People of 1989: Yuan Mu (袁木)

In the 1980s, the title of a government spokesperson was still a new curiosity. As such, Yuan Mu was a virtual unknown at the beginning of 1989 but he eventually came to personify the role of Spokesman for the State Council (国务院发言人) throughout the student movement that year.

After the mass demonstration of April 27, 1989, the government adopted a limited conciliatory approach toward dialog with students. It was Yuan Mu who hosted the first such session on April 29, which was broadcast live. Yuan Mu promised more dialogues in the future but emphasized that government would never talk to "illegal student organizations." Students, however, quickly questioned the representativeness of the invited attendees and some even walked out in protest of Yuan Mu's condescending tone.

Yuan Mu (front center) meets with students on April 29, 1989.

On May 3, the eve of a planed student demonstration, Yuan Mu held a press conference to reject Beijing Students Autonomous Federation's demands.

Yuan Mu (far right) at press conference on May 3, 1989.

Later in May, Yuan Mu seemed to be sidelined somewhat as other government officials, such as Zhao Ziyang, Hu Qili, and Yan Mingfu, took more significant roles in various dialogues. Along with Li Peng, Yuan Mu had become one of most hated target of the movement by then.

After the massacre, Yuan Mu re-emerged and continued his role of the chief government spokesman. He held a press conference on June 6 to "reveal the truth of a counter-revolutionary rebellion" and announced the first government statistics on casualties.

But it was ten days later, when he was interviewed by Tom Brokaw of NBC News that he gained worldwide infamy. Yuan Mu repeated the government line that no death had occurred during the clearance of Tiananmen Square. Since the "clearance period" was left undefined, his assertion was summarily condemned. He also became the personification of Chinese government's lies. (In his memoir China Hands, The US Ambassador James Lilley recalled an incident that, when Yuan Mu's daughter came to the consulate to apply for a student visa to US, she was openly ridiculed.)

Yuan Mu graduated faded out of public view after 1989 and retired in 2000. He died on December 13, 2018 in Beijing. He was 90.


People of 1989

People of 1989: Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强)

Born in 1965, Pu Zhiqiang graduated from Nankai University as a history major in 1986. By the year of 1989, he was a graduate student of law at the University of Political Sciences and Law.

The school, although small in size, was a major force throughout the 1989 student movement. As early as April 17, teachers and students from that school had launched the first march of the year. Pu Zhiqiang joined Chen Xiaoping and Wu Renhua in that march to lay a giant wreath at Tiananmen Square in memory of Hu Yaobang. On April 22, students marched into Tiananmen Square again to participate the funeral. Pu Zhiqiang was there. He was so overcome by emotion that he smashed his own head with a bullhorn, which caught the attention of Liu Gang. Liu Gang tried to talk Pu Zhiqiang into running for the leadership of Chinese Students Autonomous Federation, but Pu Zhiqiang declined out of modesty.

During the great demonstration of April 27, the lanky Pu Zhiqiang was at the front row of his university with the flag of his school. From then on, he could always been seen at the forefront of each demonstration.

Pu Zhiqiang in a bicycle rally calling for press freedom on May 10, 1989.

Pu Zhiqiang (center) leads the University of Political Sciences and Law contingent to hunger strike on May 13, 1989. 

Pu Zhiqiang in hunger strike, May 1989.

On the night of the massacre, Pu Zhiqiang was in Tiananmen Square throughout the ordeal and was among the last people withdrawn from there. He made a vow then and there that he would return on that day every year to commemorate the victims. For the more than twenty years since, he kept his promise, except for a couple of years when he was detained by police preventing him to do so.

Although an active participant of the movement, Pu Zhiqiang escaped serious punishment thanks to the actions of his school officials. He graduated with a masters degree in 1991 and obtained license to practice law in 1995. He gradually becomes a prominent civil rights lawyer, defending many dissidents against the government prosecution, including the famous case of Ai weiwei. He is also very active and daring in social media, often criticizing government's policy. His accounts were often blocked or deleted.

In February, 2013, the magazine Southern People Weekly published an issue with him being the cover figure. In the issue, he was quoted as saying, "I kept my principle. They didn't. The people in power today, they are more or less at my age. They had experienced the latter stage of the Cultural Revolution, the liberalization in the 1980s. But at some point of their lives, they gave up and perhaps could never keep their principles. Because they no longer have their grounds."

In May, 2014, Pu Zhiqiang participated in a private gathering commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing. He was soon detained afterwards. A year later, on May 15, 2015, he was formally charged with "causing nationality hatred and disturbing peace."

On December 21, 2015, Pu Ziqiang was sentenced to 3 years of prison but spared of actually serving them, after he wrote a statement promising good behavior.

Hand-written statement by Pu Zhiqiang when he was in prison on December 20, 2015.

People of 1989

Pictures of 1989: BSAF's First Press Conference on April 26, 1989

BSAF held its first press conference at University of Political Science and Law on April 26, 1989.

