Tienanman

Though the Tienanman Square Movement is considered a student movement, I think the government decided to respond to the people so violently was because they believed without doing so, they were allowing the people more freedom than they had ever intended to give them. Ten years before the movement, an act like this would be quickly subdued and all who followed it would be severly government. But around the time when the movement happened, the government had become more lax in enforcing the laws. The government also had realized that the information about the movement was reaching other nations, and they didn't want this to happen. They wanted to control the media and their international image seen by other countries. The other threat that the Chinese Government felt was because so many people joined the movement. The movement began as student led, however many regular citizens had joined after seeing the students actions. The movement had begun to threaten the Communist party, and they felt it was time to subdue it.

The reforms did not stop altogether after the movement. Deng had decided to appease the people minimally by stopping the political reforms within the country, however he refused to halt the economic reforms within China.

There are "two Chinas" in existence according to the film. One is a richer, more modern China which those who belong to this group benefit greatly. The other China is a more poor, "disenfranchized" China, in which the peasant groups are constantly rebelling against the government, but seemingly to no avail.