/'_/\ /'_/| | \ `\ | | | ______ | `\ `\ | | | ______ /'______/\ | |\ `\ `| | | /______/\ | ___ \/| | | |\ `\| | | | ___ \ \ | /'/ \_|/ | | | `\ | | | | | \ \/| | | | __ |_|/' `\__|/' | | | | | | | | \__/_/| | | |__| | | | \/___| |/ China News Digest | |/__/ |/ \_______/(InfoBase June 4 Collection)|_______/ May 12, 1993 **The CND InfoBase Project collects, among other China-related information, materials and/or bibliographical reference to matericals about the Beijing Massacre on June 4, 1989. Please refer to the trailer for more information. No. Subject june3-89.04t # of Lines --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. HEADLINE: OTHER REPORTS ON PEKING STUDENT; Red Cross report on Peking students' health ....................... 20 2. HEADLINE: OTHER REPORTS ON PEKING STUDENT; Red Cross receives 800,000 yuan in donations for students .......... 15 3. HEADLINE: Chinese civilians repulse army advance on square ......... 128 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. HEADLINE: OTHER REPORTS ON PEKING STUDENT; Red Cross report on Peking students' health ....................... 20 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: Peking for Taiwan 1500 gmt 30 May 89 The responsible person at the headquarters of the Chinese Red Cross Socity said that over 95% of the Peking college and university students who took part in the hunger strike and petition have recovered their health. The 58 hospitals in Peking provided timely medical care and successively treated and saved a total of 9,387 people during the period of the hunger strike and petition, which lasted seven days. Currently, except for five fasting students who are still in hospital, all patients have left hospital. The students are in good health. None has died from the hunger strike; and no incidence of sequela has been reported. Recently, the Peking municipal government issued a circular calling on every institution of higher learning to conscientiously pay attention to students' health and have every student who has taken part in the hunger strike subjected to a physical examination. Medical diagnosis and treatment should be administered in time if any case of illness is reported. Currently, there are still 15 stations providing medical care for a handful of students suffering from sunstroke from the sit-in in Tiananmen Square. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. HEADLINE: OTHER REPORTS ON PEKING STUDENT; Red Cross receives 800,000 yuan in donations for students .......... 15 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: Peking for Taiwan 1500 gmt 31 May 89 A spokesman of the Red Cross Society of China said that from 17th to 29th May, the society received more than 800,000 yuan in donations for the protesting and fasting college students on Tiananmen Square. In accordance with the wishes of the donors, the society has spent almost 200,000 yuan to purchase medicine, blankets, straw hats, various kinds of beverages, bread, napkins, sterilised tissues and other articles. Most of the remaining funds were used to compensate medical, environmental protection and epidemic prevention units for their expenses incurred in rescuing the students. The spokesman said Because the rescue work, and particularly a great deal of epidemic prevention work, is still going on, the remaining small amount of the donated funds will be kept by the Red Cross Society of China for future use. He pointed out that all the donations would be used for the students' medical tratment and disease prevention. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. HEADLINE: Chinese civilians repulse army advance on square ......... 128 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BYLINE: By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff DATELINE: BEIJING KEYWORD: CHINA; GOVERNMENT; DEMONSTRATION; MILITARY Thousands of Chinese troops descended on demonstrators occupying Tiananmen Square early this morning but were repulsed by student protesters and throngs of ordinary citizens. In yet another humiliating setback for the hard-line communist leadership that declared martial law May 20, at least 10,000 infantrymen of the People's Liberation Army marched down Changan Avenue about 2 a.m., only to be blocked by throngs of protesters who stood with arms linked. As the soldiers approached, the demonstrators set up barricades of commandeered buses, bicycle racks and concrete blocks. The troops clambered over and around the obstacles and advanced to within a few hundred yards of the square before being halted by the jeering crowd. "Why does the People's Army assault the people?" chanted the protesters, many of whom have occupied the downtown plaza for three weeks as part of a campaign for a freer society. There was some pushing and shoving but no real violence in a confusing encounter that lasted about 2 1/2 hours. The confrontation occurred within site of an effigy resembling the Statue of Liberty. The students erected the statue Monday. By daybreak, the soldiers were streaming from the square in disarray. Many wept openly. "I do not know why we were sent here. I do not understand the situation in Beijing, " said a soldier who identified himself as a member of the 24th Division. He said his officers had told