On June 4, 1989, the Chinese government sent military troops and tanks into Tiananmen Square in Beijing to end weeks of pro-democracy protests led largely by students and workers. The crackdown killed hundreds of people, and by some estimates, thousands. The exact death toll has never been officially confirmed. The protests had been building since April, sparked by the death of a reformist Communist Party leader and fueled by widespread frustration over corruption, inflation, and the absence of