Neither Gods Nor Emperors

This is an eye-witness account of the 1989 student protest movement which culminated in the confrontation at Tiananmen Square. Drawing on interviews and documentary research, the book offers an account of how the movement gathered force, broke through the limits of previous anti-government rebellions, faltered, found renewal in hunger strikes and powerful symbols, and was finally crushed by the military. The book also explores the dynamics of the movement itself, from the way it contributed to a new sense of "civil society", to the fresh notions of collective respect and personal autonomy it engendered.