On June 4, 1989 the world’s biggest, longest, and most famous pro-democracy demonstration was brought to a tragic end. The images from those final bloody days still burn bright in our imaginations; the death toll—from the Chinese official figure of 300 to estimates as high as 15,000—is still disputed. Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party tells the gripping narrative of a period of just seven weeks in which the whole future of China today was founded, and where at various crucial turning points the final outcome could have avoided massive bloodshed.

These key moments unfold over two hours in a story told with the drama and pace of a political thriller. With never-before-seen Chinese television archival materials and exclusive interviews with key insiders, from protest leaders and students to government insiders, eyewitness accounts in Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party finally reveal the scale of the 1989 protest, its aims, its military crackdown, and the aftermath.