Protests in Beijing's Tiananmen square began on began on April 15, 1989. The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu Yaobang in April 1989 in the midst of rapid economic development and social change in post-Mao China.
The protestors had constructed a 10-meter tall (33 Ft.) statue they called the "Goddess of Democracy " which the sculptors said was inspired by the work of Soviet sculptor Vera Mukhina. Reportedly up to one million people participated in the protests. The Statue was toppled by tanks when the Chinese government ordered Tiananmen square to be forcibly cleared two days later on June 4th. More
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Attribution: Photo by Jiří Tondl (Blow up), CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