BSAF held its first press conference at University of Political Science and Law on April 26, 1989.

Pictures of 1989

Former Student Leader Visited China Briefly

Zhou Fengsuo (周锋锁), a former 1989 student leader, managed to sneak into China at the 25th anniversary. He paid a brief visit to the Tiananmen Square before being detained and deported.

In 1989, Zhou Fengsuo was heavily involved in the works with the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation as a representative from his Tsinghua University. That landed him on the fifth spot in the 21 Most Wanted list. After the massacre, he was arrested and jailed for a year, but was never formally charged or sentenced. The arrest and release should have technically cleared his "wanted" status.

According to his interview with the New York Times, Zhou Fengsuo now holds an American passport and has already had two previous, low-profile visits to China in recent years.

Among the 21 Most Wanted, so far only Li Lu was able to visit China without consequences, albeit under a specially arranged circumstance.

People of 1989: Wang Youcai

In the fall of 1987, the 21-year-old Wang Youcai (王有才) arrived at the Department of Physics, Peking University, as a graduate student. He appeared to have come at the right place at the right time. The student body of that department was a hot bed of spontaneous activities. Wang Youcai was no stranger to that either, he had become active in the 1986 student movement while he was at his undergraduate Zhejiang University. Only months after he had settled in Peking University, he was already involved in the 1988 student unrest after a death of another graduate student. He became a member of the "action committee," which was made up by many future student leaders.

Following the death of Hu Yaobang in 1989, Wang Youcai joined the emerging commemoration and protest from the beginning. In the earlier days, he served in the Preparatory Committee in Peking University, in charge of its external relations. After the hunger strike was launched, he stayed behind in school and organized the logistical supports for students in Tiananmen Square. When the then marginalized Beijing Students Autonomous Federation attempted to make a comeback after the end of hunger strike, he was elected to be its secretary general. He then also participated in the Headquarters for Defending Tiananmen Square.

After the massacre, as most of the student leaders had disappeared from public scene, Wang Youcai stayed at Peking University and helped to organize a series of postmortem efforts. Among them was to dispatch student reporters to other schools and hospitals to collect data of casualties.

All his work landed him into the infamous "21 Most Wanted" list. He was captured in August, 1989 and sentenced to 4 years in 1991. However, he was released in November that year.

The freed Wang Youcai did not cease his pro-democracy activities. Throughout the 1990s, he was frequently detained by the police for his numerous initiatives. In 1998, he launched an attempt to legally register an opposition party, the Chinese Democratic Party, in China. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "subversion of state power." Under international pressure, he was released from prison "for medical reasons" in 2004 and sent directly into exile in the US in 2004.

In America, Wang Youcai chose a route not taken by most of his peers. Not only does he keep a high-profile participation in the oversea pro-democracy movement--he founded a version of the Chinese Democratic Party in the US with Wang Juntao and others, he also went back to school in his old major physics at the University of Illinois.

This spring, the already 45-year-old Wang Youcai finally earned his Ph.D. degree. He is now working in a finance company on Wall Street.

People of 1989

This Day in 1989, June 4, the Day of Massacre

After a fateful night, the morning of June 4, 1989, was a mixture of anger, despair, and confusion in Beijing. Martial law troops were on all the main streets and intersections and in a trigger happy mood. Gun fires could be heard all over this ancient capital.

At Chang'an Avenue east of Tiananmen Square, hundreds of residents staged a standoff in front of an equal number of soldiers. The civilians shouted "Fascists!" and repeatedly attempted to approach the soldiers. They were met by barrages of gun fire. Many fell to ground. This agonizing scene repeated many times throughout the late morning.

Elsewhere, angry residents were able to hunt down a few soldiers who had been separated from their troops. Several soldiers were beaten to death, burned, and hung on buses or overpasses. At Muxidi, where the most intensive battle was fought the night before, a column of more than seventy armored personnel carriers was mysteriously abandoned on the street. Thousands of residents surrounded and burned them.

In the afternoon, a simple announcement was cladestinately broadcast by Radio Beijing's English broadcast:

Please remember June the Third, 1989. The most tragic event happened in the Chinese capital, Beijing.

Thousands of people, most of them innocent civilians, were killed by fully-armed soldiers when they forced their way into city. Among the killed are our colleagues at Radio Beijing. The soldiers were riding on armored vehicles and used machine guns against thousands of local residents and students who tried to block their way. When the army convoys made the breakthrough, soldiers continued to spray their bullets indiscriminately at crowds in the street. Eyewitnesses say some armored vehicles even crushed foot soldiers who hesitated in front of the resisting civilians. [The] Radio Beijing English Department deeply mourns those who died in the tragic incident and appeals to all its listeners to join our protest for the gross violation of human rights and the most barbarous suppression of the people.

