1989 Tiananmen Square protests figure in the finished film, the project set out to provide a comprehensive understanding of the events leading up to and following the protests and features many other interviews. A primetime special hosted by Tom Brokaw honored both the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a momentous year for human rights around the world. In April 2006, the PBS series "Frontline" produced an episode titled "The Tank Man", which examined his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests and the change that has overtaken China economically and politically since. On 3
Students' hunger strike at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests Students' hunger strike at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests The first of two student hunger strikes of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 began on May 13, 1989, in Beijing. The students said that they were willing to risk their lives to gain the government's attention. They believed that because plans were in place for the grand welcoming of Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, on May 15, at Tiananmen Square, the government would respond. Although the students gained a dialogue session with the government on May 14, no rewards materialized. The Chinese Communist Party did not heed