Second Students' Movement
 
Students at Peking University seemed to be the propelling force behind assembly of meetings and demonstrations. They demanded political reform and "democracy civilization". Unlike Qinghua University, Peking University was noted for the democratic spirits that went back as far as the "new culture movement" of the 1910s. In contrast, Mao Tse-tung's communist regime had a tradition of trashing "curriculum of arts" and emphasizing on "curriculum of sciences" [for sake of Atomic Bomb Project, e.g.] since taking over power in 1949, yielding the sarcastic result that majority of CCP Politburo members were graduates of Qinghua University no matter their diplomas were real or faked.
 
After the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15th 1989, at Peking University, big character posters showed up with calls for political reform. Some memoirs pointed out that "big character posters" followed the first appearance of "small character posters" on campus. Top two issues raised by students would be: i) restoring the reputation of Hu Yaobang; and ii) reversing the CCP Central decision in regards to 1987 'Anti-Bourgeoisie Liberalization Movement'. Inside of Peking University, student leader Wang Dan, who had obtained a permission to establish "democracy salon" at a corner near the Cervantes Statute, was said to have constant contacts with Fang Lizhi couple. Graduate student Feng Congde, who claimed to have no interest in politics, dropped off to read big character posters in the "triangle area" when his computer at the lab broke down. Feng Congde claimed that Chai Ling, i.e., his ex-wife, was a woman interested in going to US via 'F-2 spouse visa' for material pursuits but nevertheless got involved in student movement because of him.
 
On 16th, Bao Zunxin received a call from Sun Changjiang stating that Hu Yaobang's son, i.e., Hu Deping, had set up an altar at the residency. At the time Bao Zunxin planned to go to Hu Yaobang's house, a Taiwan female reporter called him with information about "big character posters" inside of Peking University. (Bao Zunxin had a habit of often riding in Wang Limei's car in exchange for tips and news to the Taiwan newspaper.) Bao Zunxin rode on the reporter's car for the university, and stopped by to express condolence to Hu Deping who allowed public access to his house where people lined up around the building already. Bao Zunxin managed to go inside Peking University by claiming to visit an acquaintance, and observed lots of big character posters, poems and eulogies at San-jiao-di [i.e., triangle area]. Bao Zunxin then visited People's University where he located an acquaintance called Yu Shuo for information. Yu Shuo pointed out that students had been going to dance parties and other entertainment activities while writing big character posters in commemoration of Hu Yaobang simultaneously. Bao Zunxin later visited the two universities two more times, on 18th & 24th, respectively.
 
On April 17th, in Shanghai, students from Eastern China Normal University, per Shi Tao, also went onto the streets. In Peking, ten thousand students swarmed onto Tian'an'men Square to show respect for the late leader. The next day, tens of thousands of students converged upon the square and in front of "People's Great Wall" for a demonstration against CCP Central's deliberate low-tone mourning arrangement. Students raised "seven demands". Bao Zunxin pointed out that students first proposed "five demands" on April 17th, that Wang Dan of Peking University proposed "nine demands" on April 18th, that Qinghua University proposed their demands on 19th, that Wang Dan revised on top of Politics & Law University demands to derive "seven demands" on 19th, and that People's University proposed "ten demands" on 18th. (CCP did authorize commemoration activity but did not offer the usual elegy of calling Hu Yaobang "a great Marxist". Lin Mu, who wired a condolence message to Li Zhao, came back to Peking on May 9th to join the 'Hu Yaobang Life' writing panel at CCP Party History Publishing House.)
 
Students First Beaten By Police During Confrontation
On April 19th 1989, students from colleges and universities of Peking were in confrontation with police on Tian'an'men Square, near Zhong-nan-hai [middle southern lake] CCP Party Apparatus. Students briefly breached police cordon and called the name of Li Peng, i.e., China's premier. By the night, police attempted to dispel the crowd by force at Xin-hua-men [New China] Gate. News soon spread, leading to widespread support from students across the country. Next day, escalated confrontations were classified as "April 20th Xinhuamen Incident".
 
On the campus of Beijing University, Xiong Yan claimed to be the first student who jumped out of the crowd to make a public speech in calling for formation of "autonomous student union". Students organized a "preparatory committee of student movement of Peking University" when nobody from communist party or youth league organizations came out to assume the leadership.
 
