__ __ /'_/\ /'_/| | \ `\ | | | ______ | `\ `\ | | | ______ /'______/\ | |\ `\ `| | | /______/\ | ___ \/| | | |\ `\| | | | ___ \ \ | /'/ \_|/ | | | `\ | | | | | \ \/| | | | __ |_|/' `\__|/' | | | | | | | | \__/_/| | | |__| | | | \/___| |/ China News Digest | |/__/ |/ \_______/(InfoBase June 4 Collection)|_______/ May 16, 1994 **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 june5-89.02t # of Lines --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Turmoil in China: Grief, Rage at US Rallies ........................ 124 2. Troops rampage through Beijing: Death toll exceeds 500.............. 153 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Turmoil in China: Grief, Rage at US Rallies ........................ 124 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: Boston Globe, June 5, 1989 By: Sally Jacobs, Globe Staff Jack Young stood in a leafy corner of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus yesterday, tears streaming down his ravaged face as he struggled to comprehend the weekend events in his native China. "I feel so ashamed of my government, but I am proud, so proud of the students in Beijing, " declared Young, wearing a black armband and white headband in memory of the dead. "The government there is over. You cannot use force to kill your own people. It is like a mother killing her son." They came together on campuses and city streets across the country, thousands of Chinese students and supporters, to mourn the prodemocracy protesters killed in Beijing and to call for the overthrow of "the fascist government in China." At MIT, nearly 2,000 students from area universities, many of whom have family in China, rallied, angrily shouting, "Long live democracy," and "Down with dictatorship." As two Harvard graduate students read a wrenching account of the bloody events that occurred Saturday in Tiananmen Square, a wave of sobbing rose in the air and one woman fell to the ground moaning loudly. "You are the most orderly, most reasonable nonviolent, peaceful demonstrators in our history," said Yang Ye, a Harvard graduate student, reading the English version of a memorial tribute to the dead protesters. "But the response from the Chinese officials is the cruelest, most ruthless and the most inhumane in world history." With tears periodically running down their faces, Ye and Ding Xueliang, a Harvard student who read the tribute in Chinese, described the massacre that left hundreds dead on Beijing's streets. They told of unarmed civilians crushed under the weight of military vans, pregnant women shot on sight. They told of soldiers jabbing their bayonets into bodies, of soldiers dousing the bodies with gasoline and setting them afire. As some students howled in fury, many wept openly. "We will never let them forget what happened in the deep night," shouted Ye, as the crowd chorused in agreement, shaking their fists in the air. Sen. John Kerry and Mayor Flynn spoke briefly to the crowd and condemned the violence. Both said that the United States should impose sanctions on China until the violence ends and human rights are restored. "These are not the happenings of a weekend. These are the happenings of an epoch, of a lifetime," said Kerry. "And they demand a moral and political response by the leader of the Western world that says we will not tolerate this kind of killing anywhere on the face of this earth." Flynn said that he intends to introduce a resolution at the US Conference of Mayors in South Carolina this week calling for a cessation of economic and diplomatic ties with China until human rights are restored there. Many of the students attending the rally, which was organized by Chinese students from several local universities, were planning to head to Washington on several rented buses last night. They plan to join thousands of other students today in rallies at the US Capitol and at the Chinese Embassy. The students have asked that the Bush administration impose economic sanctions on China and several have suggested the US Embassy in Beijing be closed. Outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, 2,500 protesters rallied peacefully while more demonstrations were organized in San Francisco, New York City, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Tallahassee, Fla. Northwestern University students in suburban Chicago encouraged Americans and Chinese to wear black armbands as a sign of mourning for those killed in Beijing. Also in Chicago, Sen. Paul Simon, a Democrat, drew cheers from thousands of Chinese demonstrators when he called for a stop to all military sales to China. "It is not enough to issue pious statements," Simon said in a veiled allusion to President Bush's stance. "I think we have to immediately suspend all military sales and then we must, in concert with other nations, look to what other steps we may take." Simon was the keynote speaker at an afternoon rally that drew between 5,000 and 7,000 demonstrators to Chicago's downtown Grant Park. The protesters, most of them Chinese citizens attending Midwest