Beijing - Scholars moved away from Western ideas following the crushing of China's democracy movement on June 4, 1989, a state-run newspaper said on Monday, in the first official mention of the anniversary in mainland state media this year.

Chinese intellectuals became "more moderate and rational" after 1989, the Global Times quoted Zhang Liping, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying.

"People realized that China would not change overnight," Zhang said in the English edition of the newspaper, which was on public sale at newspaper kiosks in Beijing on Monday.

"People are more mature now," the newspaper quoted writer Zhang Yiwu as saying.

"They no longer think Western thoughts are China's ultimate goal," Zhang Yiwu said.

The intellectuals "switched to silence" after the "June 4 Incident broke out in 1989," it quoted Zhang Liping as saying.

"Intellectuals no longer discussed 'isms' publicly, and shifted their focus to academic issues. Some people worried that China might slip backward," she said.

The newspaper said such worries were "dispelled three years later in 1992" by former leader Deng Xiaoping's tour of southern China, during which he gave a landmark speech committing the government to expanding economic reforms.

"Deng's speech reignited people's hope and restored their confidence," Zhang Liping said.

The newspaper quoted Zhang Liping as saying that political reform and environmental protection "lag behind economic development."

But she argued that "radical reform or revolution is extremely insecure and does not work in China."

The paper said Zhang Yiwu had avoided "sensitive topics like human rights" in the 1980s but believed Chinese intellectuals have "more space" today.

The Global Times article, called "Evolution of Chinese intellectuals' thought over two decades," did not appear in the newspaper's Chinese edition on Monday.

The views expressed in the article appear broadly consistent with the ruling Communist Party's position on gradual political reform without any moves towards multi-party democracy.

The newspaper belongs to the People's Daily group, run by the party.

The 1989 democracy protests ended when troops with tanks and live ammunition moved through Beijing overnight on June 3-4, reportedly killing hundreds of mostly unarmed civilians who allegedly blocked their route.

The crackdown and related issues have remained largely taboo subjects for the government over past 20 years, and are rarely mentioned by state media. (dpa)