"To yield would mean our end": The Political Repression of Chinese Students after Tiananmen

Abstract

Following the military suppression of the Democracy Movement, the Chinese government enacted politically repressive policies against Chinese students both within China and overseas. After the suppression of the Democracy Movement, officials in the Chinese government made a correlation between the political control of students and the maintenance of political power by the Chinese Communist Party. The political repression of students in China resulted in new educational policies that changed the way that universities functioned and the way that students were allowed to interact. Political repression efforts directed at the large population of overseas Chinese students in the United States prompted governmental action to extend legal protection to these students. The long term implications of this repression are evident in the changed student culture among Chinese students and the extensive number of overseas students who did not return to China. Although some of the issues concerns raised during the Democracy Movement have been alleviated through economic reforms and moderate political concessions, implications of the post-June 4 political repression continue to resurface in current events over twenty years later. While the means of repression have changed, the contention surrounding pro-democracy activism largely remains the same.