Pictures of 1989: Tiananmen Square and Peasants Demonstration on May 31, 1989

Chai Ling (center), Li Lu (second from right), and Feng Congde (right) with supporters from Hong Kong.

The Monument of People's Heroes at Tiananmen Square on May 31, 1989.

New tents donated by Hong Kong people are set up in Tiananmen Square.

Goddess of Democracy at Tiananmen Square on May 31, 1989.

Goddess of Democracy at Tiananmen Square on May 31, 1989.

Xinhuamen on May 31, 1989.

Xinhuamen on May 31, 1989.

Peasants near Beijing demonstrate to support the government with a banner praising Deng Xiaoping.

Pictures of 1989

People of 1989: Wang Zhiyong

In the spring of 1989, Wang Zhiyong (王志勇), a senior at the University of Political Sciences and Law, was looking forward to his graduation just like many of his classmates. He grew up in a poor rural area. Graduating from a prestigious college in the capital was to be a remarkable milestone in his young life.

In the evening of April 19, he also went to the Xinhuamen, the site of China's government, like many of his classmates. There, they continued a mass sit-in protest from the previous night, following the death of Hu Yaobang. After the midnight, the peaceful petition turned confrontational. The student body was broken up by police forces. Wang Zhiyong and two of his fellow students left the area and went to Qianmen to catch the subway home. What followed was described in a Big Post written by one of his classmates the next day:

In the evening of April 19, Wang Zhiyong and two other students from our school came to Tiananmen Square to participate in the memorial activities for Comrade Hu Yaobang. Around 4am of April 20, they crossed Chang'an Avenue and went on the street south of the Great Hall of People. Just then, they faced two platoons of the People's Armed Police. The commander shouted, "Who are you? Beat them up!" dozens of policemen surrounded them. Several of them rushed on and beat Wang Zhiyong's head with their metal-knuckled belts. Wang Zhiyong's head was broken and had to have three stitches later. His head was badly swollen and he could not open his left eye. After the beating, Wang Zhiyong ran to the subway station and sat there in a daze. He was sent back to school by two kind-hearted passers-by.

I was able to get contact with Wang Zhiyong, who is now in the United States, recently. He confirmed the above description as truthful. The day after, he had also displayed his blooded shirts on campus and told his own story in the student broadcasting station.

The conflict between students and police in the early morning of April 20 at Xinhuamen had been exaggerated to become the "April 20 Bloody Tragedy" at the time. There were however very few reported injuries among students. Wang Zhiyong's experience, albeit some distance away from Xinhuamen, was undoubtedly one of the most serious. It could also be the only verifiable case. The above poster was widely circulated in the college campuses in Beijing and was a major factor in leading students to further their protesting actions.

Wang Zhiyong did not shy away from the movement himself either. He participated in and contributed to the movement as a member of student martial from his school. As they were leaving Tiananmen Square after their duty in the afternoon of June 3, they could hear the approaching gunshots.

After the massacre, Wang Zhiyong escaped from punishment largely due to the protective actions by his school teachers and authorities. He worked for two years and then became a graduate student in Peking University, from which he earned a Masters degree in law. Later, he became a Christian and devoted his life to God. In 1997, he left China for theological education in the US. Today, he is a pastor in Virginia.

People of 1989

A Brief History of Slogans on Tiananmen

Joel Martinsen at Danwei wrote an elegant account on the evolution of slogans placed on Tiananmen as well as Xinhuamen. The article is accompanied with a few interesting photos from different era. As he pointed out, "the slogans have actually changed very little during the PRC's first six decades."

This Day in 1989, June 3, The Even of Massacre

Tension escalated during the day of June 3, 1989. Large crowds of military troops, wearing white shirts but army pants, were discovered everywhere around Tiananmen Square. They were surrounded by students and residents. Unarmed, the soldiers either sat silently on sidewalks or retreated into large government buildings.

Near Xinhuamen, students seized another nondescript van and found weapons including machine guns and automatic assault rifles inside. They displayed the guns on the roof for news cameras. At high noon, just as a huge crowd assembled there, barrages of tear gas canisters rained down the scene. Soldiers burst out of Xinhuamen to disperse the crowd and recover the vehicle.

By the nightfall, thousands of students and residents still gathered at Tiananmen Square, demanding to see the hunger striking folk star Hou Dejian. Zhang Boli was preparing for the openning of a University of Democracy at the foot of the Goddess of Democracy. Most students, however, gathered closely at the base of the Monument to People's Heroes, where they would spend an unforgettable night.