Because of the abnormal situation here in Beijing there is no other news we could bring to you. We sincerely ask for your understanding and thank you for joining us at this most tragic moment.

Most students who were at Tiananmen Square the night before had safely retreated to the campus area, where there was no military in sight. Bodies crashed by tanks at Liubuko were displayed at the University of Political Science and Law. Impromptu memorial services were held at many schools.

At Peking University, student leaders held a last meeting before they dispersed into hiding or on the run. The Preparatory Committee there issued a series of statements in the name of Beijing Students Autonomous Federation and dispatched student reporters to hospitals and other campuses to collect the names and numbers of the dead. They would soon cease their operation as well.

The student leaders were missing Guo Haifeng, who was arrested the night before at Tiananmen, the only student leader captured thus far.

Separately, Fang Lizhi and his family are seeking contacts with the American Embassy for refuge. After being turned away on the first contact, they would spend the night hiding in a hotel.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 26, Students Vote to Continue Occupying Tiananmen Square

Along with the new Headquarters for Defending Tiananmen Square, Li Lu had organized a new student parliament in the Square as a deliberate and decision-making entity. In the night between May 25 and 26, 1989, the parliament had an overnight session debating the merits of continued occupation in the Square. A vote was cast at 5 o'clock in the morning on four options:

1. Defending the Square with a confrontational stance (坚守广场，主动出击): 162, 56%
2. Persisting in the Square while seeking a dialogue (积极对话，坚持广场): 80, 27%
3. Keeping the purity of the movement, no withdraw, no dialogue （保持纯洁，不撤不谈), 38, 13%
4. Keeping the status quo, let chips fall where it may (维持现状，自生自灭), 8, 3%

It was not clear what the real differences between some of the choices, but the voting result clearly demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of the delegates to this parliament favored an aggressive and continued occupation of the Square. Li Lu would later use this result as his mandate to defeat various proposals of withdrawing.

In this afternoon, Yang Tao arrived at the Square from Peking University with his "empty campus" proposal, in which all students leave the city altogether. He appeared to have the ears of Chai Ling and Feng Congde but not Li Lu, who regarded it as just another attempt to get the students to withdraw.

Feng Congde continued to struggle with the chaotic financial situation in the Square. He had learned that the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation had taken a sizable donation fund with them when they were forced out.

At Tiananmen Square, a new red banner was installed on the Monument to People's Heroes, spelling out the new goals for the movement under martial law: "Commerce the National People's Congress, Improve democracy; Impeach Li Peng, End the Military Rule." (召开人大，推进民主；罢免李鹏，结束军管). Wang Dan posted a poster at Peking University with an urgent appeal for students to reinforce their comrades at the Square.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 25, Yang Tao Proposes "Empty Campus" Plan

It was the sixth day of the martial law. Most of the military that had been blocked and surrounded on their routes in the suburbs for days had now withdrawn to make camp in the far outskirts of the city. The government seemed to have paralyzed and left the capital for the students.

Despite the determination displayed by the new leadership the day earlier, the hottest topic debated in the students' camp was whether it was time to leave the Square and what the exit strategy would be. On May 25, 1989, Yang Tao, a student leader from Peking University who had stayed away from Tiananmen Square to work on logistic support, proposed a new idea to the now sidelined Beijing Students Autonomous Federation. He suggested that all students leave Beijing en mass and leave the city empty for the martial law troops.

At Tiananmen Square, Feng Congde volunteered to look after the financial situation and found wide-spread mismanagement and graft in the floods of donated money. Even worse, he realized that the students were running a huge deficit in supplying food for the "citizens of the People's Republic of Tiananmen Square." The deficit was covered by IOUs signed by student leaders and honored by the local business owners. But the situation was not sustainable.

As a measure of transparency, Feng Congde decided to post daily financial report at the Square.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 24, Headquarters for Defending Tiananmen is in Charge

The newly established Headquarters for Defending Tiananmen Square made its first public appearance on May 24, 1989. In an elaborated ceremony, Wang Dan read a prepared statement grandiosely titled The Final Decisive Struggle between the Brightness and Darkness (光明与黑暗的最后决斗). The statement declared that the students had nowhere to retreat by will persist with their occupation of Tiananmen Square until the "Li Peng regime" was toppled.

Chai Ling, once again the Commander-in-Chief, led the rest of the officers and the crowd with a solemn oath:

I swear: I will protect the republic and Tiananmen Square with my young life. Heads can roll, blood can flow, but the People's Square can never be lost! We are willing to fight until the last person.

Officers designated for various tasks sprang into action to organize the occupation. They consolidated media operations, started to publish their own daily newspapers, launched a clean-up effort, and reorganized the student marshals. It was the beginning of what would later become half-jokingly referred as the "People's Republic of Tiananmen Square."

