The Quarter-Century Legacy of June Fourth : Prospects and Challenges in the Struggle of Post-1989 Dissent and Nonviolent Action in the People's Republic of China

A quarter of a century has passed since the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations and June Fourth crackdown in Beijing. At the 25th anniversary of the tumultuous events of 1989, this paper scrutinizes the prospects and challenges in the struggle of post-1989 Chinese dissent and non-violent action (NVA), both exiled and domestic, in the context of State-civil societal relations, analyses the conflict and reluctant symbiosis across the unfortunate State-society divide, assesses the tribulations and prospects of contemporary Chinese dissent and NVA, and ponders how the struggle of this one fifth of humanity for political rights and civil liberties could be understood in a more global, long-term context, especially in view of the PRC’s momentous global prowess by means of her astounding economic influence and "smart power" outreach, and in particular, her controversial "soft power" leverage