Deming, A., Eliott D., & Magida, L. (1989, May 1). Unrest in Beijing: An explosion of student protest embarrasses China’s leaders and poses the ‘greatest challenge to the government in more than a decade.’ Newsweek. Dorner, W.R. (1989, May 1). Come out! Come out!: Mourning for a fallen leader erupts into defiant demands for political change.Time.

OVERVIEW

Supplemented by an AP report (April 27, 1989)

More than 150,000 students and supporters burst past a police line and triumphantly filled Tiananmen Square, changing the slogans for democracy and reform that have rung out repeatedly in the past 11 days of major demonstrations. ‘We have created history today. History will not forget us. The people will not forget us,’ a student leader shouted through a megaphone.

According to Dorner

Night after night, arriving on bicycles or on foot, they converged on Beijing’s gigantic Tiananmen Square. Gathering ostensibly to mourn the ousted Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang (a proponent of liberal reforms), who had died the previous weekend at 73, the throngs of university students (joined by workers and citizens) actually had a much more provocative, and important goal in mind: a demand for greater democratization in the world’s most populous country (China has just declared its population to be 1.1 billion, a conservative figure according to some researchers).

Implicit in the spreading protest campaign was a call for a shake-up in China’s (aging) Communist leadership, including the retirement of Deng Xiaoping, 84, after a decade in power.

In a scene never witnessed in the forty years of Communist rule, more than 1,000 students assembled outside the ornate red-lacquered gate of Zhongnanhai compound, where the top leaders officially live and work. Sitting on the pavement, lotus-like, they exhorted Premier Li Peng to hear their demands, chanting, ‘Come Out! Come Out!’ The furor reached a peak on Saturday. (Time, p. 20)

The Newsweek authors add:

It was an astounding loss of face for China’s leaders. Arriving (on Saturday) at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People last week for the funeral of former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, they were confronted by tens of thousands of protesting students—jeering and waving banners calling for democracy. As they climbed the steps, some of the leaders turned to stare in disbelief at the students, who shouted slogans such as ‘Down with bureaucracy! Down with corruption!’

Then a hush fell upon the crowd as the funeral began. Students sat down outside the hall, facing a three-deep line of police, who sat down in turn. After the service ended, thousands of students lingered in Tiananmen Square for hours, demanding to talk with Prime Minister Li Peng. Li never complied, and some of the students, exhausted by an overnight vigil in the square, began to weep in frustration. Others vowed they would continue the protest. (Newsweek, p. 32)

CHINESE STUDENT PROTEST

The radical, and often vicious, role of youthful Red Guards under Mao and the "Gang of Four" is well known. There is, on the other hand, a record of student protest in this century.

May 4, 1919. When the Versailles Peace Conference reassigned Shandong Province from Germany to Japan, 3,000 students marched in protest to Beijing’s Gate of Heavenly Peace. The "Communist Party claims this movement as its origin." April 5, 1976. National mourning followed the death of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai in February 1976. As paper floral tributes were removed from Tiananmen Square, protesters trying to enter the Great Hall of the People were thwarted by police. A riot ensued. Thus, the "Gang of Four" expelled Deng Xiaoping, the leading progressive. December, 1978. When the Beijing Municipal Committee reversed a critical opinion on its response to the 1976 demonstrations, large character posters (DAZIBAO) were raised in support of Deng Xiaoping. This Democracy Wall Movement (1978-79) helped Deng promote his "Four Modernizations." But by April of 1979, these posters had been prohibited. December, 1986. Soaring tuition and poor dormitory conditions initiated student protest. This soon broadened into a call for greater human rights. The fact that Hu Yaobang was identified with these student demands and was fired as Party Leader was background for the protests of April-May, 1989. (Newsweek, p. 36)