Lost in the shuffle was Wang Chaohua and her Beijing Students Autonomous Federation. They had lost their chance of returning to the Square and any leadership role.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 22, BSAF Lost Control of Tiananmen Square

With the martial law troops blocked by still poised to enter the city any time, Tiananmen Square was in a state of uncertainty and anxiety. During the night of May 21, 1989, leaders of the hunger strike left the Square discreetly into hiding. Yet Wuer Kaixi, who had been banished from the leadership, returned to the Square after midnight. He too had heard "credible" rumors that this would be the night of bloodshed.

At two o'clock in the morning, Wuer Kaixi had to fight for his right to speak at the students' broadcast station at the Square. He eventually succeeded with Wang Chaohua's help. Then he screamed into the microphone to urge everyone to get out of the Square and move to the foreign embassy district for safety. His emotional and incoherent call was not heeled by the thousands of students. As he fainted, many thought he had lost his min

Although Wuer Kaixi had been expelled from the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation earlier for similar erratic behavior, most people still regarded him as the public face of that organization. Wang Chaohua had been working hard in the last couple of days to resurrect the organization as the student leadership. Her effort was now irreparably damaged.

During the day, former hunger strike leaders returned and Zhang Boli suggested that they needed to form a new leadership. He persuaded Wang Chaohua to take her Federation off-site for a reorganization and promised her that she would regain the leadership in 48 hours with a stronger Federation. Meanwhile, he engineered the formation of a "Provisional Headquarters" and installed Chai Ling as the Commander-in-Chief. Indeed, the new headquarters would look exactly the same as the defunct Hunger Strike Headquarters, with Li Lu, Feng Congde, and Zhang Boli acting as the main deputies to Chai Ling.

Wang Chaohua regarded the move as a coup. She left the Square dejected and disheartened. But nevertheless, she returned to Peking University to regroup and reorganize her Beijing Students Autonomous Federation and hope for a return in 48 hours.

Wang Juntao also spent part of this day at the Square observing the power vacuum. He reaffirmed his belief that the movement had gone beyond the students and maturer leadership was required. Yet he struggled with the thought of becoming the leader himself. As someone who was pessimistic on the eventual outcome, he was reluctant to step up and lead.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 21, Li Lu Stages his Wedding at Tiananmen Square

After failed to enter the city two nights earlier, the martial law troops stayed put on their routes surrounded by students and residents. On May 21, 1989, the city of Beijing returned to a strange normal. Martial law was in effect only on paper. There appeared to be no authoritative governance in the city.

Power vacuum also existed within the ranks of the students. With the end of hunger strike, the Hunger Strike Headquarters was now defunct. There was no clear leadership among the current sit-in at the Square, although Wang Chaohua was making headway with her long-forgotten Beijing Students Autonomous Federation. Seeing the chaotic situation, she felt that her first priority was to find a way for student to withdraw from the Square and end the dangerous standoff. In a meeting of student representatives from 50 colleges in Beijing, she found a clear majority supporting her view.

Yet the chaos at the Square produced one of the more memorable scenes in 1989. Li Lu and his girlfriend staged a wedding at the base of the Monument to People's Heroes, flanked by Chai Ling, Feng Congde, and Zhang Boli. The "new couple" marched and danced around the Square, bringing a surreal happiness to the anxious crowd.

Not too long after the wedding, these former leaders of the hunger strike decided it was time for them to leave, as rumors of a bloody push by the martial law troops that night became more and more credible. They divided up the fund and gave each leader 200 RMB and sneaked out the Square. All except for Li Lu, who decided to stay himself.

Outside of Tiananmen Square, concerned individuals were also springing into action. Hu Jiwei, a high-rank official who was then a member of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, was pushing for a signature drive among his colleagues to open an emergency session of the committee to discuss the legitimacy of the martial law. He was assisted by intellectuals such as Cao Siyuan and Zhou Dou, as well as the private Stone Corp.

Wang Juntao, on the other hand, was mobilizing all his friends and connections to establish a new
leadership structure that went beyond the students. He envisioned an all-inclusive entity to coordinate the workers, residents, intellectuals, students, and alike to steer and strength the movement.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 20, Residents and Students Block Martial Law Troops

The martial law was supposed to take effect at 10am, May 20, 1989. The only sign of military in the city at that time was however a column of helicopters hovering over Tiananmen Square and dropping paper pamphlets from the air. Underneath, students and residents waved and shouted in defiance. They were more excited than angry.

Throughout the night, as martial law troops advanced, or tried to, toward the city from many directions, they encountered unexpected resistances from Beijing residents. Old ladies laid down their bodies. Truck drivers parked their vehicles in front of the military convoys. Residents came out at that night of full moon and surrounded every military column they could spot in the suburbs. Bands of motorcycle gangs, calling themselves the "Flying Tigers," circulated the city outskirts as scouts and information carriers.

By morning, every unit of the martial law troops was hopelessly blockaded on the streets. They were surrounded by students and residents, who emotionally and painstakingly lectured the soldiers.

