“Those were uneducated mountain troops specifically chosen by Deng for their lack of knowledge of current events.”
1. I find no source for the theme that they were “uneducated mountain troops” (and from where in China do you think most of its troops today come from???)
2. “They were heavily propagandized to believe all the students [protesters] were terrorists.” As is/would the entire mainland military today.
3. ........”if Xi is seen to threaten disruption of the lucrative businesses the PLA controls. Perhaps his announced placement of a CCP member at the top of every business seen by the CCP as essential will tip the scale.”
Doubtful. If it is a PLA Controlled business then likely there is already a CCP member at the top, so the reference is likely to be to businesses outside the PLA orbit, which means the PLA would likely support the change, not feel threatened by it. It is consolidation and centralization process - over a much more diversified economic sphere - that is increasing CCP control not threatening it.
There are several documentaries made during that time and the troops are called “mountain troops” by the Chinese narrator who was present during the slaughter, and the troops are shown being given propaganda - the voice over explains just what these materials were and why they were necessary. The main reason is the local troops refused to fire on the students and these new troops had to be convinced that the local troops were part of the terrorist uprising and must be killed.
Perhaps these video have been scrubbed by youtube - I DL’ed them. Most modern troops are at least literate to some degree and do understand what is going on, unlike the mountain troops which lived in isolation away from cities and towns.
Control now is going to be even more top down than before as Xi made clear. Likely the old CCP member will be purged and a new on installed.
They were students, not random protestors as you edited my comment.
I imagine that recruits come from the countryside today where a life in the military is a good escape from the rural poverty. I have no idea of their education levels - the videos did make the point that these troops were specifically brought in from a distant province that had little contact with ordinary military or ordinary people.
Here is a list of my sources:
Declassified_ Chinese official said at least 10,000 civilians died in 1989 Tiananmen massacre
Archive Chinese troops fire on protesters in Tiananmen Square BBC News (mp4)
[Documentary] Tiananmen Square Massacre 1989 in China (mp4)
Inside China June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre Part 1 (mp4)
Inside China June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre Part 2 (mp4)
It happened in Tiananmen Square Documentary (mp4)
Tiananmen Square Massacre (mp4)