This June 4 marks the 35th anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre. CPIC has specially translated into English a series of articles by Mr. Zhou Duo, one of the “Four Gentlemen of Tiananmen”, who experienced the event firsthand and saved lives by negotiating the evacuation of protesters from the square. His articles recount the entire process from April to June 1989, showing the world how this movement, which eventually changed the global political landscape, unfolded from the initial mourning of Hu Yaobang’s death to the tragic end when tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square to crush the students. This series consists of five articles, which we will publish regularly through June 4.
By: Zhou Duo
“The Truth about the Clearance of Tiananmen Square” were remarks given on May 28. In today’s remarks I would like to start from April and discuss prior events.
The events culminating in June 4 were triggered by the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989. Ultra-left, anti-reform forces within the Chinese Communist Party had seized on the student uprising at the end of 1986 as an excuse to remove Hu from power. Therefore, college students felt a deep bond with the former general secretary, and launched another student movement now. Between April 20th and 23rd (I forget the exact date, my diary was secretly destroyed at a checkpoint on the way to Yantai on June 14th), I took my assistant from the Sitong Company to Peking University. There in its Department of Sociology I found Wang Hansheng, a former colleague, and talked with several Peking University students. I first wanted to understand what was going on, and also wanted to provide them with some reference opinions…. [Continue Reading]
Source: https://www.yibao.net/2024/04/29/the-things-i-saw-in-may-and-june-1989-1/