu Yaobang's "resignation" from the position of Secretary General of the CPC had been announced on January 16, 1987. His forthright calls for "rapid reform and his almost open contempt of Maoist excesses" had made him a suitable scapegoat in the eyes of Deng Xiaoping and others, after the pro-democracy student protests of 1986-1987 (Spence 1999, 685). Included in his resignation was also a "humiliating self-criticism", which he was forced to issue by the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Hu Yaobang's sudden death, due to heart attack, on April 15, 1989 provided an opportunity for the students to gather once again, not just to mourn the deceased Secretary General, but also to have their voices heard in "demanding a reversal of the verdict against him" and bringing renewed attention to the important issues of the 1986-1987 pro-democracy protests and possibly also to those of the Democracy Wall protests in 1978-1979 (Spence 1999, 697).

Answer 4

44,000 in HK hold candlelight vigil to remember Tiananmen victims
Monday, June 5, 2006 at 06:50 EDT

HONG KONG — About 44,000 people turned out Sunday at a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park to commemorate those who died in the 1989 crackdown on the democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the organizer of the gathering said.


Hope this helps

Answer 5

They are probably talking about what happen in 1989 when student protests were held there. In one particular event, one student had managed to stand in fron of a bulldozer! luckily , the bulldozer stopped and couldn't go any further since the student kept blocking them.

Answer 6

the chinese government mowed down student protesters in a brute showing of force against their demonstration.

Answer 7

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/79-104/Readings/Gallery/Gallery1/HWC1032.jpg

Answer 8

I don't know.......
but I love "B.Y.O.B."