os orville schell you were in tiananmen on days ahead of the crackdown.re these protesters, students asking for? s d how high were their hopes? >> ts a movement that lasted over seven weeks, so by the time it moved a few weeks down the line, they'd accrued l so or ofinrde, workers. ind i think the thing which is so sing about being there then was that-- i mean, t was a sense of invin scibility thehow they were on the crest of some major, major change after decades and decades of a kind of an only incipient democratic movem and, indeed, before the people's liberation army came in t first time, where they were byopped in their tracks in the streetundreds of thousands of people, there wass t sense, asinxin suggests, maybe this time there would be a dynastic change.'s thhat make mead it so shocking when they moved in the next timelaith gunsing and showed they really meant business. >> the next time they moved in, ofourse, was the anniversary we're marking today, en hundreds, perhaps thousands, we killed. mine xin, did they understand or misunderstanpewhy thes

and, orville schell is the director of the center on u.s.- china relations at the asia society, and wasing during the protests. welcome to you both back to newshour. minxin pei, i'll start with you, days.e back to those the protests weren't only in beijing. they were across about 200 different cities. the government was divided on how to respond. the army tried to get in beijing, and couldn't even reach there in the days before. how existential were these protests as a threat to the chinese government? >> i think that moment, that movement came very close to overthrowing the chinese communist party's rule. because the party, as you said, was itself divided at the very top, and millions and millions ofrotesters were protesting around the country. and the country was really onth brink of a revolution. >> orville schell you were in tiananmen on thoss ahead of the crackdown. what were these protesters, the students asking for? and how high were their hopes? >> this is a movement that lasted osr seven weso by the time it moved a few weeks down the line, they'd accrued all sorts of oinary peo