At Tiananmen Square, students were emboldened by this latest development. The tone of the movement changed immediately. Beijing Students Autonomous Federation, the Hunger Strike Headquarters, along with a newly formed Workers Autonomous Federation, issued a joint statement calling for the impeachment of Premier Li Peng and President Yang Shankun. They also called for a general strike.

Students, who had previously forbidden residents mixing into their ranks for the "purity" of their movement, now openly appealed for support for workers and residents. Small groups of student delegations went to factories to talk to workers directly. One of these delegations was led by Xiong Yan, who had limited success at the biggest industrial complex in town -- the Capital Steels.

Similar statements came in droves from other organizations, established or new. Li Peng, the public face of the martial law, became the public enemy number one.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 12, the Launching of Hunger Strike

On May 12, 1989, Wang Dan hosted his Democracy Salon as usual, the guest speaker is Bao Zunxin. It turned out that this was to be the last time this Salon would ever be held.

Wang Dan and Chai Ling got together on this day to launch a hunger strike. The reaction was lukewarm at first. Most students including both the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation and the Preparatory Committee at Peking University were against the idea. Only dozens signed up during the day.

That changed in the evening when Chai Ling made an impromptu and passionate speech on her personal motivation. She inspired many more to join the ranks of hunger strike and persuaded even more to support their cause.

See an excerpt of my book on how the hunger strike decision was made and gained momentum on this day twenty years ago.

With the hunger strike materializing ahead of the state visit of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the government finally showed its first sign of willingness to deal directly with the students. The Dialogue Delegation was contacted after midnight for a potential dialogue with the government.


Days of 1989

Book Excerpt: Hunger Strike Decision

The following excerpt is from my book Standoff at Tiananmen, chapter 7, describing how the students reached the decision to launch a hunger strike.

On the same day as Shen Tong made his speech at The Triangle, a Big Poster showed up there. Signed by "a few graduate students," it called for an immediate hunger strike. It did not provide specific rationale for the proposal but it mentioned that the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was coming for a state visit within a week. So, it would be a good time to stage a protest at Tiananmen Square for the biggest impact.

The idea of a hunger strike was, of course, nothing new. Within every student movement in the past, the cry of "Hunger Strike" had always been heard, together with "Protest," "March," "Boycott Class," etc. But it had always been more of a menacing outburst than a serious proposal. Yet, this time it felt different.

More than a week earlier, the famous author Zheng Yi had found himself with a roomful of young, exhausted, and angry students who had just returned from Hu Yaobang's funeral. Having failed his earlier attempt in calling for a hunger strike at Xinhuamen, Zheng Yi found this audience, which included Wang Dan, Guo Haifeng, and other active student organizers, more receptive to his ideas. With a flare of drama from a seasoned writer, Zheng Yi laid out his personal experience during the Cultural Revolution: "Hunger strike is the most powerful and tested weapon in a mass movement." He advised the younger generation, "Should the government impose martial law, should they disallow Big Posters and demonstrations, you could immediately declare a hunger strike." He painted a vivid picture of how a hunger strike would develop: "As soon as there are dozens of people declaring a hunger strike, there will be hundreds joining in to support. Thousands will gather and watch. There will be donations and great attention paid to hunger strikers' petitions. In twenty four hours, the weaker ones will start to faint. Within forty eight hours, many will collapse. Seventy-two hours will be a critical juncture, there will be ambulances taking strikers to hospitals every minute. The shuttling ambulances will be the most dramatic scene in the city. The whole society will erupt!"

Zheng Yi did not say anything about what would happen after the seventy-two hour limit. The strikes he had experienced were resolved within that time frame. It did not occur to the students to ask that question either. They were the new generation, the best and the brightest, and the future of the nation. There could be no way for the government to allow a hunger strike to go past seventy two hours, when their health could be seriously compromised. Surely a dialogue would have commenced by then. Besides, there was an international law that required a government to intervene in a public hunger strike within seventy-two hours, or the government would be considered illegitimate.

The student leaders were excited about the possibilities. But, at the time, they were not fully convinced that the situation had warranted such a dramatic tactic. It should be attempted only as a last resort.

Three weeks had passed since that night. Their patience started to run short. At Beijing Normal University, Wuer Kaixi had also been talking about a hunger strike as early as May 8 to give the stalled movement a new push.

Liu Gang had been having the nagging feeling that he had overstayed his welcome in Beijing Students Autonomous Federation, the organization he had founded almost single-handedly. As a non-student, he knew his presence was awkward. So he stayed behind the scenes as much as possible and worked hard in providing logistical support for the endless meetings. When he needed to advance an idea, he relied on friendly delegates as surrogates. But more and more, he felt that his words, along with his presence, were being ignored. On the eve of the April 27 demonstration, he had strongly advised students to stay inside their campuses. The huge success thereafter, in the eyes of exuberant student leaders, had proved his conservative attitude wrong. The movement, although only weeks old, was slipping out of his grasp.

