June 4th, 1989 marks the tragic end of the Tiananmen Square protests. We often picture the event as a single day, but a series of demonstrations had been held in or near the famous Square since April 14. Mainly led by students and intellectuals, the protests should have marked the beginning of change for China. 1989 was a year that saw the collapse of communist governments around the globe, and the oppressed serfs of China saw hope. They felt their time had come.

The spark that caused it all was the death of a pro-market and pro-democracy government official, Hu Yao Bang. The protestors gathered to mourn his passing, and by the eve of his funeral the crowds had swelled to over 100,000 people in the Square. True to spontaneous order, there was no unified cause or central leadership behind the protests, but everywhere participants were calling for economic change and democratic reform. Neither were the protests confined to Tiananmen, but scattered across all of China. The movement lasted seven weeks from Hu’s death in April until the military moved in on June fourth. Exasperated by the stubborn protestors and ever more fearful of the growing restlessness in the public, the Communist leaders resolved to end the threat swiftly and violently. Armored Personnel Carriers and troops, bayonets fixed onto their guns, pushed their way past flimsy barricades and invaded the Square. Eyewitnesses report soldiers spraying bullets into the crowds, pulling students out of buses and beating them with heavy sticks, and finally, tanks mowing over helpless civilians. By sunrise, the square had been completely cleared.

The morning after has been immortalized in the video footage of a lone man in a white shirt standing in the paths of the tanks as they left the square, defiantly blocking their way on – ironically enough – the Avenue of Eternal Peace. All alone, he stood before a line of six tanks and refused to step aside. Eventually he was pulled away by the police, and never seen again. In all likelihood he was murdered. The Western world has dubbed him ‘Tank Man’ and he is named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century.

The true death toll of the Tiananmen Square Massacre was never discovered. Chinese officials admit to 241 casualties, while outsider groups estimate from three to seven thousand. Whatever the number may be, it’s too high. It’s a tragedy that should have never happened, but once it did, worldwide attention focused on China and its terrible oppressions. Protests sprung up around the globe. For the first time, millions of people saw China – and authoritarianism – for what it really was.