Bao Zunxin stated that he, like other intellectuals, deliberately kept a low profile for avoidance of being "a handful of conspirators" in the eyes of CCP Central. Thus, during two initial visits, Bao Zunxin could not locate the big character posters at People's University. On April 20th, Bao Zunxin declined the proposal from Wei Qun of "China Youth" magazine in lending support to students who were beaten up by police the previous night. In the afternoon, Yuan Zhiming called Bao Zunxin in regards to student demonstration, and Bao Zunxin agreed to meet with Yuan Zhiming at People's University. Having called over his driver, Bao Zunxing went to the campus where they, together with Wang Runsheng, Chen Xuanliang and Rong Jian, convened a meeting inside of Xie Xianjun's house. They decided upon a draft calling for a dialogue between the government and the students. (Here comes an important criticism of Chinese intellectuals as a whole: acting as "mediators", not leaders.) Then, they made arrangement for signature collection on the east side and west side of Peking the next day. The next day, 21st, on the east side of the city, Bao Zunxin brought the letter into "Academy of Social Sciences" and obtained signatures from History Institute, Marxism Institute and etc, including those of Yan Jiaqi and Yu Haocheng. (Cao Siyuan declined to sign.) Bao Zunyin sent along college student to the homes of Su Shaozhi and Wu Zuguang for signatures. By 6:00 pm, on April 21st, intellectuals with progressive thoughts, i.e., Bao Zunxin and Yan Jiaqi etc, numbering 47, who were mostly counsellors in Zhao Ziyang's "wise brain nucleus", published, on the poster area of both Peking University and People's University, the open letter to CCP Central with a call for heeding students' demands. In early morning of April 22nd, Zheng Yi brought the open letter to the Square and read to over 10000 sitting-in students.
 
Zhao Ziyang's "wise brain nucleus" would include Wu Jiaxiang, i.e., the top representative of the school of thought on "neo-authoritarianism": Wu Jiaxiang was bent on likening China's dictatorship to the autocracy under Singapore's Li Guangyao. (Wu Jiaxia tendered his resignation letter on the morning of June 4th.) Throughout the late 1980s, numerous scholars and intellectuals published articles on Shanghai-based "World Economic Herald", touching on mostly economic reforms that would include sub-contracting, stock-holder ownership, and reform measures on salvaging state enterprises. The death of Hu Yaobang would shift the focus of those scholars and intellectuals to taboo topic of "political reform" instead of "economic reform".
 
Dramatic Act Of Students Kneeling Down To Present Petition To CCP
On April 22nd 1989, CCP Central held a funeral for late Hu Yaobang, with high remarks for his feats albeit omitting the reason why he was sacked in Jan 1987. Millions of Pekingers lined up on the boulevard to see the funeral van pass by. The funeral somehow pacified students.
 
However, dramatic event kicked up again when three students, including Guo Haifeng, knelt down on the steps in front of the People's Hall with a petition. When communist leadership refused to receive the students, students were in tears. On April 23rd, students at Peking University, who had overthrown party-sanctioned student union, would convene a "joint meeting" in the name of "Peking Interim Consolidated Student Union" [i.e., 'bei gao lian'] and called for a general strike on May 4th 1989. Student activist Zhou Yongjun tacked on the "chair" post of "Consolidated Student Union of Colleges & Universities in Peking" from April 23 to April 27th, to be followed by Wu-er-kai-xi [i.e., April 28 & 29th] and Feng Conde successively. Feng Congde claimed that he did not know Wang Dan nor heard about "democracy salon" at the beginning.
 
On April 23rd, CCP Peking Branch Commissar Committee convened a meeting for party branch secretaries of colleges and universities in Peking. CCP leaders, such as Li Tieying, Heh Dongchang & Liu Zhongde attended the meeting. Later in the evening, an expanded meeting was held by Li Ximing & Heh Dongchang for both principals and branch secretaries of 67 colleges and universities. Also on April 23rd, Chen Mingyuan stood out at the "Triangle Area" of Peking University by blasting at CCP Central's name-calling on radio on 19th & 20th. Chen Mingyuan denied that any "unidentified people with ulterior motives" were behind the students.
 
On April 24th, 200 college teachers and professors called on CCP Central to conduct dialogue with students in the spirits of CCP Central's 13th Central Committee. Politics and Law University cautioned against crackdown by force. On the afternoon, CCP Peking Branch Commissar Committee conevened a meeting for standing committee members, claiming to CCP Central that they had the "methods" to solve student "turmoil" which were a result of 'Bourgeois Liberalization' flooding with implication of reactionaries from both inside and outside of the party as well as from both inside and outside of the country.
 
Crackdown On "World Economic Herald", & "People's Daily" Commentary
Meanwhile, CCP General Secretary made a scheduled official visit to North Korea, which turned out to be a bad decision at the time of turmoil: CCP Central issued April 26th Commentary on "People's Daily" in the absence of Zhao Ziyang. Wu Jiaxiang disclosed that Zhao Ziyang, before leaving for N Korea on April 21st, had instructed that no politburo meeting should be held in his absence but Yang Shankun & Li Peng immediately convened a "CCP Expanded Poliburo Meeting", then reported to Deng Xiaoping with meeting opinions, and then borrowed Deng Xiaoping's mouth in stating that CCP "should not fear bloodshed". Zhao Zhiyang's self account, recorded by Yang Jisheng, claimed that it was li Ximing & Chen Xitong who contacted Wan Li on the night of April 21st in request of convening a commissar meeting; that Wan Li relayed the info to Li Peng. Hence, Li Peng convened the meeting on the night of 24th, reported it to Deng Xiaoping on 25th, and was authorized to relay Deng's opinions to communist cadres; and that Li Peng took advantage of the occasion to draft a newspaper commentary for publication on April 26th.
 
