Pictures of 1989: Hunger Strike Continues Amid Sino-Soviet Summit

Hunger Strike Headquarters holds a press conference.

Chai Ling speaks at the press conference.

Chai Ling faints.

Pu Zhiqiang is making a speech pleading for donation.

The scene at Tiananmen Square. (Sitting with a notebook is Philip Cunningham.)

The scene at Tiananmen Square. (Photo by Philip Cunningham)

The scene at Tiananmen Square.

The scene at Tiananmen Square.

The scene at Tiananmen Square.

The scene at Tiananmen Square. The sign says hunger strike has reached 51 hours.

The scene at Tiananmen Square.

The scene at Tiananmen Square.

A new hunger strike is launched at Xinhuamen.

Some students start water strike.

The scene at Tiananmen Square.

Yan Mingfu comes to speak to students directly.

Yan Mingfu offers himself as a hostage for students to end hunger strike.

Yan Mingfu at Tiananmen Square.

The Sino-Soviet Summit.

Deng Xiaoping meets Gorbachev.

Zhao Ziyang meets Gorbachev.

Pictures 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 17, Millions March to Support Student, Targeting Deng Xiaoping

When the students launched their hunger strike at Tiananmen Square five days ago, they had dreamed that their suffering could wake up the consciousness in the general populace and make their appeal for democracy directly to the people. On this day of May 17, 1989, their efforts appeared to be paying off.

From the early morning and throughout the entire day, people marched, paraded, and come to the Square every which way they could. There were millions and millions of residents, workers, journalists, famous TV personalities, office dwellers, intellectuals, and even some monks. Indeed, the entire city of Beijing came out, and they were all in support of the students whose lives and health were under increasing danger.

The Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang released a written statement appealing for students to stop the hunger strike. He promised not to punish anyone involved. But he did not address the students' demand either.

Most other organizations within the government apparatus were releasing open statements of their own. Their tones were increasingly siding with the students with appeals to the government to resolve the crisis immediately and humanly. In the meanwhile, Yan Jiaqi and Bao Zunxin continued their assault on Deng Xiaoping personally. Posters denouncing Deng Xiaoping started to show up in Tiananmen Square.

On this fifth day of hunger strike, there were now more than 2,000 hunger strikers in their camp, many had joined in the last couple of days. Many earlier hunger strikers had fainted or collapsed many times and were taken to hospitals in ambulances. Some of them quietly ended their hunger strike while at hospital, but many returned after receiving IV fluid treatment and nutrition. Accusations of cheating within hunger strikers were also rampant.

At the newly formed Hunger Strike Headquarters, Chai Ling, Li Lu, and other leaders were trying to find an exit strategy of their own. They had proposed that any hunger striker who was taken to hospitals should not be allowed to return. As soon as the last striker fainted and taken away, they would reach the end of the hunger strike. The strategy, however, was a non-starter as more and more new people were joining in the hunger strike every day. More emotional students were refusing water and talking about self-immolation to raise the stake. The movement was tittering on the edge of losing control.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 16, Hunger Strike Continues amid Sino-Soviet Summit

Back on May 16, 1966, a directive from the Party Central launched the decade-long turmoil of Cultural Revolution in China. But on this day in 1989, people paid scant notice to this anniversary. Their attention was transfixed at Tiananmen Square, where the hunger strike was entering its fourth day.

In the morning, Chai Ling and Li Lu called a meeting of hunger strike representatives and formally "elected" the Hunger Strike Headquarters, fending off at least temporarily the challenge to their leadership the night before.

In the Great Hall of People adjacent to the Square, the Sino-Soviet summit was underway. In a surprise disclosure, General Secretary Zhao Ziyang told the visiting Mikhail Gorbachev that Deng Xiaoping, although with no official title for doing so, still had the final say of any critical decisions in China. The news would not have surprised many, but some of Zhao Ziyang's close advisers took it as a hint of a breakoff between Zhao Ziyang and Deng Xiaoping.

Yan Jiaqi was quick to react. In that same afternoon, as millions of Beijing residents poured into the Square for the hunger strikers, he proudly read a statement denouncing Deng Xiaoping as "an old and fatuous dictator" and called on the masses to end the "politics by the elders." It was the first time in the movement that Deng Xiaoping was singled out as a target.

Tiananmen Square, meanwhile, was quickly turning into an emotional stir-pot itself. Many hunger striking students were fainting. Ambulance sirens were becoming a constant. Student marshals established a "life line", in which human chains stood guard to ensure a passage for ambulance vehicles amid the crowd.

Some more radical students were no longer satisfied with the hunger strike itself. Several groups laid claims that they would refuse water as well. Cheating was also discovered within the hunger strike camp. A group of students from University of Political Science and Law broke off angrily and set up another camp in front of Xinhuamen, where they vowed to have a purer version of hunger strike of their own.

Yan Mingfu was still desperate to resolve this crisis. In this afternoon, he came to the Square and offered himself a hostage to the students. If the students ended their hunger strike, he pledged to stay with them until a satisfactory dialogue became reality. Students were stunned to his offer. But in the chaos of Wuer Kaixi fainting at the scene, Yan Mingfu left the Square.


Days of 1989

This Day in 1989: May 15, Gorbachev in Beijing, a New Headquarters Forms

On May 15, 1989, Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev landed in Beijing. A small welcoming ceremony was held at the airport and his motorcade had to dodge traffic while avoiding Tiananmen Square, where students continued their hunger strike.

The collapse of the dialogue with Yan Mingfu the day earlier was a significant blow to the hunger strikers' morale. In the early morning of this day, Wuer Kaixi had made a desperate plea for the students to move away from the Great Hall of People so a proper ceremony could still be held for Gorbachev. He succeeded in doing that but paid a heavy price in personal reputation from which he would never recover. His good-will effort would also be in vain.

Upset with Wuer Kaixi, Chai Ling and Li Lu decided to formally launch their own leadership for the hunger strikers. In the morning, Chai Ling announced the new Hunger Strike Headquarters, with herself as the commander-in-chief. She assigned Li Lu as her deputy. Li Lu carried out a census and found that there were a little more than 1,000 hunger strikers at the scene this morning.

Support was also gradually building as the hunger strike entered its third day. Prominent intellectuals, organized by Zheng Yi, marched along Chang'an Avenue. They refused Dai Qing to join, claiming that she was a mole. Zheng Yi would stay at Tiananmen Square and became an advisor/aid to the hunger strike students.

In the evening, a huge thug gathered at the front gate of the Great Hall of People, threatening to storm the building where a state banquet was held in honor of Gorbachev. Chai Ling led her weakened students onto the stairs and forced the crowd to back down. Back at the Square, Chai Ling and Li Lu were confronted by other leaders who challenged their unelected headquarters. The challengers were particularly upset and alarmed at Li Lu, who claimed to be a student from Nanjing University but could not produce any proof for his identity. Chai Ling emotionally defended Li Lu's credibiilty and honor.

As the night fell, the future of the hunger strikers was as gloom as ever.


Days of 1989