Tiananmen

   The footage of the Tiananmen shooting completely shocked me. China's own Communist government were shooting down its innocent people, the people they were supposed to protect. Bodies filled the street. Deng was supposed to help the people, giving them freedom and equality, but instead, he was turning against the people in protest. It seemed that they were intentionally killing the students and citizens, giving them a short time to run before shooting them down like a game. Death to me is never an option, even if it was the last resort. Although a crackdown was necessary, like Lee Kuan Yew stated, an ex-prime minister of Singapore, there were several less violent, reasonable solutions that could have been done instead of having the loss of lives. It is true that if the protesters had gained power, chaos would erupt because of the various stances that the people took, and the Tiananmen Square event did prevent that but there are many other life-saving, resolutions that could suppress them.
   In my History of China class, we talked about if China would be better off without communism and going with a government that allows the people to fight for their rites, such as democracy. It does seem that China's economy is improving nowadays, but the working conditions and lifestyle that the majority of China's working class is living in is unacceptable. Some workers don't even get paid until the end of the year and if the employers bail on them, they have wasted an entire year with their hard labour, which happens almost all the time. Before I get even more off topic, what I'm trying to say is that even though communism is what makes China unique and how it is today, I believe that the people are not getting the rites they deserve and that should be changed in any way possible, with a new leader or even an entirely new government.