Gunshots were first heard around 10pm.

For the rest of night, read an excerpt from my book, Standoff at Tiananmen.


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: April 19, Preparatory Committee Formed at Peking University; More Confrontation at Xinhuamen

In retrospect, April 19, 1989, was the first significant date during the 1989 student movement.

It was a Wednesday, a regular meeting date of the Democracy Salon at Peking University. As the situation escalated, Wang Dan decided to hold the session right at The Triangle at the center of the campus. In that evening, about three thousand students gathered in the darkness to listen to a few speakers taking their turns on a stool. With a voice vote, the crowd "disbanded" the official student union and decided to establish a Preparatory Committee for their own student solidarity. Xiong Yan, Wang Dan, Feng Congde, and later Shen Tong, joined the committee. It marked the first time in any student movement that a formal and non-anonymous organization structure was put in place.

The Preparatory Committee at Peking University would, with its temporary name intact, last through the entire length of the movement and play an extremely significant role.

Meanwhile, students from other campuses returned to Xinhuamen for another round of push-and-shove match with the guards there. Wuer Kaixi made his first public appearance of the movement. He stood up in front of students and police to give his real name and address, and then took the leadership role at the scene. In a side corner, Zheng Yi, Zhang Boli, and a few of their friends displayed a makeshift banner calling for a hunger strike, but were ignored.

The protest at Xinhuamen did not last long this time before it deteriorated into a violent mess. Hundreds of police charged the crowd and used belts and boots to disperse and force students into waiting buses along the Chang'an Avenue. Many students suffered minor injuries either at the hands of the police or by smashing the bus windows. In the chaos, a young girl screamed "Down with the Communist Party!" She was promptly shut up and whiskered away by fellow students before more damage could be done.

There was little evidence of significant police brutality in this early morning scuffle. Students forced into buses were driven to campus areas and released without questioning. Nonetheless, it was termed as the "April 20 Tragedy" and "Blood at Xinhuamen" in many campus posters. Students were all angry and started to plan for more protests.

Also on this day, the government announced that the state funeral for Hu Yaobang was scheduled for April 22.


Days of 1989

Place of 1989: Xinhuamen (新华门)

Xinhuamen (新华门), or the Gate of New China, is the main entrance of Zhongnanhai, the secretive compound that houses the leadership of both Communist Party and the central government of China.


Just west of Tiananmen Square, Xinhuamen is not a place that attracts a lot of attention. The gate itself was converted from a building when the compound needed an easy access to the Chang'an Avenue outside of its red wall on the south.

The gate is decorated by two giant sloans on each side. The one on the left says "Long Live the Great Chinese Communist Party!" and the other says "Long Live the Victorious Mao Zedong Thought!" The front door of the gate is always open with a pair of soldiers standing guard all the time. Padestrans are always advice to keep their distance.

During the 1989 student movement, Xinhuamen became the focal point in the first nights of protest. As early as April 17, thousands of students gathered in front of the gate to demand an audience with Premier Li Peng. The crowd was finally dispersed in the wee hours of the morning.

But they returned the next evening with even more forces and determination. They actively engaged in a push-and-shove game with the guards for hours. Student leader Wuer Kaixi made his first public appearance that night on the scene and impressed many people with his courage and determination. Police finally broke through the crowd and forced the protesting students into buses. Many people suffered minor injuries during the scuffle. Exagerated accounts of the events were then public displayed as the "April 20 Tragedy" among the many college campuses in Beijing.

A month later, Xinhuamen also became a site of hunger strike when a group of teachers and students from University of Political Science and Law broke from their main camp in Tiananmen Square and staged their own hunger strike here. They effectively shut down this entrance for weeks.
During the day of June 3, a van carrying military weapons was discovered on Chang'an Avenue just outside of Xinhuamen. Students ceased the vehicle and displayed the guns on its tops. Around noon, police charged the crowd with tear gas and recovered the weapons. It was the first time tear gas was used.

This Day in 1989: April 18, Students Sit-in at Great Hall of People and Xinhuamen

After spending the night in Tiananmen Square guarding the flowers and wreaths at the Monument to People's Heroes, the crowd from Peking University shrank to about two hundreds in the early morning of April 18, 1989. They had come up with a Seven-Point Petition which they intended to submit to the National People's Congress.