universities, marched several blocks through downtown streets, in a parade led by a black-draped coffin and funeral wreaths bearing the words, in Chinese, "Long Live the People Who Died for Democracy." Their banners ranged in sentiment from the dramatic, such as in a crude drawing of Chinese leaders Li Peng and Deng Xiaoping machine-gunning a naked, bleeding woman, to the poignant, as with one that said, "Shame! Shame!" The rally's high point, which drew frenzied cheers and prolonged applause from the crowd, came when about four dozen young demonstrators mounted the stage and renounced their Communist Party membership. As they did so, many held hands while standing at the base of a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Boston-area students also announced the formation of a local branch of an independent association of Chinese students to be tentatively called the United Association of Chinese Students in America. The students hope that through the association they will be able to spread information about the massacre and bring pressure to bear upon the Chinese leaders responsible for it. "We hope to attract world attention and get many nations to join in a universal condemnation of this act," said Yuan Zhou, 33, a Brandeis graduate student in European literature. "This government doesn't represent the people anymore." Like many attending the rally, Zhou said he was worried about family members in China, which in his case include his wife and baby. He said he had been unable to contact her by telephone despite repeated attempts. "I am worried to death," he said, shaking his head. Jack Young, a 26-year-old state employee, said he had talked to his father in his hometown of Shenyang, about 600 miles northeast of Beijing, but that none of his family members knew what had happened in Tiananmen Square apparently because of government restrictions on news reports. "They know nothing, nothing," exclaimed Young, his voice rising in disbelief. "I was shocked." Although many students believe the government assault on the protesters in China has set the movement back, few believe the push for democracy has suffered permanent damage. At the MIT rally, one speaker announced to a crush of applause that not long after the protesters were shot, thousands of civilians flooded the square. "This is not over," Young said. "It may take six months, maybe a year, because of martial law. But it is not over yet." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Troops rampage through Beijing: Death toll exceeds 500 ............. 153 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: Boston Globe, June 5, 1989 By: Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff Machine-gun and small arms fire ripped through the heart of the capital last night and early this morning as security forces continued to savagely suppress China's short-lived Freedom Spring, a crackdown that has already killed more than 500 people. Hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles clattered through the streets, firing long bursts from turret-mounted machine guns. At times the fire was directed at crowds of protesters still milling at intersections. At other times, the shooting appeared to be purely random - bullets spattered hotels, parked vehicles, deserted vegetable stands. Meanwhile, the government mounted a bizarre propaganda campaign directed at its stunned citizenry. "Everything is in order, the government is stable, problems are being handled properly," intoned an anchorwoman on the state-run television's evening newscast. The broadcast showed without comment pictures of a tank smashing the replica of the Statue of Liberty that was erected in Tiananmen Square last week by students seeking a more democratic society. Hundreds and possibly thousands of unarmed civilians have been killed since early Sunday, when veteran combat units of the People's Liberation Army blasted their way through downtown Beijing to end the students' peaceful three-week occupation of the square. An official statement carried on state-run radio said the military was acting out of "ardent love for the capital and its people and the students." Beijing Mayor Chen Xitong warned on state-run television last night that the government and the Communist Party had "reached the end of their patience." "If anyone continues their resistance, they will be severely punished," Chen said. "Do not take part in demonstrations and counterrevolutionary activities." There seemed no rational explanation for the vicious crackdown, which was believed to have been ordered by China's 84-year-old supreme leader, Deng Xiaoping. However irksome the democracy movement may have been to the aging hard-liners who control the Communist Party, the student protest was resolutely peaceful. Prime Minister Li Peng responded by declaring martial law on May 20, but it was not enforced until the crackdown that began Saturday night. It was not until tanks rolled in that some demonstrators armed themselves with rocks and clubs. "The response is wildly out of proportion to