On this day exactly 20 years ago, the tone of events in Beijing make a dramatic turn - martial law was declared. After midnight, convoys of soldiers moved toward the city center but unlike in previous military moves, these guys had guns. Swarms of civilians poured onto the streets beginning early in the morning hours and throughout the day

 They stopped the soldiers cold. The troops retreated to the outskirts of the city where they underwent more hardcore training to steel them for confronting civilians in the next round. It seems the soldiers were vulnerable to civilian arguments that the People's Army should be on the side of the people. 

On this day it was a victory for the demonstrators but the tone of things became progressively darker.

PEK15:May20-Chinese soldiers with automatic weapons shake hands with demonstrators as they retreat from a human blockade on an access road in a southwest suburb on Saturday. More than 100 troop trucks were turned back from entering the city center.

 Images from this moment were lifted by an artist who claimed it was a propaganda photo. This will be the subject of my next post - "Shepard Fairey ripped off my picture" (or something to that effect)

This is a part of a series I began last week  to post images of  China from exactly 20 years ago (almost to the day) leading up to June 4.