Wang Dan and Guo Haifeng led the remaining crowd onto the steps of the Great Hall of People. When it opened the door in the morning, they went in and submitted the petition to an office. Wang Dan obtained a receipt and then left the scene. But the crowd was not satisfied and remained at the site. They wanted to have People's Representatives to receive the petition in person. Another copy of the peitition was made and Li Jinjin took the lead to organize a day-long sit-in. It was by the evening hour when three People's Representatives finally agreed to appear and receive the petition in front of the students. Li Jinjin met them on the steps and handed the paper in a scene resembling a formal diplomatic manuver.

Li Jinjin left the scene and returned to Peking University, where to his horror he saw large groups of students rushing out of the campus to reinforce the crowd at Tiananmen.

Later that night, a sizable crowd gathered in front of Xinhuamen, the site of the central government and engaged a push-and-shove match with the guards there. They demanded for the Premier Li Peng to appear in person for a dialogue. The situation was tense.

Eventually, however, the crowd dispersed in the early morning hours with the combined efforts of rational persuasion and the appearrance of more and more police force. No violence broke out that night, but the same could not be said for the next night.


Days of 1989

NYT Archive 1989: Military On The Move

On the eve of the massacre, New York Times on June 3, 1989, found time to publish a profile of the student leader Wang Dan, describing him as "an intellectual lacking charisma or oratorical skill". But it also anointed him as the most influential leader, over the more charismatic Wuer Kaixi and Chai Ling:

''I have one regret,'' Mr. Wang said. ''I failed to persuade the elite intellectuals to give us direct support.'' Intellectuals should have been more involved in helping to lead the movement, he says.

Mr. Wang believes that the intellectuals joined too late, and he suggests that one of the results of this is that the students did not have coherent goals.

''I think that the student movements in the future should be firmly based on something solid, such as the democratization of campus life or the realization of civil rights according to the Constitution,'' Mr. Wang said. ''Otherwise, the result is chaos.''

Indeed, Wang Dan had been spending most of his time with intellectuals during the entire movement that his fellow leaders and students did not really know where he was most of the time.

In the streets of the capital, this day was marked by small-scale troop movements and confrontations with city residents:

Tens of thousands of Beijing students and workers surged onto the streets early this morning to turn back more than 2,000 troops who were marching toward Tiananmen Square.

It was the biggest outpouring of citizen support for the demonstrating students in more than a week, and it seemed possible that it would rekindle the student movement and present a new challenge to the Government.

The confrontation underscored the fragile and volatile nature of the situation in Beijing just when the turmoil here seemed to be subsiding after seven weeks of demonstrations by students and workers for democracy and against corruption.

Tear gas was used at Xinhuamen, where residents sieged on a convoy of trucks carrying weapons. The atmosphere in the city became extremely tense.

NYT Archive 1989: Protest at Xinhuamen, Again

While the first protest at Xinhuamen was easily dispersed by police in the pre-dawn hours, news and rumors spread all over Beijing the next day. In defiance, a second wave of protest reached Xinhuamen on the very next night, as documented in April 20, 1989's edition of New York Times:

Defying a ban on political protests, tens of thousands of people poured into Beijing's central square Wednesday night, and then at least 10,000 of them marched for the second time on Communist Party headquarters, where police officers beat some of them.

''They hit me on the head and face with a belt, and I have a one-inch cut that required three stitches,'' said a 23-year-old student at the University of Political Science and Law, who gave his name only as Mr. Wang. He said three other students with him were also hit on the head, and other students said the number of those beaten appeared to be in the dozens. Nobody was reported to be seriously injured.

Earlier, the demonstrators pushed back and forth for more than an hour in a test of strength against a unit of security men guarding the walled Zhongnanhai compound, where Prime Minister Li and many other Chinese leaders live and work. ''Li Peng, come out,'' they shouted.

Violence broke out that night as police once again tried to disperse the crowd. The exact extent of the police brutality is difficult to assess, as it varies from one witness account to another. Other than the quote above, the NYT's description was inconclusive:

At about midnight, less than 24 hours after the first march on Zhongnanhai, more than 2,000 police officers filed out of several nearby buildings to disperse the student demonstrators. The crowd was separated into smaller groups by lines of police, and foreign journalists were ordered to leave. It was difficult to determine whether the remaining students were beaten or taken into custody.

