You really don't understand how the topology of the Chinese political landscape has changed since 1989 - the "new" regime has brought wealth to tens of millions, and the country has seen dramatic modernization in the past decade and half. Not to mention the majority of China's young student population grew up completely divorced from the brutality of the Cultural Revolution. Something like Tiananmen Square simply cannot happen again today, even if it were allowed, simply because you wouldn't find enough supporters.
Keep in mind that when Tiananmen Square occurred, China was still a Soviet-style backwater with numerous spectacular failures at modernization. People were frustrated, oppressed, and starving. Now they're just oppressed - and that makes a huge difference.
The Chinese are nationalistic in the sense that they will defend their government, however imperfect they perceive it to be, because the alternative is treasonous (i.e., to side with foreign interests and ideology).
This is something Westerners find difficult to understand - but is very much rooted deeply in Chinese culture.
That's actually my point. "the Chinese are fiercely nationalistic" being too big of a blanket statement, since you are including the baby-boomers who protested all over the country in 1989, and older generations who spent their adulthood under Mao.
Keep in mind that when Tiananmen Square occurred, China was still a Soviet-style backwater with numerous spectacular failures at modernization. People were frustrated, oppressed, and starving. Now they're just oppressed - and that makes a huge difference.
The Chinese are nationalistic in the sense that they will defend their government, however imperfect they perceive it to be, because the alternative is treasonous (i.e., to side with foreign interests and ideology).
This is something Westerners find difficult to understand - but is very much rooted deeply in Chinese culture.