Tiananmen's long legacy

Book review - Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest

I read Vijay Gokhale’s recent book on the events leading up to the Tiananmen Square incident of June 4, 1989 with special interest. Several years ago, while serving in the Indian Embassy in Beijing like the author, I was eyewitness to the first Tiananmen incident of April 1976. In many ways, the second incident was a replay of the first. In 1976, it was the death of Premier Zhou Enlai, and the ensuing intra-party factional struggle that led to crowds gathering at the famous square and laying wreaths to pay homage to the late Premier. In 1989 it was the