Global Voices
Morning Sun
A generation that came of age during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976) explores the implications of the violent and dramatic era.
The Gate of Heavenly Peace
The inner workings of the Tiananmen Square massacre and its aftermath.
- Series
- Frontline
- Premiere Date
- June 4, 1996
- Length
- 180 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Series and Special Projects
Co-Producer
Carma Hinton
Carma Hinton was born in China to American parents and was raised and educated there until 1971; Chinese is her first language and culture. She is a scholar as well as a filmmaker. She received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, and a Ph.D. in art history from Harvard University. She is a Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and… Show more
- Other ITVS Films
- Morning Sun
Producer
Richard Gordon
Richard Gordon has been involved with numerous projects in China as director of photography or producer. His credits include work for National Geographic, the National Film Board of Canada, NOVA, the independent feature documentary Distant Harmony: Pavarotti in China, and the PBS series China in Revolution. For his previous work, he was awarded a… Show more
- Other ITVS Films
- Morning Sun
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The Film
In the spring of 1989, students and workers gathered in mass protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and set in motion “the most watched but least understood story of the 20th century.”
The Gate of Heavenly Peace is a feature-length documentary about the 1989 protest movement, reflecting the drama, tension, humor, absurdity, heroism, and many tragedies of the six weeks from April to June in 1989. The film reveals how the hard-liners within the government marginalized moderates among the protesters (including students, workers, and intellectuals), while the actions of radical protesters undermined moderates in the government. Moderate voices were gradually cowed and then silenced by extremism and emotionalism on both sides.
It is a sobering tale, for faced with the binary opposition between Communists and anti-Communists, there has been little middle ground left for the rational and thoughtful proponents of positive reform in China. By giving these ignored voices their proper place in history, The Gate of Heavenly Peace reveals an ongoing debate in China concerning the importance of personal responsibility and moral integrity, the need, as Vaclav Havel has put it, to “live in the truth.”
