Tiananmen Moon

This compelling book provides a vivid firsthand account of the student demonstrations and massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Uniquely placed as a Western observer drawn into active participation through Chinese friends in the uprising, Philip J Cunningham offers a remarkable day-by-day account of Beijing students desperately trying to secure the most coveted political real estate in China in the face of ever more daunting government countermoves. Tiananmen Moon takes the reader into the thick of the 1989 protests while also following the parallel response of an unprepared but resourceful Western media. Cunningham recounts rare vignettes about life in Tiananmen Square under student leadership, including a near riot when a reporter is mistaken for Gorbachev, the saga of a tearful leader who quits and dictates her last will and testament to the author, and a dramatic account of futile resistance in the face of an unforgiving crackdown. He chronicles the opportunistic and awkward tango between naive student activists and jaded foreign journalists, in which, after a month of mutual courting, the tables turn and the now-savvy students watch the journalists, seduced and confused, run circles just trying to keep up. During the hunger strike under the light of a full moon, China bares its conflicted soul to the world, the mournful cry for reform amplified by the footsteps of a million peaceful marchers. This remarkable testament to a searing month that changed China forever serves as a witness to the rise and fall of an uprising, capturing the plaintive and lyrical beauty of a dream that endures and continues to haunt the country today.

Philip J Cunningham is a freelance writer and teacher of media studies.

Part 1 New Moon
Chapter 2 May 3: In Search of the Real China
Chapter 3 May 4: The New May Fourth Spirit
Chapter 4 May 10: Ten Thousand Bicycles
Part 5 Waxing Moon
Chapter 6 May 13: Hunger Strike
Chapter 7 May 14: Laying Claim to the Square
Chapter 8 May 15: Looking for Gorbachev
Chapter 9 May 16: Working-Class Heroes
Chapter 10 May 17: Rising Tide of Rebellion
Chapter 11 May 18: Everyone an Emperor
Chapter 12 May 19: Breaking the Fast
Part 13 Waning Moon
Chapter 14 May 20: Martial Law
Chapter 15 May 22: Provincial Vagabonds
Chapter 16 May 23: Egg on the Face of Mao
Chapter 17 May 24: Tiananmen Headquarters
Chapter 18 May 26: Radical Camp
Chapter 19 May 28: Last Will and Testament
Chapter 20 May 28: Clandestine Interview
Chapter 21 May 28: Going Underground
Chapter 22 May 28: Midnight Rendezvous
Part 23 No Moon
Chapter 24 June 2: Troops Are Coming
Chapter 25 June 3: Of Tanks and Men
Chapter 26 June 3: Eve of Destruction
Chapter 27 June 4: The Sky Is Crying