Hong Kong (CNN) As the sun rose on the morning of June 4, 1989, the Chinese people woke to a country which had changed overnight.

For seven weeks it had seemed like China was on the brink of a massive social change, but in just one night the dreams of hundreds of thousands of protesting students and workers were brutally crushed.

For about a decade, China's economy had been steadily opening up and allowing small amounts of free enterprise in the Communist country, after years of strict state control under chairman Mao Zedong.

Directing the change was then-Paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping, who wanted to see China grow prosperous by embracing some pro-market liberalization.

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese gather on June 2, 1989 in Tiananmen Square demanding democracy despite martial law in Beijing.

But when large-scale protests in Beijing called for greater social freedoms, such as freedom of speech and even democracy, Deng would prove far less enthusiastic.

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