Do Now:

I. Reform in China• In the 1970s, Deng Xiaoping became the new

leader of China after the death of Mao Zedong.• Xiaoping had spent time in prison during the

Cultural Revolution, which made him want to reform China’s government and economy.

• Like Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, Xiaoping allowed for elements of capitalism or a free market to be introduced into China’s economy.

I. Reform in China Xiaoping’s program was called the Four

Modernizations and allowed for more decision making freedom in

1.) Agriculture 2.) Industry 3.) National Defense 4.) Science and Technology

II. Students Demand Political Freedom• While the Four Modernizations allowed for more

economic freedom, people in China did not have much political freedom.

• Like people in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, people in China started to demand more rights in the 1980s.

• Unlike other communist governments, China’s ruling communist party responded by cracking down on the protests through violence.

III. Tiananmen SquareIn 1989, inspired by events in Eastern Europe,

thousands of students gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the country’s capital.

The government responded by sending in the army to put down the protest.

It is estimated that anywhere from 800 to 4,000 protestors were killed.

In the present day political freedom is still severely restricted.

Ai Wei Wei

Artist currently under house

arrest in China