On April 25th 1989, CCP's secretary in Shanghai, i.e., Jiang Zemin, cracked down on the dissent by ordering a re-organization of Qin Benli's "World Economic Herald". This independent herald action by Jiang Zemin would later pave the way for him to assume the role as CCP general secretary in place of Zhao Ziyang after the massacre. Several writings exposed hatchetman Jiang Zemin, a student of puppet Central University in Nanking in early 1940s, had wavered between pro-Deng and pro-Zhao camps during this interval. In deed, communist bureaucrats all over the country, who had observed the developments on the Square for discerning the wind direction, would pay for their wrongly choosing side after the massacre.
 
In Peking, "paramount" leader Deng Xiaoping listened to the reports by Li Peng and Chen Xitong in regards to student movements. (Bao Zunxin cited Chen Xitong's reports in pointing out that it were Hu Qili & Li Ximing who had reported to Deng Xiaoping on the morning of April 25th.) Deng Xiaoping made a decision that this student movement, being a turmoil [i.e., rebellion], should be dealt with under "conspicuous flags" [i.e., straightforward CCP guidelines].
 
On April 26th, CCP's throat and tongue, i.e., "People's Daily", published an editorial [authored by Hu Qili & Yang Shangkun] against the "student riots", claiming that riots should be dealt with under "conspicuous flags". In Shanghai, Jiang Zemin's CCP Shanghai Committee announced the dismissal of Qin Benli's editor-in-chief post. (Qin Benli was renowned for his constant claim of playing ping-pong ball by the edge of the table. It was said that Jiang Zemin, on New Year Day of 1989, had pretentiously assisted Qin Benli in passing the scolding by CCP Propaganda Department in regards to the publication of Su Shaozhi's sensitive article that Zhang Weiguo had privately obtained for relay to Shanghai's newspaper agency. Before the series of aricles commemoration Hu Yaobang, Qin Benli had allied with Taiwan "United Newspaper" in publishing Qian Jiaju's article. After April 15th death of Hu Yaobang, Qin Benli published scripts of a forum discussion that Zhang Weiguo had co-hosted with "Observer" panel against the objections from Wang1 Daohan & Jiang Zemin. It was Zeng Qinghong & Chen Zhili who had raised the issues.)
 
Central TV Station first broadcast "People's Daily" editorial on the night, about 7:00 pm, accusing student movement of being "anti-Party and anti-socialism". (Bao Zunxin stated that it was Xu Weicheng who drafted the editorial, for which Xu was promoted to the post of deputy minister for CCP's Propaganda Department after the massacre.) At about 9:00 pm, students from major universities called Bao Zunxin with their plan for a massive street protest the next morning. Bao Zunxin immediately contacted Tao Siliang [i.e., daughter of Tao Zhu and a deputy bureau chief under CCP's United Front Ministry] for mediation. Bao Zunxin requested for Tao Siliang to relay a "restraint" message to CCP Central in the name of 100 intellectuals. Meanwhile, teachers and professors were trying to stop students from leaving campuses.
 
Massive Demonstration On April 27th
On April 27th, tens of thousands of students went on the street to protest against "People's Daily" editorial, claiming that the student movement was patriotic. Students again breached police cordon. CCP-controlled State Council, headed by premier Li Peng, promised to conduct a dialogue with students. (Government records, per Chen Xiaoya, stated that after "April 26th Editorial", in the timeframe of April 27th to May 5th [per Zhang Liang], for a second time, army units from 38th group army, i.e., 6th tank division, engineering regiment and communications regiment, about 5100 soldiers, were sent to the Great Hall in Peking via 234 trucks in the name of "preparatory force for stopping turmoil". The "preparatory force for stopping turmoil", later withdrawn, would apparently serve as the sweeping force again on June 3rd, which clearly invalidated claims that blindfolded soldiers from remote areas were employed for bloody crackdown.)
 
Later on April 29th, during a "Modern Culture Research Society" meeting inside of Academy of Social Sciences, Tao Siliang claimed that everybody had passed April 27th peacefully, with "college students behaving 'lovely' and communist party successfully withstanding a test of democracy". At the meeting, Dai Qing suggested that Bao Zunxin wrote a letter to CCP in appreciation of the restraint.
 
On April 29th, Feng Congde succeeded from Wu-er-kai-xi the "chair" post of "Consolidated Student Union of Colleges & Universities in Peking". On April 30th, Zhao Ziyang returned to Peking from North Korea. Bao Tong immediately conveyed "student reactions to 4-26 Commentary" to Zhao Ziyang.
 
On this day, Bao Zunxin attended a "May 4th 1919 Movement" forum hosted by Asian Pacific Times at Lu Xun Museum. At the meeting, Yuan Zhiming rebutted neo-authoritarianism, and pointed out the lagging behind of political reform versus economic reform. Xie Xianjun claimed that this student movement did not have behind-the-scene manipulators in contrast with KMT-era student movements in which CCP played a role. Bao Zunxin criticised April 26th commentary as well as Yuan Mu's speech. Fei Yuan of "Economics Weekly" stated that April 20th news report as to police brutality on the night of 19th by Xinhua News Agency was untrue. Chen Mingyuan displayed photos about students' kneeling with petition after April 22nd funeral.