Pictures of 1989: Zhao Ziyang's Farewell and Li Peng's Martial Law on May 19, 1989

Zhao Ziyang appears at Tiananmen Square and speaks to students in the early morning. On the right is Wen Jiabao.

In the afternoon, students announce the end of hunger strike.

Students after the end of hunger strike.

The Workers Autonomous Federation makes more prominent appearance.

At night, the meeting that announces the martial law.

Li Peng announces martial law.

Pictures of 1989

People of 1989: Liu Binyan

The famous journalist Liu Binyan was not in Beijing during the 1989 student movement. In fact, he was out of the country in the United States on a lecturing tour. He watched the movement on television and became a prominent oversea voice.

Born in 1925, Liu Binyan spent his childhood in Northeast China under the occupation of the imperial Japanese army. He had to drop out of school after ninth grade because of poverty but he managed to acquire a lifelong passion for books on his own. Later, the young Liu Binyan joined the underground Communist Party in the 1940s.

After the communists took power, Liu Binyan worked as an editor, investigative reporter, and Party secretary of the China Youth News. It was in that position that he first ran into trouble with the authority in the mid-1950s. His budding work on exposing corruption in the "new China" led him to be branded as a "rightist". He was expelled from the Party and sent to a mountain village to be reformed through hard labor.

Liu Binyan's literate career finally took off a couple of decades later, when he was redeemed in 1978, at the cusp of Deng Xiaoping's reform. He was readmitted into the Communist Party became a special reporter for the People's Daily. Throughout the 1980s, he published a series of investigative reports that gained national fame and international attention. His exposure of corrupt officials struck a chord with the common folks and he was praised as "China's conscience." However, his work also tended to blur the line between facts and fiction, a trend deeply rooted in China's literate tradition.

His outspokenness also irked Deng Xiaoping. In January of 1987 and after a series of student protests, Liu Binyan was once again expelled from the Communist Party as a symbol of the socalled "Bourgeois Liberation" movement, along with Fang Lizhi and Wang Ruowan.

A year later, Liu Binyan was allowed to travel abroad. When he was teaching at UCLA, his host Perry Link remembers him as the only scholar from China who showed no interest in Disneyland. Instead, "for days, his favorite hangout was a used-book store run by the Salvation Army. Already self-taught in English as well as Russian, he bought piles of paperbacks for 25 cents apiece and read them until 3am, night after night, devouring everything from the musings of Malcolm X to analyses of Eastern European socialism."

In 1989, Liu Binyan watched the student movement from across the ocean. While his direct influence to the movement was limited, he became a tireless cheerleader on the American media and always ready to spill out inside information he gathered from "his friends in Beijing" and his own optimistic predictions, many of which proved questionable at best.

During the later years of his life as he battled cancer, Liu Binyan lobbied for returning to his motherland by writing letters to a series of Chinese leaders including Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Wen Jiabao. His appeal fell into deaf ears. He finally passed away on December 5, 2005, in a hospital in New Jersey. He was 80.

Despite his dissent, Liu Binyan remained a loyalist to his ideals which included his belief in the "true" Marxism and socialism. Through one of his most famous works, he named it a "second kind of loyalty" -- being both loyal and truthful at the same time.

He had told his wife that he wished to have the following words in his tombstone: "this Chinese laying here, he had done what he should do and said what he should say."

UPDATE: Five years after his death, his ashes were finally buried in Beijing.


People of 1989

Premier Wen Jiabao Remembers Hu Yaobang

It's that time of the year again. April 15 marks the death of Hu Yaobang in 1989, which sparked the student movement that year. In the years past, there has only been occasional, but rather scarce mention of this anniversary in the official media in China.

It is therefore quite surprising to see that today's People's Daily carries an article by Premier Wen Jiaobao as a remembrance of Hu Yaobang.

In the article, Wen Jiabao movingly describes how he was a staff member in Hu Yaobang's entourage when they toured the vast rural areas of China more than 20 years ago. He remembers Hu Yaobang as a man of the people who had worked hard to bring the country out of her desperate poverty.

Quite interestingly, Wen Jiabao mentioned that, "in the January of 1987, after Comrade Yaobang was no longer an important leader of the Party Central, I visited him often." He also claimed that he had always been at Hu Yaobang's side after the latter's heart attack on April 8, 1989 and have been visiting Hu Yaobang's family during the Spring Festival every year since his passing.

It is quite a strong hint on the history of Hu Yaobang's downfall from the sitting Premier.