RECENT CHINESE LEADERSHIP

Deng Xiaoping. Deng was known as a moderate pragmatist and with a history of opposing conservatives. Ousted by the Gang of Four, he returned to power once they were overthrown. Consequently, he was popular with students until the late 1980s. However, since Hu Yaobang lost his position in 1986, Deng has been viewed differently. According to one student, "Deng has outlived his usefulness. The old leaders can’t bring real change to China." Zhao Ziyang. China’s Communist Party chief was also seen as advocating political liberalization during the student movements of 1986. Students now feel betrayed by Zhao and accuse him of showing favoritism in supporting his son’s import-export business. Li Peng. Trained in the Soviet Union and supported by hard liners, Li has been consistent enough not to crush student hopes. Of him campus posters said, "If Li Peng can be premier, who can’t be?" Yao Yilin. Vice Premier and ally to Li, Yao is considered by students as being a lackluster conservative. Yet, many Chinese analysts see in Yao a probable replacement for Zhao as the party chief. (Newsweek, p. 35)

WHAT DO THE STUDENTS (AND WORKERS) WANT?

Protesters have shouted:

Down with Dictatorship!

Down with Bureaucracy!

We will Die for Freedom!

Long Live Democracy!

And students in the crowd told reporters:

Our newspapers are all lies. We get our news from Voice of America. We’ve been under a communist system for 40 years, and we’re still living in hell. We don’t necessarily want democracy like America. Our people’s level is still too low. But we’ve got to be able to make the government listen to us. (a worker among the students) We are willing to leave our blood on Tiananmen Square. We must persist to the end and the victory will be ours. The mood is very, very defiant. I think people are all going to stick together and fight for it.

RESPONSE OF COMMUNIST AUTHORITIES

Why has the Communist government allowed this protest to begin and gather such momentum? A negative response sees the government poised to use this liberal excess as a excuse for greater repression and attack on more liberal party members. However, the government’s restraint may be traced to its economic priorities and need for worldwide support.

The Communist Party issued a harsh warning, which students feared as a signal of a fierce crackdown and further repression.

According to the New York Times Service

All the comrades of the party and the whole nation must understand clearly that if we do not resolutely stop this unrest, our state will have no calm days. Our reform and modernization will depend on this struggle, and the future of our state and nation will depend on it.

...a very small number of people with ulterior motives continue to make use of the desire of young students to mourn comrade Hu Yaobang. They fabricate various rumors to poison people’s minds. They make use of posters to libel and slander and attack leaders of the Communist party and the government. They even undisguisedly violate the constitution, incite people to negate the party’s leadership and the socialist system. In some universities, they have even set up illegal organizations and taken power from official students and teachers to boycott classes.

WHAT IS THE LIKELY OUTCOME OF THIS PROTEST?

If Deng should die in the near future, many Chinese believe, a conservative is likely to take his place and a period of political stagnation may very well set in. ‘There is likely to be a Breshnevian era,’ says one high-level economist gloomily. But in the longer run, once Deng’s generation of leaders passes from the scene, younger leaders...are likely to move to the fore at last. In the meantime, China’s restive students have grown bolder, and readier than ever before to criticize their leaders by name...the government will either have to meet them with concessions or with old-fashioned repression. (Newsweek, p. 36)

Deng can afford to allow university students to let off steam occasionally in pursuit of democracy or in memory of a fallen hero. The test will come if, when the ceremonies for Hu are past, the engine of protest should suddenly roar out of control. (Time, p. 21)

IMPLICATIONS

1. In the Middle East, in South Africa, and around the world, a new response to critical issues is being demanded by children and youth. Today’s China is no exception, and this student movement is to be closely watched.
2. What is new about this student movement in Communist China is not only a stronger protest against leaders and support from many in the general populace, but its renunciation of Marxist orthodoxy and dictatorship—benign or otherwise. This was unheard of just a few years ago.
3. This is a time for contact with China by scientists, business people, students, interested social workers. Obviously, those who journey should go with a good understanding of China and a sensitivity for today’s situation.