1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in the context of "Tiananmen Square"

Reform and opening-up (Chinese: 改革开放; pinyin: Gǎigé kāifàng), also known as the Chinese economic reform or Chinese economic miracle, refers to a variety of economic reforms in the People's Republic of China (PRC) that began in the late 20th century, after Mao Zedong's death in 1976.

Guided by Deng Xiaoping, who is often credited as the "General Architect", the reforms were launched by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on December 18, 1978 at the third plenary session of the 11th CCP Central Committee, during the Boluan Fanzheng period. In 1979, Deng launched the Four Modernizations, aiming to modernize China's economy. A parallel set of political reforms were launched by Deng and his allies in the 1980s, but ended with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, halting further political liberalization. The economic reforms were revived after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992. Reform and opening up gradually became the main component of socialism with Chinese characteristics, constituting Deng Xiaoping Theory, and was incorporated into the CCP Constitution in 1997 and written into the Constitution of China in 1999.

Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is mandated by the country's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly political reasons, such as curtailing political opposition, and censoring events unfavorable to the CCP, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, pro-democracy movements in China, the persecution of Uyghurs in China, human rights in Tibet, Falun Gong, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Xi Jinping became the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (de facto paramount leader) in 2012, censorship has been "significantly stepped up".

The government has censorship over all media capable of reaching a wide audience. This includes television, print media, radio, film, theater, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature, and the Internet. The Chinese government asserts that it has the legal right to control the Internet's content within their territory and that their censorship rules do not infringe on their citizens' right to free speech. Government officials have access to uncensored information via an internal document system.

The leader of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the highest-ranking official and head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Central Committee is considered the party's leader. Since its formation in 1921, the leader's post has been titled as Secretary of the Central Bureau (1921–1922), Chairman (1922–1925, 1928–1931, and 1943–1982), and General Secretary (1925–1928, 1931–1943, and 1982 onwards).

By custom the party leader has either been elected by the CCP Central Committee or the Central Politburo. There were several name changes until Mao Zedong finally formalized the office of Chairman of the Central Committee in 1945. Since 1982, the CCP National Congress and its 1st CC Plenary Session has been the main institutional setting in which the CCP leadership are elected. From 1992 onwards, every party leader has been elected by a 1st CC Plenary Session. In the period 1928–45 the CCP leader was elected by conference, meetings of the Central Committee or by decisions of the Politburo. The last exception to this rule is Jiang Zemin, who was elected at the 4th Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Currently, to be nominated for the office of general secretary, one has to be a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, the top decision body.

Deng Xiaoping's southern tour (Chinese: 邓小平南巡), or 1992 southern tour (九二南巡), or simply Nanxun (南巡) was the tour of Deng Xiaoping, the third paramount leader of China, in southern China, including in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Shanghai, from 18 January to 21 February 1992. The talks and remarks made by Deng during the tour resumed and reinforced the implementation of his "reform and opening up" program in mainland China, which had come to a halt after the military crackdown on 1989 Tiananmen Square protests ordered by Deng himself. After Tiananmen Square incident, there was a lack of belief in the Chinese Communist Party both at home and abroad. The US and EU both issued arms embargoes while the World Bank and Asian Development Bank stopped issuing loans to China. The 1992 Southern Tour is widely regarded as a critical point in the modern history of China, as it saved the Chinese economic reform as well as the capital market, and preserved societal stability. It not only preserved stability inside of China, but it was reassuring to foreign countries who had begun to invest large amounts of money into China.

During the southern tour, Deng emphasized to several military leaders of the People's Liberation Army including Yang Shangkun, Liu Huaqing and Yang Baibing, that "those who do not promote reform should be brought down from their leadership positions", forcing Jiang Zemin, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to support and continue the Reforms and Opening-up program. He also wished that Guangdong province would catch up with the Four Asian Tigers in terms of economic development within 20 years. Some of the notable remarks and comments from Deng during the tour included "I don't care if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice" (cat theory), which was originally published by him in 1960s, and "development is of overriding importance (发展才是硬道理)" as well as "[the Shenzhen government] should be bolder in carrying out the Reforms and Opening-up, dare to make experiments and should not act as women with bound feet".

Democracy movements in the People's Republic of China are a series of organized political movements, inside and outside of the country, addressing a variety of grievances, including objections to socialist bureaucratism and objections to the continuation of the one-party rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) itself. The Democracy Wall movement of November 1978 to spring 1981 is typically regarded as the beginning of contemporary Chinese democracy movement. In addition to the Democracy Wall movement, the events of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre are among the notable examples of Chinese democracy movements.

Wen Jiabao (Chinese: 温家宝; pinyin: Wēn Jiābǎo; born 15 September 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the 6th premier of China from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy. From 2002 to 2012, he held membership in the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the country's de facto top power organ, where he was ranked third out of nine members and after general secretary Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

He worked as the director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party between 1986 and 1993, and accompanied Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang as Zhao's personal secretary to Tiananmen Square during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, where Zhao called on protesting students to leave the square and after which Zhao was removed from his position within the Party. In 1998, Wen was promoted to the post of Vice Premier under Premier Zhu Rongji, his mentor, and oversaw the broad portfolios of agriculture and finance.