As the idea of a hunger strike was gaining traction, Liu Gang made a strong case to stop it. The Federation agreed with him this time. But the debate got so heated that it deteriorated into a shouting match. Ma Shaofang, who had come back from his earlier resignation, pounded on tables and claimed that he had confirmed intelligence that the "reform wing" in the government was hoping for an escalation of the student movement. A hunger strike should help the reformers at the top to gain the upper hand. He was not convincing enough. Wang Chaohua cautioned that they should not base their decisions on unfounded rumors. With a vote, the Federation reached a resolution that, based on the government's softened attitude toward the Dialogue Delegation, they would not organize any large-scale event in the near future. Rather, it instructed schools to follow the guideline of "denouncing the April 26 People's Daily editorial and supporting Zhao Ziyang's May Fourth speech."

The idea of a large-scale hunger strike, however, was too tempting for some to pass on. Right after the Federation meeting, Wuer Kaixi, Wang Dan, Ma Shaofang, along with several other delegates, went along for dinner at a little restaurant near Peking University. Over the meal and after much persuasion, they made their own decision to go ahead with a hunger strike. They would launch and lead it as individuals unaffiliated with Beijing Students Autonomous Federation. The federation, they were sure, would have to come around once they had the momentum going.

They were not alone. That same evening, Chai Ling reached the same conclusion on her own. She came to see her husband Feng Congde in a very excited mood. She could not stop talking about a chat she had with Zhang Boli and his classmates in the "authors class." They had mapped out a strategy to pursue a hunger strike. With a mischievous smile, she said that they planned to sneak in bread and chocolate once they got started. It was, after all, just a show to pressure the government. It was not that serious of a deal.

Chai Ling had already left Peking University a year earlier and was now a graduate student in psychology at Beijing Normal University. But living with her husband, she continued to spend most of her time at Peking University rather than her new school. Both of them got involved in the Preparatory Committee early on. Although not a central figure herself, Chai Ling had been in charge of the organization's secretarial work.

In the early morning of May 12, Wang Dan found Chai Ling at Peking University and they immediately joined forces on the hunger strike. But the Preparatory Committee, the leadership in the school, was not on board. Just as Beijing Students Autonomous Federation, the committee had decided several days earlier that it was not time for hunger strike. However, the committee did not want to, and could not, stand in the way of Wang Dan and Chai Ling as they were taking the initiatives on their own.

Wang Chaohua, on the other hand, was furious when she found that Wang Dan and Wuer Kaixi, the public faces of Beijing Students Autonomous Federation, had signed on to a hunger strike as individuals despite the resolution they had passed. Yet she was also keenly aware of the predicament she was in. If a hunger strike did take place and her Federation chose to oppose it publicly, it might be the end of the Federation itself as a student leadership organization. With great reservations, she agreed to organize student marshals to protect the hunger strikers per their request. Without a strong picket line, the dozens of hunger strikers could be easily hustled away by police.

Wang Chaohua still had hopes for personal persuasion. She thought she could talk some sense into the hunger strikers. But it was Chai Ling who sought her out first to question the Federation's stand. Their conversation turned sour immediately. Chai Ling spoke emotionally and made it abundantly clear that the hunger strike would go ahead with or without the Federation's support. A strong sense of helplessness submerged Wang Chaohua.

The hunger strikers decided to formally launch their action in Tiananmen Square the next day, two days before the scheduled visit of Mikhail Gorbachev. It should give the government enough time to respond. The stakes would be too high for the government not to.

The Soviet Union and China, two giants in the communist block, famously broke up their brotherly alliance amid an ugly spat of verbal barrages, accusations, and ideological confrontations. It culminated in a long freeze interrupted only by small-scale border battles between the two armies. It was only after Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika and Deng Xiaoping's reform in their respective countries that they found a reconciliation possible and necessary. It would be the first summit of these neighbors in forty years to normalize the relationships between the two communist parties and the two nations. It had been billed as one of the crown jewels in Deng Xiaoping's reform.

The public enthusiasm for the hunger strike was however less than anticipated even at Peking University, the hot spot of the movement. During the day, only forty students signed up. Other campuses fared much worse, as their numbers failed to reach double digits. By dusk, hundreds of students crowded The Triangle as usual. They were debating the merits of a hunger strike and the opposing voices appeared to prevail. Above all, nobody was able to come up with a solid reason for this desperate action.

As darkness fell, Chai Ling got hold of the microphone. It was the very first time she gave a public speech. Her voice was low but determined. Her flow was frequently interrupted by emotional chokes and tears. The spontaneous speech jumped randomly from one train of thought to another. Yet somehow it was a gripping voice that demanded everyone's full attention. As she went on, The Triangle, always a rowdy locale, fell into a silence it had never experienced before.

