On April 15, 1989, following the death of Hu Yaobang, the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a memorial held by students in Tiananmen Square quickly escalated into the largest democratic movement in Chinese history. From the night of June 3 to the early hours of June 4, CCP troops committed a massacre in Tiananmen Square, killing students and many civilians along the way. The bloody suppression by the CCP troops, now known as the Tiananmen Square Incident or simply “June 4,” shocked the world.
The great divide over casualty numbers
The number of students and citizens killed by the CCP is disputed. According to Western media reports, several thousand people were killed during the “June 4” incident. Declassified documents from the former Soviet Union regarding the CCP’s “June 4” Incident revealed in April 2013 that approximately 3,000 people were killed or injured in the massacre.
Subscribe to our Newsletter!
Receive selected content straight into your inbox.
Unrelenting calls for reappraisal
There have been ongoing calls from the public to reassess “June 4.” In recent years, an increasing number of scholars and participants in “June 4” have come to believe that the CCP can only be considered the criminal of history, with no right to reappraise “June 4.”
Remembering June 4
Every year, the days around June 4 become a highly sensitive period for the CCP. This year marks the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. How many Chinese people still remember? Among China’s young people, how many know about the June 4 tragedy?
Eyewitness account of the Tiananmen Square Massacre
The following is related by Jin Ran, who was also at the scene of the Tiananmen Square Incident.
“My memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre remains vivid. I was in Beijing on June 4, 1989. I heard the intense gunfire at dawn, saw Beijingers soaked in blood being carried away on flatbed tricycles, and learned that two students from my university died during the Chinese military’s crackdown. Later, I witnessed bullet holes covering the walls of buildings on both sides of Chang’an Street near the Princess Tomb.
“Beijing during that time was extraordinary. There were likely over a hundred thousand bicycles parked near Tiananmen Square each day, yet none were stolen. Rumor had it that all thieves declared a strike in support of the students — ‘a halt to theft.’ There were no police directing traffic at crossroads, yet order prevailed. On buses, if you had a university badge on your chest, conductors would refuse to take your money. Many cars would stop for you on the street, asking if you needed a lift.
No one knows how many people died after the People’s Liberation Army opened fire. Some say tens of thousands, some say thousands, and of course, there’s the Chinese Communist Party spokesperson’s claim: ‘Not a single person died.’
This was stated by Yuan Mu, the spokesperson for the State Council of the CCP at the time, who gained notoriety for his claim during an interview with foreign media after the Tiananmen incident that: ‘Not a single person died, not a single person was crushed.'”
Xu Qinxian: Rather be beheaded than a criminal of history
This is a man everyone should remember. His name is Xu Qinxian, and he was once the commander of the 38th Army Group of the People’s Liberation Army. It was he who refused to execute the CCP’s order to mobilize the 38th Army to massacre the unarmed students, resulting in his sentencing by a military court to five years in prison. Many years later, Xu Qinxian told the outside world these words that should be remembered by all: “I would rather be beheaded than be a criminal of history.”
Support from Hong Kong’s entertainment industry
On the same day as the massive protest in Beijing, Hong Kong’s entertainment industry held a “Democratic Songs Dedicated to China” fundraising concert in Happy Valley to support the Beijing student movement. The 12-hour marathon concert was attended by more than 200 film, television, and music artists, along with 500,000 citizens.
Among these people, how many still have a backbone today? How many still treasure their “conscience”? And how many have bent their knees for “fame” and “power”? Some even flatter the CCP, claiming that the Chinese people need to be controlled!
Facing our choices
All of us will one day need to lift our heads, face the heavens, and answer for everything we’ve done. No one can escape it. I find that people’s hearts are continually descending. Where was the bottom line of human hearts 10 years ago? And where is it now?
Translated by: Chua BC
