ABSTRACT
The Chinese government believes that it learned the lessons of Spring 1989 and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) emerged strengthened. Overall, the events of the past 20 years confirm this. The price of this success was a lasting postponement of any hopes of democratisation in China. In this paper we will first present a general view of the means used by the CCP to strengthen its hold on the country, and then look in greater detail at the problems that the June 4th massacre continues to cause, at the way it is ‘dealt with’ but not resolved by the regime, and the possibilities of a future solution. The Chinese regime was able to extract itself from the June 4th crisis, but will it be able to erase the scar it has left on the history of contemporary China?
