Goddess of Democracy

Goddess of Democracy 民主女神
Goddess of Democracy recreation by Thomas Marsh at the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia
Chinese	民主女神
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin mínzhǔ nǚshén Wade–Giles Minchu Nüshen IPA [mǐnʈʂỳ nỳʂə̌n]
Spirit of Democracy
Chinese	民主精神
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin mínzhǔ jīngshén Wade–Giles Minchu Chingshen

The Goddess of Democracy, also known as the Goddess of Democracy and Freedom, the Spirit of Democracy, and the Goddess of Liberty (自由女神; zìyóu nǚshén), was a 10-meter-tall (33 ft) statue created during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The statue was constructed in only four days out of foam and papier-mâché over a metal armature. The constructors decided to make the statue as large as possible to try to dissuade the government from dismantling it: the government would either have to destroy the statue—an action which would potentially fuel further criticism of its policies—or leave it standing. Nevertheless, the statue was destroyed on June 4, 1989, by soldiers clearing the protesters from Tiananmen square. Since its destruction, numerous replicas and memorials have been erected around the world, including in Hong Kong and Washington DC.

Near the end of May 1989 the Democracy Movement in Tiananmen Square, though still attracting huge throngs of participants, was losing momentum in the face of government inaction on reforms. One historian said the movement "appeared to have sunk to its nadir. The number of students in the Square continued to decline. Those remaining seemed to have no clear leadership: Chai Ling, tired and disheartened by the difficulties of keeping the Movement together, had resigned from her post...[the Square] had degenerated into a shantytown, strewn with litter and permeated by the stench of garbage and overflowing portable toilets... Tianamen, once a magnet pulling in huge throngs, had become only an unkempt campground of little interest to citizens, many of whom considered the struggle for democracy lost." It was at this point that the reveal of the statue of the Goddess of Democracy reinvigorated the movement in the Square.

The statue was built by students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts beginning on May 27 at their University. It was built in hopes of bolstering the movement which "seemed to be losing some of its momentum; the students suspected that the government was waiting for them to tire and leave the Square". Working with a sense of urgency and expedience, to create the model the larger statue would be based on the students reworked an academic exercise built to demonstrate the effect of the distribution of weight on a piece: "a half-meter high clay sculpture of a man grasping a pole with two raised hands and leaning his weight on it." "The students cut off the lower part of the pole and added a flame at the top to turn it into a torch; they leaned the sculpture into a more upright position; they changed the man's face to a woman's, and otherwise added feminine characteristics to make the him into a her." They then transferred the measurements of the model, adjusting them for the larger proportion, to the foam that once carved became the monument.Jeff Widener, known for his iconic Tank Man photograph, took other photographs of the fateful rally, including two widely publicized images of the Goddess; one under construction, and another in context of the demonstration.