A trove of footage from the weeks leading up to the Tiananmen Square massacre shows scenes of joy and optimism on the streets of China that have not been seen since the Communist Party's brutal killing of its own people 30 years ago.

On the night of June 3, 1989, the People's Liberation Army turned its guns on students and ordinary Chinese who had been calling for a democratic future for the country.

For weeks the students had been camped out in Beijing's Tiananmen Square as part of their protest.

The ABC had been filming in and around the square every day but with events moving so quickly, much of the footage never made it to air at the time.

The cameras captured life in the student camps set up in the middle of the square and on the streets of Beijing where ordinary Chinese had also come out in force to support the student cause.

Tiananmen became a city within a city, with students keeping order, protecting those who were taking part in hunger strikes in the square, and ushering ambulances through.

In one scene, students sing happy birthday and share cake under the shadow of the giant portrait of Mao Zedong.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 47 seconds 47 s Hunger strikers in Tiananmen Square say they're holding out for victory

Zhou Fengsuo ran the broadcast station in Tiananmen Square at the time called the Voice of the Student Movement and helped coordinate activities in the square.

He told Four Corners those days brought out the best in people.

"For me, the most important aspect is that millions of Chinese for the first time, maybe the last time in their life, taste freedom in the air of Beijing," he said.

Most people didn't know each other. They were all strangers and we were all bound by this dream for a better China.

"Tiananmen, during that brief period, it was so peaceful. People were just so friendly to each other."

The Chinese government declared martial law, but those on the streets of Beijing never thought the People's Liberation Army would turn on them.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 44 seconds 44 s Chinese protesters sing anthem The Internationale

In scenes captured by the ABC, Chinese link arms and sing the Communist anthem, The Internationale, as the armed soldiers watch.

Rowena Xiaoqing He was a high school student who joined the protests outside Beijing and told Four Corners they felt a huge sense of optimism that they were helping usher in change.

"We didn't do it because of hatred, because of anger, because of grievances. We did it because of love, because of hope, and even in our trust in the government, that it will reform itself. [We felt] we should be patriotic and help the government to improve," she said.

"We thought this is finally the time we can speak out and express our youthful idealism to do something for the country."

She now lives in the United States and teaches university students about the events of 1989.

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Former ABC correspondent Max Uechtritz followed the students on their final act of defiance, as they brought a huge plastic and polystyrene statue of the Goddess of Democracy — similar to the Statue of Liberty — into Tiananmen Square.

"The fact that there were hundreds of thousands of troops ringing the city, but they were still prepared to do this, it's an extraordinary provocation, to actually have a Statue of Liberty going down to the heart of Communism, and erecting it in front of Mao Zedong," he said.

Uechtritz was there as the violence began.

"We watched in horror as the full force of the Chinese military crushed the dreams of the democracy movement," he told Four Corners.

He says the hours of ABC camera footage from the lead-up to the massacre reveals the full story of what happened.

"It's an extraordinary insight into what really happened in that Spring of 1989," he said.

"Every day, every tape, every shot taken, is recorded, and itemised, and chronicled.

"It's an extraordinary revelation, to see this material. If you sit there and watch these tapes, and they are tapes from the old world, if you watch these tapes, it's history reliving right in front of your eyes. It's extraordinary."

Tiananmen remains a taboo subject in China and there is no official death toll from the massacre, however, estimates range from several hundred to 10,000.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 25 seconds 1 m 25 s The Goddess of Democracy is ushered through Beijing by Chinese students in 1989

See more from the ABC's incredible archive in Tremble and Obey, on iview.