The Chinese government made compromises many times. The students occupied the square in the center of the capital from the middle of April to the beginning of June. It was a long time.
First, let us clarify how this event began. Former chairman of the Communist Party of China Hu Yaobang died on April 15 due to a heart attack. The government and students all made memorial ceremonies in tribute to Chairman Hu. The official ceremony highly praises Hu as a communist. Some students considered that Hu was mistreated by Deng. On the ideological spectrum, Hu was more communist and Deng was more capitalist. However, Hu was more liberal and Deng was more conservative in Chinese reform. Hu intended reform in politics first, and Deng in the economy. There was a conspiracy theory that Deng had overthrown Hu. Students rally a justice for Hu. Students were singing The International, the iconic song of the Communist movement when they marched on the streets and rallied at Tiananmen Square.
On April 18th, at 8:00 am. CPC Central Office and State Council received the petition letter of the students in person and had a dialogue with the representatives of students inside the Great Hall of the People.
On April 18th, at 5:30 pm, the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress members met with the protecting students and took their petition letter in person.
If you have a petition in the US, could you hand the petition directly in person to the high-level officers without staff in the middle? Can you get an answer on the spot? I would say the Chinese government gave a great compromise with students by evading the formality, two days after the death of Hu. But it was impossible to let Deng admit the conspiracy theory about what happened inside the CPC. Should Americans force Hillary to admit the body-count-conspiracy theory by petition and protest?
Within a few days, the protest escalated into a national wide movement without Facebook and Twitter. Then overseas Chinese students join the protests to make the movement international. Taiwan and Hong Kong also joined in. White House speaker also made a comment.
On April 29, the State Council speaker, Vice Minister of Education, CPC Beijing City secretary, and Vice Mayor of Beijing met 45 student representatives, face to face. I would say this is a compromise.
Most of the demands, such as concerns about journalism and corruption, are fulfilled today to a different degree or in the government’s agenda, through many years of reform. For a country with a huge population and a large territory, students' demands cannot be fulfilled on the spot. It takes time for the system to evolve.
July 4th movement was an unsuccessful color revelation. Funds flowed from Hong Kong into Tiananmen Square. US embassy involved, such as getting Prof. Fang out. Chinese people have sympathy for students in general, for they hate corruption in economic reform. Chinese people are also supportive of the government. Nobody wants to see bloodshed except a few student leaders in the square. Some riots out of government control in such a huge movement will push the event into bloodshed just as many color revolutions did.