(An English translation of Wen Jiabao's essay can be read here.)

This Day in 1989: May 19, Zhao Ziyang Makes Farewell, Li Peng Announces Martial Law

Before dawn of May 19, 1989, in the darkness, General Secretary Zhao Ziyang showed up on the edge of Tiananmen Square unexpectedly. The exhausted and downbeat national leader was accompanied by Premier Li Peng, Chief-of-Staff Wen Jiabao, and other aids and guards. The entourage caused quite a stir. Zhao Ziyang boarded one of the buses housing hunger strikers, shook hands, and gave an unprepared speech to a few cameras. He rumbled through begging students to stop the hunger strike but offered nothing other than the famous farewell-ish line, "I am old, I really don't care any more..."

The student leaders near the center of the Square did not get a chance to meet these leaders, who disappeared as quickly and mysteriously as they showed up. They poured through some notes taken by students at the scene and could only imagine what Zhao Ziyang had personally gone through. They knew bad things were on the way.

Indeed, throughout the day, rumors about an impending martial law were coming from all directions. (In the aftermath, Zhao Ziyang, along with his aid Bao Tong, was accused of leaking state secret including the martial law. There were evidences that the information was quite widely available, even outside of Beijing.)

In their typical dramatic fashion, student leaders finally came to a decision to call off the hunger strike. Despite opposition of their messes, the fast was broken. Chai Ling was happy that their decision was announced hours ahead of the martial law. She regarded as a great tactical victory. As the hunger strikers were carefully removed from Tiananmen Square for treatment and rest, thousands other students came to participate a continued "sit-in" protest.

The martial law was formally announced late that evening in the Great Hall of People, where Li Peng addressed thousands of government cadres. The martial law troops would be entering the city that night while the martial law itself would take effect the next morning.

The students remaining at Tiananmen Square braced for a brutal and violent night. They expected to be forced evicted. They hoped that they could last until after daybreak.


Days of 1989

Premier Wen Jiabao Talks About Tiananmen

During his recent visit to the United States, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was interviewed by CNN's Fareed Zakaria. During the interview, Wen Jiabao was asked questions regarding Tiananmen massacre. Here are the excerpts from CNN's transcript:

Zakaria: When I go to China and I'm in a hotel and I type in the words Tiananmen Square in my computer, I get a firewall, what some people call the Great Firewall of China. Can you be an advanced society if you don't have freedom of information to find out information on the Internet?
Wen Jiabao: China now has over 200 million Internet users, and the freedom of Internet in China is recognized by many, even from the west. Nonetheless, to uphold state security, China, like many countries in the world, has also imposed some proper restrictions. That is for the safety, that is for the overall safety of the country and for the freedom of the majority of the people.
I can also tell you on the Internet in China, you can have access to a lot of postings that are quite critical about the government.
It is exactly through reading these critical opinions on the Internet that we try to locate problems and further improve our work.
I don't think a system or a government should fear critical opinions or views. Only by heeding those critical views would it be possible for us to further improve our work and make further progress.
I frequently browse the Internet to learn about a situation.

Zakaria: I will take advantage of your kindness and ask you a question that many people around the world wonder about. There is a very famous photograph of you at Tiananmen square in 1989. What lesson did you take from your experiences in dealing with that problem in 1989?
Wen Jiabao: I believe that while moving ahead with economic reforms, we also need to advance political reforms, as our development is comprehensive in nature, our reform should also be comprehensive.
I think the core of your question is about the development of democracy in China. I believe when it comes to the development of democracy in China, we talk about progress to be made in three areas:
No. 1: We need to gradually improve the democratic election system so that state power will truly belong to the people and state power will be used to serve the people
No. 2: We need to improve the legal system, run the country according to law, and establish the country under the rule of law and we need to view an independent and just judicial system.
No. 3: Government should be subject to oversight by the people and that will ask us, call on us to increase transparency in government affairs and particularly it is also necessary for government to accept oversight by the news media and other parties.
There is also another important aspect that when it comes to development of democracy in China, we need to take into account China's national conditions, and we need to introduce a system that suits China's special features, and we need to introduce a gradual approach.

In the early dawn of May 19, just a day before the martial law, then (and already disposed) General Secretary Zhao Ziyang made a surprise visit to students in Tiananmen Square for a teary farewell. Among the officers who accompanied Zhao Ziyang was Wen Jiabao, then the equivalent of Chief-of-Staff in the central government. The picture Fareed Zakaria was referring to must be one showing him with Zhao Ziyang in the Square at that moment.

