Six Years Ago This DayMay 29, 1989

 

May 29, 1989

TianAnMen Protesters Dwindle as Food and Cash Run Low; Government Tightens Curbs on Official Media

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Source: Compiled By Zuofeng Li from Reuters, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1989

BEIJING - A dwindling band of tired and hungry students kept up their sit-in in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Monday, demoralised and confused about how to continue their campaign for democracy.

About 300 representatives from Beijing campuses and provincial schools voted on Sunday night with a show of hands to stay in the cluttered square until June 20. The 300 delegates had been gathered at Beijing's Normal University since Saturday night to decide if the 10,000 students still camped in TianAnMen Square should abandon their sit-in after a mass rally Tuesday.

About 300 representatives from Beijing campuses and provincial schools voted on Sunday night with a show of hands to stay in the cluttered square until June 20. The 300 delegates had been gathered at Beijing's Normal University since Saturday night to decide if the 10,000 students still camped in TianAnMen Square should abandon their sit-in after a mass rally Tuesday.

"It was a battle between the moderates who wanted to go home and the hard-liners who felt that by vacating the square we would lose our last pillar of power," one student leader said after the vote.

The delegates also voted to replace the leadership of their movement. They said the old leaders were tired and needed rest.

The number of students in the square fell to 2,000 by early morning on Monday, probably the lowest since the occupation began on May 13.

Students had hoped to revive their movement with a million-strong march in Beijing on Sunday, but only 50,000 students took to the streets in defiance of martial law regulations declared by hardline Premier Li Peng on May 20.

The turnout was smaller than organizers had hoped for, apparently because workers and public employees who had thronged by the hundreds of thousands to earlier marches failed to appear in significant numbers.

"We were sternly warned not to attend," a schoolteacher said last night at his home in a neighborhood in eastern Beijing.

"Everyone supports the students, no one likes the government," said a 39-year-old woman employed at a ceramics plant. "But there is strong fear of punishment if we show solidarity with the students. "

Student leader Chai Ling told a midnight meeting that she was too weak to carry on and wanted to step down. The crowd apparently persuaded her to stay on as a leader but her words dampened morale further, students said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese leadership, quietly mustering its forces for a showdown with the liberals in its midst, has reportedly sent investigators into ministries and public institutions to find out which public officials joined the pro-democracy marches and under what slogans.

The government has put the state-run media under tight curbs. Journalists said on Monday that soldiers from the People's Liberation Army had been reinforced at the news agency's headquarters, though they were guarding the offices rather than enforcing censorship.

A five-man media supervisory group, headed by Yuan Mu, spokesman of the State Council -- the top government body -- has been formed to direct news reporting, journalists said.

Internal supervision at each news organisation has also been tightened. "We now have five separate reviews before we decide on whether we can broadcast a news item," said a television reporter.

Authorities also stepped up pressure on the students to end their occupation of the symbolic heart of Chinese communism, saying they would not be punished.

Television, radio and official newspapers said people from all over China had written letters to the government expressing hope that students end their protests.

Food and money were running low and students made impassioned speeches through the night calling for strict regulations on spending and for an effort to clean up rotting rubbish piled up next to ragtag tents in many parts of the square.

"We are really low on cash," said a student in charge of finances. He said a large amount of money promised from Hong Kong had not arrived and protesters were rationed to one small package of bread a day.

"Our strength now is not enough. We need the workers to help us, without them we will never overthrow Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng," said one man from Daqing Oil University who was about to return to campus.

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Excerpt from a Tsinghua Student's Diary:

~{⊙　１９８９年５月２９日　星期一~}

~{　　上午在广播台里又见到莞华，她气色好多了，精神也挺放松，像是经过了休整。~}
~{我跟她说我们又回来了，她说，就是啊，前几天到广播台来，一个认识的人都没有了~}
~{。言下之意，似乎和我们这一伙合作得还较愉快。~}

~{　　据说昨晚的大会上柴玲提出辞职。莞华告诉我，柴玲是以现场失控为理由辞职的~}
~{，今天将整顿场地。~}

~{　　今天听到消息，说各界联席会议发起各界大绝食，现在已开始接受报名。并称这~}
~{次绝食将以社会为主体，学生转为支援。~}

~{　　对这个联席会议，北高联的参与程度似乎不大，有几个学生代表是其常委，但似~}
~{乎不起什么作用。而王丹已不是其常委，而成了其联络部的负责人。因此还很难说其~}
~{代表性如何，对其决策过程也不清楚。~}

~{　　但是今天哲明、刘杰、方伟他们决定要正式结束广播台了。他们广播了一个关于~}
~{结束“学运之声”广播的声明，把场地和一部分器材移交给现场指挥部，一部分器材~}
~{则拉回清华，供校内广播台之用。~}

~{　　下午就和哲明、华华一起返校。走到新街口时，华华说想找个小酒馆坐坐。我们~}
~{都很赞同。于是找到一家小饭馆，要了啤酒和可乐，还要了两个凉菜。三个人身上都~}
~{没多少钱，不敢多吃。~}

