Tiananmen Uprising
Post-war World
From: Kate Merkel-Hess
History Standards: 10.10
Students analyze instances of nation-building in the contemporary world in at least two of the following regions or countries: the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and China.
CCSS Standards:
CCSS RH 6. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.
Guiding Question: How did the Chinese state remain authoritarian despite public advocacy for reform?
Overview of Lesson:
View the iconic footage of Tiananmen Square: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU
Ask students what they know about this moment and what they think it might be about.
2. The class engages in HOT Lesson, Tiananmen Uprising, located below
Name________________________
The 1989 Tiananmen Uprising
Part One: The 1989 Tiananmen Uprising
New Words
rationing: to distribute equally
summit: a meeting between high-level officials
hunger strike: the refusal to eat food—to the point of death—in order to protest something
In the late 1970s political leader Deng Xiaoping began to implement a series of economic reforms. By the late 1980s, those economic changes had begun to have both positive and negative impacts. People living in rural areas had more freedom to pursue side-line employments and buy and sell their own land. Chinese people had greater freedom in choosing their own jobs.
Hu Yaobang’s funeral was the catalyst for the 1989 protests.
However, for many people the economic reforms meant less economic security. Unlike their parents, who received government-appointed
jobs after graduation, high school and college students in the late 1980s were not guaranteed employment. Moreover, grain production fell as many
peasants moved to the cities, even while the population continued to grow. As a result, prices rose rapidly and
the government had to start 
