AHC: Tiananmen Square (2.0)

(Alright, second attempt...)

With a PoD no earlier than 1987 (maybe 1986), what is either the best case scenario for the student movement, or the possibility where they most weaken the control of the Communist Party in China? What would such success look like, and how would it change China?

(One option was discussed here, and here, but I'd like to hear some variety...)
 
One concern that has to be addressed by a pro-democracy movement is the nationalist movements of the country. In the West, many people who support the Chinese democracy movement support the independence movements of Tibet and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). To many Chinese nationalists, this is unacceptable. They point out that it would be like Russia, China, India, et al. supporting secessionist movements for the Confederate States of America, the New England Confederation, or a Black Panther-sponsored New Afrika. No matter how well-intentioned, this link serves to drive many people away from the pro-democracy movement...
 
Well I think that for a successful student movement, we'd need to give it better organization and discipline, and find some way to get rid of the more radical leaders who really were looking for a fight, and who steadfastly refused to enter into any meaningful dialogue with the government.

You might want to look at how the protests unfolded in other cities besides Beijing in order to get some inspiration for how this might have looked:

http://www.tsquare.tv/links/KRAUS.html

http://www.tsquare.tv/links/KEITH.html

Or you could just go back and make sure that Hu Yaobang doesn't get forced out of office in the first place.
 
If you have Zhao Ziyang, who was General Secretary of the Communist Party and openly sympathetic to the movement, prevail against the old guard of the Communist party then you could see him agreeing to some of their demands, setting China on a similar reform path to the USSR's.
 
Other people killed

If the masasacre was more widespread--especially if European and American citizens got machine gunned--the outrage would be even bigger--perhaps enough to get a real boycott Chuina movement going. (If it was a photogenic, sympathy inducing woman, that would add to the outrage. It's not politically correct to say so, but deep down, I'm sure that it would.)


If the tank driver had simply run over the man standing in front of them--or an officer had pulled out a pistol and shot him, the images being sent worldwide. The more images of the Chinese mass murder get out, with the right spin, the worse for China. Add in a strong anti-China movement from politiciand and the press, and China could be somewhat isolated.
 
If the masasacre was more widespread--especially if European and American citizens got machine gunned--the outrage would be even bigger--perhaps enough to get a real boycott Chuina movement going. (If it was a photogenic, sympathy inducing woman, that would add to the outrage. It's not politically correct to say so, but deep down, I'm sure that it would.)


If the tank driver had simply run over the man standing in front of them--or an officer had pulled out a pistol and shot him, the images being sent worldwide. The more images of the Chinese mass murder get out, with the right spin, the worse for China. Add in a strong anti-China movement from politiciand and the press, and China could be somewhat isolated.

The problem with these ideas is that it assumes that Chinese opinion will be swayed by international opinion. As the period of 1989 until 1994 proved, China is perfectly willing to act isolationist if it suits its national interests.

Another problem with the political movement and the press, is how to be anti-Chinese government, without sounding like a racist xenophobe (e.g. "Yellow Peril"). Just consider that the current remake for Red Dawn (2011) hasn't been released, and yet it has been blasted by Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) groups for being racist and insensitive....
 
Top