him only that "we were coming to protect the people. I know nothing more. I don't want to be here." By midmorning, more than 100,000 supporters and curious onlookers swarmed to the square to show sympathy for the prodemocracy demonstrators. The scene was tumultuous, filled with many small dramas. When a military vehicle stalled, it was surrounded by dozens of middle-age women who scolded the soldiers inside as if they were mischievous children. "Why have you boys come here?" cried one bespectacled woman. "Why are you making trouble for our students? " The soldiers rolled up the windows of the vehicle and covered their ears. Facing the exuberant crowd, many soldiers simply squatted on their heels and placed their hands on their heads as if in surrender. Groups of them were quickly surrounded by students and other demonstrators who urged them to join their cause. The failed military advance followed three days of troop movements in the vicinity of the square, the focal point of the democracy campaign whose antigovernment rallies have convulsed China since April. The main advance was made along Changan, the major artery leading to the square, but other soldiers marching in from side streets also were blocked by demonstrators. Several army trucks, however, rumbled through the crowd and parked outside the Great Hall of the People, the center of government. Troops left the trucks and scrambled inside the massive structure on the western side of the square. As dawn paled the dark sky, students marched up and down the avenue, waving banners and placards while singing the Chinese national anthem. It was the second stunning security defeat for the authoritarian regime. Shortly after declaring martial law earlier this month, the government ordered troops into Beijing to crush the peaceful rebellion. That time, too, the soldiers were turned back by citizens who rallied in defense of the student -led movement. The troops who moved on Tiananmen in the early-morning darkness carried no rifles or tear-gas canisters, although some carried rubber truncheons and others held wooden stakes. Students seized an electronic cattle prod from one soldier. In one brief scuffle, several soldiers stumbled to the ground, and some protesters yanked off their shoes. Student leaders quickly arrived and ordered the shoes returned to the sobbing young troopers. However, the students did confiscate the field knives carried by the soldiers and waved them before news photographers. The soldiers retreated in disorder, and officers made no attempt to regroup them. Some dashed a mile up the avenue and into a subway station. A news photographer reported that a jeep carrying several officers overturned about a mile from the square, apparently killing four of its occupants. The report could not be independently confirmed. The government has been threatening a military crackdown for weeks. About 200,000 troops have taken up positions around the capital since Premier Li Peng declared martial law, allegedly at the behest of Deng Xiaoping, China's premier leader. The latest military move came at a time when the campaign for democracy appeared to be wilting. The movement is deeply divided, and several thousand students quit their occupation of the square this week, leaving only a few thousand hard-core protesters. Those who remained had seemed dispirited yesterday and talked of giving up the occupation, but their triumph over the troops seemed to inject new life into the campaign for free speech and human rights. "The leaders must see now how deep our dedication is to freedom," said Chang Zhiyun, 23, a graduate student. The government earlier this week indicated it would move against the students. Yesterday, troops were deployed in the central railroad station and other key locations in the capital. Authorities were upset by the liberty statue raised Monday near the enormous portrait of Mao Tse-tung, the founder of the communist state, that looms over Tiananmen. The square, surrounded by government buildings and studded with monuments to revolutionary heroes, was built as a shrine to the communists' ascension to power in 1949. But the protesters have turned it into a symbol of defiance. The broad demonstrations have spawned deep divisions between party moderates, who favor a conciliatory approach to the democracy movement, and hard-liners pushing for suppression of the largest popular uprising in the history of the communist state. GRAPHIC: PHOTO MAP, 1. Reuters photo / Residents of Beijing offer food to soldiers after preventing them from entering Tiananmen Square early today. 2. AP photo / A demonstrator pulls a soldier away from his colleagues early today as citizens block a line of troops in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Bing Wen in Ottawa, Canada | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest (CND) InfoBase covers the following areas: | | History : WWII, Cultural Revolution, June 4, Olympics | | Service : visa/PR, PRC-doc, tax, insurance, travel/living | | Academics : job, conference/workshop, societies, projects | | Other : org intro, book review, community activities | | ------ * ------ * ------ | | To contribute, please send to CND-IB@CND.ORG | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+