Its name means “gate of heavenly peace,” but in 1989 the iconic gate at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square overlooked a scene that was anything but peaceful. Earlier that year, the square had been the site of non-violent pro-democracy protests. But on June 3 and 4, it became a scene of chaos and devastation as the Chinese military mowed down an unknown number of civilians. In the 30 years since the historic protests, China has rarely acknowledged them—and has never apologized for the massacre.

The protest movement began after the death of Hu Yaobang, a Communist Party leader who worked to liberalize Chinese politics, but was ousted from the party in part for his sympathy with pro-democracy students. In the wake