At the time, Wen Jiaobao had been considered to be solidly in Zhao Ziyang's camp and was expected to be disposed in the aftermath. Yet Wen Jiabao survived the purge and eventually became the Premier himself.

NYT Archive 1989: Fang Lizhi's Status

As the Chinese and American governments continued to haggle on Fang Lizhi, New York Times on June 13, 1989, reported how Fang Lizhi got into the American embassy:

Western diplomats said the controversy over the couple began on June 4, hours after the military crackdown in Beijing. A friend of the couple telephoned the embassy, saying that Mr. Fang and Miss Li felt that their lives were in danger and that the couple wanted to take refuge in the American diplomatic compound.

Initially, an American diplomat told the couple to go to a Beijing hotel while the embassy contacted the State Department for instructions. The embassy hesitated because it is against standing rules for an American embassy to grant refuge to a foreign national on the national's own territory.

On June 5, the matter was brought to Secretary Baker at the regular morning staff meeting, during which the major topic at hand was the violence in Beijing. The diplomats said Secretary Baker's position was that the United States should ''not deny refuge or sanctuary'' if the couple was ''in personal danger.''

Since the embassy had concluded that the couple were indeed in such danger, they were granted sanctuary within the American compound, the diplomats said. The couple had no trouble entering the embassy, and no Chinese authorities were in ''hot pursuit'' when they arrived, the diplomats said.

At no time did the couple ask for political asylum, in the sense of seeking to flee to the United States and acquire American citizenship, Administration officials said. Rather, Mr. Fang asked for physical protection, and it was on that basis that he was allowed into the embassy under the diplomatic principle of ''temporary refuge.''

Administration officials said Mr. Fang was very sensitive about the question of asylum and has reiterated to his embassy hosts that he considers himself a Chinese patriot who wants, if at all possible, to remain in his country.

Meanwhile, several Zhao Ziyang's allies made public appearances, saving their jobs:

The television showed a series of senior officials making public appearances to praise the crackdown and visit wounded soldiers. Among those shown was Qiao Shi, a member of the standing committee of the Politburo who is mentioned as candidate to be the next party leader.

The most surprising appearance was by Tian Jiyun, a Politburo member who is closely associated with the Communist Party General Secretary, Zhao Ziyang. Mr. Zhao has been stripped of his powers, and perhaps of his formal position, and at least one associate on the Politburo, Hu Qili, has also disappeared and has presumably been purged. A picture of Mr. Tian had previously been published in a newspaper, indicating that his career might be saved, but his television appearance was the clearest sign so far that members of Mr. Zhao's faction will not automatically lose their posts.

In his televised remarks, Mr. Tian did not mention the ''counterrevolutionary rebellion,'' but simply visited wounded soldiers and thanked them for doing their duty while carrying out martial law.

Two other senior Communist Party officials who have been associated with the moderate point of view also made brief appearances on television. They were Yan Mingfu, an official in the party headquarters who argued for conciliation with the students, and Wen Jiabao, director of the General Office of the Central Committee. Both were shown visiting wounded soldiers, and neither said anything in front of the cameras.

Yan Mingfu, who had played a pivotal role in trying to have a real dialogue with student leaders, did not actually save his job. He held a couple of unremarkable posts and generally faded out of national politics.

Wen Jiabao, however, fared much better. He is currently the Premier of the country.

Meanwhile, NYT realized that the eyewitness account it had published a day earlier was not entirely factual.

Hu Jia on Trial

The annual National People's Congress ended with the highlighted event of a press conference by the reelected Premier Wen Jiabao. When asked if the Chinese government was arresting dissidents to silence them ahead of the Olympic Games, Wen categorically claimed such accusations as totally unfounded.

Shortly after the press conference, dissident Hu Jia was on trial at the Beijing Number One Intermediate People's Court for charges of "inciting subversion of state power". According to his lawyer, the evidence of his charge consists several articles he had written and published overseas. Hu did not dispute his authorship of his articles, other than claiming that one of them was actually a private communication with a friend, which was published without his knowledge. His lawyer, Li Fangping, tried to defend his case on the ground of freedom of speech.

Hu's mother attended the trial. His wife and father were listed as prosecutor witnesses and therefore barred from observing, although none of them were called to testify. As it is usually the case, the trial proceeding is very short and a verdict/sentence is expected within the week.