The Gate of Heavenly Peace (S14E12)

The Gate of Heavenly Peace follows the history of the 1989 Chinese protest movement while weaving into its structure the pre-history of those events and commenting on the political habits and structures that have come to form public life in China over the past century. It documents the development of the movement and reflects the drama, tension, humour, absurdity, heroism and many tragedies of the six weeks from April to June in 1989. The film reveals how the hardliners within the government marginalised moderates among the protesters (including students, workers and intellectuals); while the actions of radical protesters undermined moderates in the government. The extremism was couched in terms of "plots" and "conspiracies", and "sabotage" reflecting the kind of political scare tactics that had developed under Maoism. (One World)