Source A is similar to source C. They both show that many students demonstrated in Tiananmen Square. Also in source A the students are said to have led a ‘peaceful’ protest, in the photograph in source C it shows how students listening to each other and interacting with each other. There is no sign of violence.
The source is a bit inaccurate. It says that the mood was ‘entirely peaceful’. We know this is not true because various other accounts say about how students threw rocks and cocktails at the tanks and soldiers and set fire to busses in order to make the road blocks more efficient. The reason for this inaccuracy might be because the source is a bit biased. The source comes from a something written by a British historian, Harriet Ward, and therefore there is a great probability that she will be against the Chinese government and their actions. The reason why she and so many other people hated the Chinese government is because they live in a country where people have freedom. There is a democracy, no corruption, a fair government and free press. All these things people take for granted but the Chinese students have risked their lives in order to obtain these things. Harriet Ward and many others want the Chinese people to have the opportunity to experience this same freedom. Britain has gone to wars and sacrificed millions of people’s lives in order to stop a dictatorship, such as what Hitler was trying to create and therefore World War II occurred.
Source A is very brief on a few things. Such as what the problems and were that the new policies brought about. The problems that the new policies brought about were great inequalities between the rich and poor. This inequality emerged because Deng allowed private businesses and companies to keep any profit that they made for themselves. Moreover, he re-opened the peasant market which enabled peasants to sell any extra produce and keep the money that they had earned for themselves. This inequality was against everything that communism stood for. Another problem that arose due to the new policies was overcrowding in towns and cities. Rural poverty lead to many peasants migrating into the towns and cities nearby, they thought that their standard of living would improve their due to better employment and higher wages. However, this was not the case. Towns and cities became overcrowded due to their not being enough houses to house all the migrants. This led to shanty towns emerging and environmental damage and an increase in crime. Also, there wasn’t enough employment in the cities to keep up with the rising demand for jobs, caused by the ever increasing number of migrants. This led to prostitution, not exactly a better standard of living.
A limitation of the source is the fact that it doesn’t tell us about what happened around Tiananmen Square. It only briefly describes what happened inside the square. Therefore there is nothing included about all the road blocks that were set up, or the retreat of the troops to the outskirts of the city after their attempt of getting into the city.
Source B
Source B is useful to historians because it gives us an insight into what the Chinese people of the time would have seen. The source tells us that the urban households were bigger consumers of electrical devices, such as radios and television, and other household items and goods that would improve the standard of living. This source shows us why people moved from rural areas to urban areas, they believed that their standard of living would be improved in the cities of China. This mass migration of peasants seeking work in the cities caused crime, overcrowding, shanty towns and inequality. The Tiananmen Square demonstrators were demonstrating in order to get rid of these things. They also wanted a more western lifestyle, when people had a taste of freedom they suddenly wanted more. After 20 years of Maoismic ideas, people were allowed to play western music and concerts were allowed. Singers like Wham and Roxette were finally allowed to play to a non selected audience and weren’t told what to sing and what not to sing. All of these things gave people a very delicious taste of the western lifestyle. The Chinese people loved it and demanded more. The power of this demand was seen in Tiananmen Square. However, the source does not really tell us directly about the causes or events that caused the Tiananmen Square incident. Therefore, this source is not of much of use as it is not directly related with the Tiananmen Square incident. But we can still draw conclusions by putting in our own pieces of the puzzle.
Source B could be wildly inaccurate because the report was released by the government. From previous accounts, such as the great leap forwards or the building of Dazbai, we have learnt that the Chinese government is prepared to lie to its people in order to not look bad. They want to make the people believe that they are constantly making progress and that the average standard of living will be improved for everyone; weather in big towns or small villages. During the ‘Great leap forward’ the government told everyone to make steel. So everyone stopped producing crops and made steel, this steel was very impure and could not be used. The country fell into a great time of starvation and poverty but the government tried to cover it up as well as possible. Another example of the Chinese government lying to its people was when they told the people that the Dazbai commune was built by many hard-working, loyal communist farmers. This was not the case; Dazbai was built by the army and cost the government millions of Jen. However, they lied to the people in order to motivate them and encourage them to be good communists and work harder for the good of the country. So from this report, we can only say that what has the greatest probability to be true is the fact that, according to the report also, that living conditions in urban areas were much better than those in rural areas.
A limitation of the source is the fact that, as mentioned before, it could be a lie and is not related to Tiananmen Square. It is biased. Also, it doesn’t tell us why the conditions improved. It states only figures.
Source C
Source C is very useful to historians studying the causes and events of Tiananmen Square. This is due to one simple reason, it is proof that there really were demonstrations and that they consisted of thousands of people. On top of that, the photograph proofs to us that students were involved in the demonstrations and that it lasted a very long time. Students from all over mainland China came to Tiananmen Square, by means of free bus travel; generously offered by most bus drivers as their thank-you to the students for being brave and showing popular feeling. The trigger that made the students want to demonstrate in the Square was the death of their one great hope of democracy, Hu Yaobang. This man was probably the only man with any influential power to make a difference. He was the link between the students and the government. His death was not only a massive blow to the students and a huge setback towards their goal, but it probably made them realise that they needed to fight for their dreams themselves now. There is no one to rely on any more.
Source C is similar to sources A- it says that ‘thousands of students and Beijing residents demonstrated against the government by occupying Tiananmen Square’- Source D- ‘all those in Tiananmen Square-, Source E- ‘troops launched an all-out assault in Tiananmen Square’, this shows that there were protestors in Tiananmen Square. Sources F and G also correspond with what the picture is showing us, students in Tiananmen Square. All these similarities in the different sources can lead to only one conclusion, the demonstration in Tiananmen Square happened, and it involved students.
A limitation to this source is the obvious fact that it is only a photograph. And therefore only catches one moment in time, it does not give us an insight into what happened around Tiananmen Square. It doesn’t show or tell. We don’t know what the students are talking about and exactly what event was taking place at that moment.
Source D
Source D is useful to a historian studying the Tiananmen Square incident because it tells us about one of the causes of the incident. It tells us that corruption was one of the main causes of the incident. It says ‘absolute power corrupted absolutely’ which means that the Chinese people respected the power that the Chinese government had, but they thought that it had been poisoned with corruption. Many thought the Chinese government was corrupt because nepotism was being seen among the leaders of the party. Nepotism is when an important figure, such as Deng, allows only his friends and family into the top jobs. And by doing that people like Deng have built an invisible barrier between the rich and poor, it was almost impossible for the poor to enter into the world of the rich and lead decent lives themselves. Unless you had good connections within the top jobs then you would have to carry on leading a lower class life. This great division between the rich and poor defies everything that communism stands for. One of the main reasons as to why the Chinese people allowed communism was because they were promised equality among the citizens of China.
Another reason as to why the Chinese thought that corruption was dwelling among the Chinese leaders was because during the memorial service of Hu Yaobang, a great figure who was seen by the students of China as the one man that could make a difference and bring in democracy into the Chinese government, a few students tried to press a petition into the hands of Li Peng and other government officials as they made their way into the great hall but the government officials refused to take the petition. This refusal was taken as a sign of how detached the government had become of the people. The CCP were meant to be a party of the people. Now they had completely stopped listening to them. Their only concern was keeping their power-another sign of corruption.
This source is similar to other sources such as source A, which also states corruption as being one of the reasons for the protest.