When the police began to push the crowds back, they were met with resistance from the crowd of expectant onlookers, who shouted, ''No beating,'' and ''Running dogs, go away.''

One significant event that NYT had missed that night was the emergence of Wuer Kaixi (吾尔开希), a student at the Beijing Normal University. Many witnesses remember seeing him standing on a flatbed tricycle, bravely and passionately giving speeches and defying the police. He was carried away by his classmates when the violent clearing started.
Wu'er Kaixi would be heard and seen, more than anyone else, throughout the movement.
But on that night, at Xinhuamen, he also caught the eyes of Liu Gang, who was in the crowd observing quietly. Impressed, Liu Gang would seek out Wuer Kaixi later to form a new leadership for the movement.

NYT Archive 1989: From Tiananmen To Xinhuamen

One of the interesting aspects of the 1989 movement following Hu Yaobang's death is that the spontaneous memorial activities became a pro-democracy protest almost from the very beginning. The phenomenon itself is quite understandable, given that Hu had been purged two years ago for being lenient to the then student pro-democracy movement. There was a wide perception that Hu took the fall for the students and now, with his passing, it should be the students' turn to seek justice for him.

But the rate of the escalation is still quite amazing. On the same day Wang Dan and his friends formulated a seven-point demand, hundreds of students already staged a sit-in on the stairs of the Great Hall of People, inside of which Wang Dan was trying to hand in the demands as a petition. This sit-in only received a very brief mention in April 19, 1989's edition of New York Times:

All day on Tuesday, students and onlookers gathered in the square to mourn Mr. Hu and to campaign for democracy. Several hundred students staged a sit-in in front of the Great Hall of the People, at one end of the square, demanding that officials come out and receive their demands.

In retrospect, this is a bit unfortunate, since the sit-in, organized and led by Li Jinjin (李进进), a Beida graduate student, was one of remarkably orderly and well-organized action in the early phase of the movement.

It was easy to overlook this sit-in, however, as a more dramatic and radical development was already showing:

More than 10,000 people took over Beijing's central square on Tuesday night in a rally for democracy. Several thousand students then marched to the Communist Party headquarters, where those in the front of the crowd tried to force their way in to see the nation's leaders.

For several hours early today, the students engaged in a shoving match with startled guards who were blocking the entrance to the walled Zhongnanhai compound, where most of China's leaders live and work.

While the sit-in crowd at the Great Hall of People maintained a peaceful posture, this crowd at Xinhuamen, the front gate of the Zhongnanhai compound, was distinctly more confrontational:

''Long live freedom! Long live democracy!'' the crowd shouted. ''Down with the bureaucracy!'' Two hunger strikers dozed in a central place of honor, and a sign announced that the strikers would not leave until the students' demands for democracy were met.

It was not clear how serious those two hunger strikers were. There were multiple mentions of them in various memoirs, but none included their names and intentions. In any case, this confrontation did not last long that night:

The defiance ended at 4:30 A.M., when at least 1,000 police officers arrived to clear the area. The number of students had dwindled by then to 1,000, and they left quietly. No students were publicly arrested, and the police seemed to be trying to use as little force as possible.

As they dispersed the students this morning, the police used loudspeakers to advise them that recent actions honoring Mr. Hu had been abnormal and that those acts would no longer be allowed.

As noted in the NYT report, protest at Zhongnanhai was extremely unusual. It perhaps signaled, as early at that time, that this movement would become something nobody had seen before, or since.

Beijing Student Appeals to Change Slogans

Xinhuamen (新华门), or the Gate of New China, is the main entrance of Zhongnanhai, the secretive compound that houses the leadership of both Communist Party and the government.

For many decades, the gate was surrounded by two gigantic slogans on each side: "Long Live the Great Communist Party of China" and "Long Live the Invicible Mao Zedong Thoughts".


One student in Beijing, however, is taking exception with one of the slogans. As reported by the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Bao, Zhao Qingtian (赵婧天), a senior in the Northern Industrial University (北方工业大学), wrote a letter to the top leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao that the slogans should be changed to reflect the changing times.

The slogan "Long Live the Invincible Mao Zedong Thoughts", she argues, is especially outdated. Many of Mao's teachings have already been proven wrong. The slogan should be replaced by something closer to the current state of China's politics.

Below is a picture of Zhao Qingtian in front of the slogan at issue:


In the early days of 1989 movement, Xinhuamen was the site of a couple large scale protests and scuffles with police.