Cracked China: A Look at the History and Impact of the June 4 Incident When images of the events that occurred in Beijing, China on the 4 June 1989, were broadcast worldwide. , many eyes witnessed a massacre. A collective cry for democracy had echoed throughout the city, and the sound that returned was that of gunshots. People from all walks of life who had united for a single cause were now fleeing in terror from the armed arms of a government supposedly working in their best interests. A number of courageous citizens filmed the horrific clash between the people's hopes and an iron blockade of oppression, and it is from these desperately filmed moments that the world at large draws its perspective on the treatment of its people by Communist China. The events they described became known around the world as the "Tiananmen Square Massacre", and from that point on, the Western view of China's heartland began to become muddled. It is becoming difficult to understand the impact the incident had on those involved and on China as a whole. Twenty years after the events of 1989, the grip of the communist regime has not relaxed on the Chinese people. Since the formation of communism in China, students have continually been persecuted for expressing their beliefs about their government. The people hoped that when the images of the madness of June 4, 1989 reached the world, the political reform mechanism in China would be unstoppable. This hope, along with the millions of hopes of an entire people, was destroyed along with what remained of their freedom and, for many, their lives. More than two decades later, the People's Republic of China's strict control of citizens remains, along with traditional middle of paper freedom...... and has led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of people. , perhaps millions, of lives. (Gate of Heavenly Peace) Works Cited Madsen, Richard. China and the American Dream: A Moral Inquiry. University of California Press, 1995. Electronic Book Collection (EBSCOhost). EBSCO. Internet. October 24, 2011. The Gate of Heavenly Peace. Richard Gorden, Carma Hinton. The Long Bow Group, 1995. DVD “The Chinese people have risen!” » www.international.ucla.edu UCLA International Institute, nd Web. November 11, 2011. Hamish McDonald in Beijing with agencies. “The Tiananmen Massacre is very real for those still in prison.” Sydney Morning Herald, June 6, 2005: 10. Newspaper Source Plus. Internet. November 7, 2011. Rue, Nancy Lynch. In search of the Red Buddha: higher education in China after Mao Zedong, 1985-1990. International Association for Debate Education, 2004. Electronic Book Collection (EBSCOhost). Internet. November 2. 2011.