Words that Killed Thousands - April 26, 1989

About this episode

The episode discusses the events surrounding the Chinese Communist Party's editorial on April 26, 1989, which led to a significant and tragic escalation in the Tiananmen Square protests.

On April 26, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party published a single front-page editorial, and a movement that was fading became a massacre that killed hundreds, possibly thousands. But the story of that editorial is far more complicated than a hero-versus-villain narrative: a terrified leadership, a reform-minded general secretary on a plane to North Korea, students who were called conspirators before they had a chance to be anything else, and a playbook for silencing dissent that governments are still using today.

People in this episode

Host: Richard G Backus

Topics covered

• Chinese history
• Tiananmen Square
• political dissent
• government control
• massacre
• editorial impact

Keywords

• Chinese Communist Party
• April 26, 1989
• massacre
• Tiananmen Square
• political dissent
• editorial
• government control

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Chinese Communist Party

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