Beijing Spring
"Quelling the People" investigates the conflict between the Chinese democracy movement in Beijing, China and the Communist Party-controlled People's Liberation Army. The democracy movement began during the Beijing Spring in 1978 and the conflict culminated in a mass confrontation between the citizens of Beijing and the People's Liberation Army at Tiananmen Square in June 1989. The immediate conflict at Tiananmen Square was brought to an end by the People's Liberation Army which used force, causing the death of hundreds of civilians. The massacre was followed by a "media silence" and the suppression of the democracy movement.