the alleged provocation," said a Western businessman based in Beijing. "It's like using dynamite to get rid of the dandelions on your lawn. Why call out tanks and machine guns when you could easily clear that square with a few hundred canisters of tear gas?" There was speculation that the massacre had been intended less to halt the demonstration than to serve as a warning to Deng's opponents in the Politburo, some of whom were openly sympathetic to students' demands for a freer society. "As insane as it sounds, this whole business may boil down to Deng's needing to prove that he's the boss," a Western diplomat said. However, other sources speculated that the murderous melee may have marked a bid for power by the military. The Chinese official media made no mention of civilian casualties, but proclaimed that the military had won a "glorious victory" over "scoundrels and rebellious elements." The government pledged to act "mercilessly" to "crush turmoil." Merciless is almost too mild a word to describe the military rampage. In an assault witnessed by this reporter last night, soldiers firing AK-47 assault rifles charged a small knot of demonstrators on a major avenue. The protesters quickly dispersed. The soldiers then abruptly turned down a narrow market lane, shooting indiscriminately as shoppers screamed and scrambled for cover. A young woman was killed, shot in the throat while carrying a basket of apricots. Several other people were seriously wounded. The soldiers made no attempt to assist the wounded. Later in the night, troops positioned in front of five tanks blocking one approach to Tiananmen Square opened fire on a crowd of people about 50 yards away. Some of the civilians had been shouting insults at the soldiers, but most seemed to be just curious onlookers. "This is not 'quelling social unrest.' This is bloody mayhem," the Western diplomat said. "How in God's name does a government justify butchering innocent people just because a couple thousand kids staged a sit-in, waved banners and said they wanted democracy?" There was speculation among diplomatic sources that China might be headed for a military takeover, as hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles poured in from the countryside this morning. At Fuxon Hospital, bodies had to be placed in corridors because there was no space in the morgue. Surgeons who had gone without sleep for 24 hours labored to save wounded men, women and children. "I can only compare the actions we have seen to those of a mad animal," said one doctor. He added: "The leadership said it acted to teach the students a lesson they would remember. I only hope the rest of the world never forgets the evil done here." Shortly after midnight Beijing time, more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles roared west on Changan Avenue, crushing barricades built by demonstrators and firing machine guns. As soon as the military machines passed, people rushed from cover to rebuild the roadblocks. A few thousand protesters remained in the streets, facing bullets with bricks and antigovernment slogans. But many terrified citizens remained indoors. Others living in central Beijing packed suitcases and fled the capital. The US Embassy advised Americans in the city to stay off the streets. Sections of the capital resembled a war zone, with dozens of buses burning at major intersections. Helicopters droned continuously overhead. Changan Avenue, the main artery leading to Tiananamen and the scene of much of the army shooting, was strewn with rubble, smashed bicycles and overturned military trucks. Three soldiers were reported killed, two of them crushed by their own tanks. There were reports that tanks were converging last night on Beijing Normal University and other campuses. Tiananmen Square, focal point of the democracy uprising, was cordoned off by at least 75 tanks and thousands of troops. Smoke rose as soldiers apparently set fire to the tents and lean-tos that had sheltered the youthful protesters. Soldiers positioned around the square fired upon four Western journalists who approached on foot in daylight. CBS news correspondent Richard Roth and cameraman Derek Williams were released from the custody of police yesterday, nearly 20 hours after the correspondent was last heard scuffling with soldiers during a live broadcast, the Associated Press reported. It is unknown how many students died in the square itself during the bloody climax of the protest. A television camerawoman who remained until the final moments said many were stabbed and hacked to death with knives and trenching tools. The students had reportedly offered to leave the square shortly before dawn Sunday as soldiers killed hundreds of their supporters on surrounding streets. But the military ignored the offer. Yesterday, a poster was tacked to a tree near the square. "Deng Xiaoping, murderer. China will never forget." The words were scrawled in blood. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Gang Xu, Japan | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+