Chai Ling started with her own personal story. Like many other students, she had plans to go abroad to study and was feeling a deep sense of guilt and confusion. She was not sure if going abroad at this time of the student movement could constitute a traitorous act. On the other hand, she could not decide if it was worthwhile to stay in China either. Seemingly getting carried away by her personal struggle, she framed the hunger strike as her last ditch effort to see if China, as a country, still had any hope at all:

For several years, we have had student movement after student movement, but we got nothing. Why? We ask for democracy and freedom from the government. But why could we never get it? We chant "Long Live the People" all the time. But why do people always run away when the police come? We chant "Police Love People" all the time. But why do police always beat us up? Why should we go on a hunger strike? Because we want to use this method, the only freedom we have left, to see the true face of our country and the true face of our people. I want to see if this country is worth our sacrifice and contribution.

We are fortunate to have parents who raised us to become college students. But it is time for us to stop eating. The government has time and again lied to us, ignored us. We only want the government to talk with us and to say that we are not traitors. We, the children, are ready to die. We, the children, are ready to use our lives to pursue the truth. We, the children, are ready to sacrifice ourselves.

We want to fight to live. We want to fight to live with the resolve of death.

Upstairs in his room, Shen Tong had turned off the lights and tried to catch some sleep after a long day at the media center. As he lay in darkness, Chai Ling's voice, out of the loudspeakers just outside of his window, penetrated his ears and into his heart. As the co-leader of the Dialogue Delegation, Shen Tong was against the hunger strike and had argued with Chai Ling during the day. But this night, Chai Ling's voice hit him hard. He found tears rushing out of his eyes, the first time he had cried during the movement. He could not stay in bed any longer. He rushed downstairs. He wanted to get closer to Chai Ling but an equally emotional crowd was in his way.

Indeed, most in the crowd were crying, including grown up teachers and graduate students. Among them was a writer by the name of Bai Meng from the "authors class". With tears streaming down his face, Bai Meng rushed out of the campus and bought dumplings for Chai Ling. He made Chai Ling write down her spontaneous speech as much as she could remember. Bai Meng would spend the whole night polishing it off. An "official" Hunger Strike Manifesto was thus born. Meanwhile, the tally of hunger strikers swelled past a hundred. It was a sleepless night for many students.

Two hours past midnight, Xiang Xiaoji, Shen Tong and other Dialogue Delegation members were simultaneously and quietly informed that the government was now ready to have a dialogue with them, six days after their petition.

This Day in 1989: May 11, Reporters Got Dialogue, Student Leaders Decide on Hunger Strike

May 11, 1989 was a subtle turning point in the student movement. At the time, most student in the city had thought that the movement was already over. Classes had resumed everywhere except for Peking University and Beijing Normal University. Even at those two schools, many were expressing the need to resume classes.

The government had adopted a much more conciliatory tone in its handling of the movement. The harsh language in the April 26 People's Daily editorial had disappeared. Officials from General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, Premier Li Peng, on down were visiting factories and institutes to conduct dialogues with the masses. However, despite daily inquiries by the students' Dialogue Delegation, nobody had come in official contact with students. Most notably, Hu Qili held a dialogue with the petitioning young reporters and promised more press freedom.


On this day in 1989, posters were appearing at Peking University calling for a hunger strike. It mentioned that the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was scheduled for a state visit in a few days, great timing for launching a dramatic action.

In the afternoon, the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation had a meeting. Tempers flared on the issue of hunger strike. Wang Chaohua, Liang Qingdun, and other leaders rejected the tactic while Ma Shaofang strongly advocated it. Eventually, the Federation reached a resolution that they would not launch any significant action in near future but rather hold a "wait and see" position on evaluating the government's next move.

After the heated meeting, Wang Dan, Wuer Kaixi, Ma Shaofang, Cheng Zhen, Wang Zhaohui, Wang Wen gathered in a small restaurant by the campus of Peking University. They were not happy with the Federation's stance and decided to launch the hunger strike on their own.

On that same day, Chai Ling also appeared to have reached the same conclusion after talking to her friends in the "authors class" at Peking University. She came back to her husband Feng Congde and was very happy about the decision. In a joking mode, she told him that they could sneak in bread. It would be a symbolic gesture, not that serious.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 6, Dialogue Delegation Submit Petition

On Saturday, May 6, 1989, most colleges in Beijing had resumed their regular classes and the emerging movement seemed to be moving toward an end. Except for at Peking University. In a campus-wide vote at that school, 64.2% of students chose to continue their class boycott. So the strike continued there. Beijing Normal University followed suite as a solidarity measure. Those were only two schools that continued the class boycott.

The newly formed Dialogue Delegation was slowly finding their footing. Its co-leaders Xiang Xiaoji and Shen Tong delivered a dialogue petition of their own to the government. Compared to the ultimatum authored by Beijing Students Autonomous Federation a few days earlier, this one was significantly more moderate.

