What caused the Tiananmen Sq protests (How Chinese socialism ended)

The demonstrations in Tiananmen Square are usually explained as a pro-democracy movement, with demands for more liberal freedoms against a communist state. Is that really what it was about? Chinese intellectual Wang Hui presented a different version of events.

Source:

Wang Hui (2004), "The Year 1989 and the Historical Roots of Neoliberalism in China", positions, Vol. 12, no. 1.

Images:

Photo of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square: AFP (Agence-France Presse)
Photo of Wang Hui in Berlin, 2016 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Poster, Xin Liliang, 1954, "Chairman Mao gives us a happy life", https://chineseposters.net/themes/mao...
Poster, Hu Boya, 1973, "The factory is small, the aspirations high, striving to make great contributions", https://chineseposters.net/posters/e1...
https://chineseposters.net/posters/e1...
Poster, 1992, "Comrade Deng Xiaoping in his South Investigation Tour to Shenzhen", https://chineseposters.net/posters/e1...

Please take a moment to visit the excellent website chineseposters.net, a wonderful online collection of Chinese propaganda posters collected by Stefan Landsberger, who very sadly passed away just a few days ago. https://chineseposters.net/about/land...