The 1989 Democracy Uprising in China, which was so brutally repressed in the Tiananmen Square massacres, followed patterns of civil protest that had been enacted several times before in the twentieth century. And, like previous protest movements, the Pro-Democracy Movement had its roots in imaginative literature and the discourse of intellectuals which drew on and, in turn, shaped popular feeling. But the 1980s were also different from other periods in which protest arose because the so-called Literature of the New Era was more easily disseminated (even being published in some newspapers), because the film and television media were employed, because artists of many kinds reflected the liberalizing trend of the decade in their work, and because growing popular subcultures such as rock music aided in spreading the general call for reform. In addition to the broader range of artists involved in influencing public feeling and perceptions, these artists also took advantage of whatever chances presented themselves for the exploitation of mass media such as newspapers, film, electronic music, and television. Inconsistencies in official policy throughout the 1980s led to occasional windows of opportunity that were seized by the artists, students, intellectuals, and others involved in the growing demand for a more open China. Ironically, the government's eventual answer to the movement was also conveyed via mass media as television cameras from around the world witnessed much of the violence at Tiananmen Square.
The role of literature and, to a lesser degree, other arts is more influential in China than in most Western societies. Writing of all sorts is generally "a political barometer of society" since writers "play a dual role both as artist and intellectual," with the former implying "creativity and freedom" and the latter signifying "a moral responsibility and an obligation to help educate the people and serve society" (Li 227). ...