Growing pain continued in the student organizations. For his "unilateral" decision of announcing the resume of classes, Zhou Yongjun was formally expelled from Beijing Students Autonomous Federation. Feng Congde also resigned from both the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation and the Preparatory Committee at Peking University. He was tired and thought he was not quite up to the job. Wuer Kaixi resumed the leadership role.

Things were also changing on the government side. Official press started to report the ongoing student movement in positive tunes. Zhao Ziyang made an internal speech to encourage reporters and editors to exercise their rights in fair and truthful reporting.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 4, Large-Scale Protest around the Country

May 4, 1989, the seventieth anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, was a much anticipated date since the beginning of that year. Yet on the heels of the much more recent demonstration of April 27, the anniversary had lost quite a bit of the excitement. Beijing Students Autonomous Federation launched another large-scale demonstration anyhow, in response to the government's refusal of an equal dialogue.

The demonstration on this day was smaller in scale but a much happier occasion than that of the April 27. Students were no longer afraid of a military crackdown. They treated it largely as a victory lap and received, once again, enthusiastic support from Beijing residents. There were only occasional police human barricades, which the students stormed through without trouble.

At Tiananmen Square, students staged an impromptu commemoration of the anniversary by making speeches. In the happy mode, Zhou Yongjun announced that the weeks-long class strike was now over and urged students to resume classes. It appeared that this current student movement had reached its conclusion.

A couple hundreds young reporters joined the demonstration on that day. They rallied to demand press freedom.

In the afternoon, Zhao Ziyang made a keynote speech to the Asian Development Bank conference in Great Hall of People. Without mentioning the April 26 People's Daily editorial directly, he seemed to have reversed its verdict by claiming that there was no, and would not be, turmoil in the country.

Outside of Beijing, large-scale demonstrations erupt in more than a dozen big cities. In Shanghai, students marched and staged a sit-in protest at the city government office.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 3, Government Rejects Students Petition, Students React

In the morning of May 3, 1989, State Council Spokesman Yuan Mu publicly rejected the dialogue ultimatum by the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation at a press conference. He said the government would neither be threatened nor recognize the "illegal" student organizations.

As a response, Beijing Students Autonomous Federation announced their plan for a demonstration next day, seventieth anniversary of the May Fourth Movement. The class strike on college campuses that started after Hu Yaobang's funeral on April 22 is showing signs of weakening. Some small colleges had already resumed classes. At other schools, student marshals were sometimes needed to picket against students who wanted to go to classes. But in the rush of planning for the demonstration, Beijing Students Autonomous Federation officials debated but failed to make a formal resolution on this issue.

In the meantime, a new Dialogue Delegation was formally established that evening to seek and prepare for a formal dialogue with the government. Delegates came from various colleges including Shen Tong and Xiong Yan from Peking University. Most other delegates, however, were graduate students who appeared to be older and mature. They elected Xiang Xiaoji and Shen Tong as the co-organizers. Shen Tong advocated for this organization to keep a healthy distance from the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation and the ongoing movement so that they would be more acceptable to the government.

Also in that afternoon, General Secretary Zhao Ziyang made his first public speech since the movement at the occasion of the official commemoration meeting of the May Fourth Movement. He stroke a conciliatory tone toward the ongoing situation.

In the evening, dozens of young reporters from the official media decided to hold their own rally the next day to demand press freedom.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 2, Students Submit Petition with Ultimatum

On May 2, 1989, the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation, emboldened by their huge success in the great demonstration of April 27, announced a formal dialogue demand. The demand included twelve comprehensive pre-conditions ranging from the make-up of student delegates, the rank of government officials, the equality of location, speaking time, and the press coverage, etc. It was accompanied by a statement that if the students did not receive an adequate response by noon the next day, they would launch a mass demonstration on May 4, the seventieth anniversary of the historical May Fourth Movement.

Wang Dan, Wang Chaohua, and dozens of delegates to the Federation delivered this ultimatum to government offices in the afternoon, accompanied by many foreign reporters.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 1, Peking University Student Leadership Turnover

The International Workers' Day on May 1, 1989, was an observed holiday in China. It gave the students in class strike a break from their emotional movement and a chance to regroup. However, the new and emerging student leadership continued to suffer from growing pains.

In that morning, Beijing Students Autonomous Federation and the Preparatory Committee from Peking University held a joint press conference attended by more than forty oversea reporters. The students reiterated their demands for a dialogue with the government.

At Peking University, the Preparatory Committee was going through a series of re-elections for its standing committee. Both Wang Dan and Shen Tong were losing standings among their peers. During one of the ballots on this day, they tied for last place and had to have a runoff to decide which one could remain in the standing committee. Wang Dan won out narrowly. Shen Tong, who was not at the meeting, became very upset after learning the news.

Feng Congde suggested Shen Tong and Xiong Yan to join the newly formed Dialogue Delegation instead.


Days of 1989