In April 1989, Chinese students began protesting on Beijing's Tiananmen Square to demand democratic reforms and an end to corruption. The rallies, sparked by the death of reformist Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, quickly grew into mass pro-democracy demonstrations. On June 4, 1989, the Chinese military launched a violent crackdown against the protesters. The government has never released an official death toll, but estimates range from the hundreds to the thousands.
PHOTO PACKAGE: A Look Back At The Crackdown On Tiananmen Square 1989
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file -- Tiananmen Square Protests 1989 -- A student brushes his teeth amid the garbage in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Friday, May 26, 1989.
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file -- Tiananmen Square Protests 1989 -- Students rest in the litter of Tiananmen Square, May 28, 1989, in Beijing, as their strike for government reform enters its third week. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener)
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Demonstrators camp out in tents during the mass protest movement and decorate the new tents in a Tiananmen Square camp with a banner and Mao portrait, Monday, May 29, 1989, Beijing, China. The tents were donated by a Hong Kong university. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener)
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Demonstrators gather around a replica of the Statue of Liberty (back center) on June 2, defying the declaration of martial law and orders to leave the square.