~{　　坐着慢慢地吃，吃完一结账，我们带的钱还差几块。我提出把学生证押在这里，~}
~{下次路过时再把钱补足，老板见此就说那几块钱算了。~}

~{　　重新走回街上，我跟哲明、华华说，我现在特有一种犯罪的欲望，看见路上这些~}
~{垃圾桶、电线杆都想踹一踹、砸一砸。我现在理解西方国家那些反社会的犯罪行为的~}
~{心理了。有时候你对这个社会有点意见，有点不满，可是你好像没有什么地方去反映~}
~{，你说呀，喊呀，到街上去叫呀，都没人理你，也不起一点作用，这个时候的心情真~}
~{是恨不能砸点东西才好。~}

~{　　咱们这还算好，虽然政府禁止，可是有那么多人和你一个想法，一上街能有十几~}
~{万人和你一起叫，那多带劲！就这样，政府还是什么反应也没有，什么作用都不起呢~}
~{！在西方国家里，那些意见就更个人化了，你虽然可以上街游行，可是就你一个人举~}
~{块牌子在那里转来转去，也没人理你呀，那感觉还要更糟糕！~}

~{　　新街口北面有一个环幕电影院，我们说去看场电影吧，就去买了三张票。进去一~}
~{看，加我们在内才５个人，看门的老头说这场不放了，等下一场人多一点再放。这就~}
~{要等几十分钟，我们决定先到前面师大的校园里休息一下。~}

~{　　在师大主楼前的草坪上躺下来，三个人一会儿就睡着了。~}

~{　　过三点时我醒了，时间该去看电影了，可是躺在软软的草地上，让下午的阳光照~}
~{得暖暖的，真是舒服。看他们两个还在睡，我也就不起来了，也不想叫醒他们。~}

~{　　过了一会儿，他们两个也醒了，不过大家都不想去看电影了，继续躺在草地上休~}
~{息。我拿过哲明的手提喇叭就在那儿说：李鹏，李鹏，你在哪里，请马上到广播台来~}
~{，赵紫阳找你。哲明听了就乐，也拿过喇叭去胡诌。~}

~{　　三个人这样胡诌了一会儿，就从草地上爬起来，继续返校。~}

~{　　傍晚时正在十食堂里吃饭，忽然看见坚坚走了进来。他是我高中的同学，现在在~}
~{上海复旦大学上学，没想到他也跑到北京来了。~}

~{　　坚坚说上海的高校在搞“空校运动”以支援北京的学运。他也就顺便跑到北京来~}
~{了。~}

~{　　饭后和坚坚、华华一起去找林冉。林冉听说各界大绝食的消息就说也要去参加。~}
~{我说你现在去参加绝食干什么呢？她说反正呆着也没什么事干，而且想借此机会认识~}
~{一下那些知识界的人士。我想这倒也对，就说：行啊，你去绝食，我们给你当后援。~}
~{据说今晚他们要在广场上建一个“民主女神”像，干脆咱们一起去看看吧。~}

~{　　后来碰到少军，他听说林冉要去绝食，就说要借一本“减肥气功”的书给她，绝~}
~{食的时候正好可以练。~}

~{　　晚上和林冉、华华、坚坚又回到广场。广场的地面已经被清扫干净，但各校的营~}
~{地仍未整理，也没有看到捐赠的帐篷。我们在广场和纪念碑上都没有找到绝食的报名~}
~{地点，于是就呆在纪念碑上。~}

~{　　晚１１点的时候，远远望见长安街那边有一队三轮车，上面载着几个白色的大块~}
~{，据说是“民主女神”运到了。~}

~{　　我们于是奔向广场北端。在国旗南边的空地上，他们正在搭建脚手架，准备吊装~}
~{。~}

~{　　晚上的广场，人很多，气氛很热烈，像一个大型的节日晚会，大家在那里转来转~}
~{去，都觉得很开心。~}

~{　　林冉：今天上午和徐强、刘杰陪苏虹去她的学校。苏虹还在读高二，高中并~}
~{　　没有罢课，中学生们也没有搞什么活动。但苏虹自己跑出来在广场上和我们~}
~{　　一起干了这么多天，相当于在学校旷课了一个多星期，按校规是要受处分的。~}
~{　　所以她想我们陪她去学校跟老师说一说。到了她的学校我就跟她的老师讲，~}
~{　　我说她这些天没上课，既不是去干什么坏事，也不是贪玩逃学。去干了什么，~}
~{　　您也是知道的，这件事是对是错，全北京的老百姓心里都有数。虽然现在又~}
~{　　是戒严啦，又说学生是在搞动乱啦，可谁知道将来不会翻案呢？像四·五“天~}
~{　　安门事件”那样。看上去谈话的效果还挺好，苏虹在学校里应该不会有什么~}
~{　　事。~}

Six Years Ago This Day