On June 4, 1989, the Chinese People's Liberation Army executed a violent military crackdown to end weeks of peaceful, student-led pro-democracy demonstrations centered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Heavily armed troops and tanks advanced through the capital's streets, using live ammunition to forcibly suppress the massive crowds demanding political reform, freedom of speech, and an end to state corruption. While the tragedy is universally titled the Tiananmen Square massacre, the most devastati