DEMOCRACY WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS.

The article explores the democracy movement in China in light of parallels of the 1989 demonstration with past protest in the country. It notes that popular opposition to the Chinese regime has asserted itself in times of weak central government, most notably in the 1920s and during the Nationalist period of the 1930s and 1940s. The mass consciousness tends to appear not only when people see the government as weak, but also when they believe some members of the troubled leadership are sympathetic to their concerns and tacitly approve of their actions. The 1989 Tiananmen Square incident is described.