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A Great Story of a Tiananmen Survivor

From: IN%"Poli-Sci@dartagnan.rutgers.edu" 21-JUN-1989 14:52:31.61
To: Poli-Sci@dartagnan.rutgers.edu
Subj: Poli-Sci Digest V9 #13
From: Charles McGrew
Subject: Poli-Sci Digest V9 #13
Poli-Sci Digest Wednesday, 21 Jun 1989 Volume 9 : Issue 13

Today's Topics: China (2 msgs)

Subject: A Great Story of a Tiananmen Survivor (long)

Date: 11 Jun 89 00:21:36 GMT

The following story appeared in a Mandarin language newspaper

called, "The World Daily Newspaper." Translated to English, we

found it very touching and post it here without the author's

permission.

It was told to the editor, Jao Jiang Ching, by an anonymous survivor of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Many thanks to them for sharing with us this great story.

Mitchell N. Perilstein

arpa: mitch@alpha.ces.CWRU.edu

usenet: {decvax,sun}!cwjcc!alpha!mitch

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MURDER IN TIANAMEN SQUARE:

A TRUE STORY TOLD BY A SURVIVING STUDENT î

[We received this story last night, so we had little time to

translate it accurately into English. We wish all of you can still

grasp the truth, despite our translation mistakes. Please post and

pass on this information. - Translators]

I am a student from Tsing Hua University in Beijing. I am

twenty years old. On the early morning of June 4th, I was sitting on

the stairs of the Monument of the Peoples' Heroes. I witnessed the

entire event of the army shooting at the peacefully sitting students

and citizens.

Several of my classmates had been shot to death; my clothes

are still stained with their blood. I want to tell about the whole

event as a survivor and a witness. I want to tell peace loving people

all over the world about the shootings that occurred.

ARMY REFUSED ATTEMPT BY STUDENTS TO SURRENDER WEAPONS

Honestly speaking, by the afternoon of June 3rd, we had

already heard the news that the army was really going to clear out

Tiananmen Square and crack down on demonstrators, because there was an

anonymous person who called to a public phone on a small street near

the square at 4:00 in the afternoon. This person, on the phone,

clearly told us that the army would move into Tiananmen Square very

soon. We were very much alarmed by this news. We had an emergency

meeting, in which we tried to take necessary precautions to avoid

bloodshed and killings.

At that time, we had 23 machine guns and some fire bombs. We

captured these from the soldiers who were beating us during the two

previous days. The University Students Union decided that in order to

show the principles of the non-violent democratic movement, we would 

immediately surrender those weapons to the army. In the evening,we

contacted the army under Chairman Mao's Picture, and the officer said that he

had orders not to accept the weapons.

After failing this, at 1:00 in the morning, the situation had

already become very dangerous and tense. So the students destroyed the

weapons by smashing the machine guns, and pouring the gasoline out of

the fire bombs; preventing the government from accusing students of

killing soldiers.

STUDENTS STILL HAD HOPE

After that, the university student union, through megaphones,

told everyone that the situation was very serious, and that it

probably difficult to avoid bloodshed. So they advised the students

and citizens to leave Tiananmen Square. But there were still forty to

fifty thousand students and about one hundred thousand citizens who

insisted on staying in the square to continue the demonstration. I

was one of them.

Even now I can remember. The atmosphere was very tense.

For all the young students, it was the first time in their lives that

they confronted such a dangerous and serious situation. They would be

lying if they said they were not afraid. But all of us were already

prepared psychologically for this. Of course, there were some

students who believed that the army would not really shoot to kill us.

All in all, at that moment we were afraid, but there was a very noble,

spiritual feeling to support us -- it is worthwhile for us to

sacrifice our lives for the democracy and freedom in China.

After two tanks quickly rolled through the square, the

situation got more and more serious. The government repeatedly

broadcasted through the square. Helmeted soldiers, packed densely,

moved into the square from all directions. In the dark, we could see

on the top of the History Museum unhidden machine guns pointed at

people. At that time, all the students packed up around the Monument

of the Peoples' Heroes. Then, I counted in heart, among the students,

two-thirds boys, one third girls, and thirty percent of the students

were from Beijing, but mostly from other cities. At exactly 4:00in

the morning, suddenly, all the lights in the square went off. The

government broadcasted one more time orders to clear the square.In

the dark, I felt very nervous and tense. As if there was a voice

repeating over and over again, "The moment has come, the moment has

come. "

MORE THAN TEN MACHINE GUNS IN A ROW

At that time, there was a famous singer, Ho Deu Chien. He and

some other people negotiated with the army to let the students leave

the square peacefully. But at 4:40, when the students were about to

leave the square, at that moment, red flares crossed the sky one by

one. Immediately, the lights were turned on over the entire square.

I saw that the area right in front of the square was packed with

soldiers. From the Great Hall of the People was quickly emerging

another army, wearing camouflage uniforms and gas masks, and holding

machine guns. But here I want to jump to another topic. On June

third, around 6:00 in the evening, we negotiated with an army officer

near the West gate of the Great Hall of the People. He said they were

not the army who would make direct contact with the students. The army

who will make the contact will be the army from Szechuan Province,and

they promised that they would not shoot at students. But now,maybe,

those soldiers running out are from Szechuan Province. These

soldiers, once outside, immediately put down more than ten machine

guns in a row, pointed at the students. As soon as the machine guns

were in place, soldiers and police moved forward with electric rods

and other weapons I couldn't name. They moved forward, beating their

way through the students, cutting a path towards the monument. I

witnessed forty to fifty students with blood running down their face.

At this moment, soldiers and tanks, previously waiting outside the

square, began surrounding the students. The tanks formed a large

circle around the students, only leaving one opening, in the direction

of the History Museum.

POLICE AND SOLDIERS BEGAN SHOOTING

When the soldiers and police, who were beating their way

through the students, reached the monument, they destroyed our

broadcasting devices, printing equipment, and our drinks. Then they

started beating students down, away from the monument. We were just

sitting there, hand in hand, singing the international song, and

shouting, "The People's Army shouldn't beat the people!" But

eventually, under the rain of beating, we had to surrender the

monument. At this moment, the machine guns started. Some soldiers

were on one their knees, spraying their machine guns back and forth.

The bullets were whistling by our heads. Other soldiers were lying on

the ground, shooting right at students' chests and heads. In this

situation, we had to retreat back up to the monument again. As soon

as we reached the stairs of the monument, machines guns stopped,but

the soldiers who were at the top began to beat us down again. Once we

were on the ground, the machine guns started again.

At this time, the workers and the civilians could not contain

their anger anymore. Holding bottles and wooden sticks, they ran

toward the army. At this moment, the university student union ordered

people to leave the square. It was not yet 5:00 am.

STEPPING ON DEAD BODIES TO BREAK THROUGH THE TANKS

And then, lots of students tried to run towards the opening

left by the tanks which was in the direction of the History Museum.

When the students reached the opening, the inhuman tanks suddenly

sealed it off. Even worse, thirty more tanks began rolling toward the

crowds. Some students were crushed under the tanks. Even the flag

poles around the monument were crushed. This moved the whole square

into chaos. But it was beyond my imagination that our students were

so brave. One group of us moved forward to push away the tanks,but

they all fell in a rain of bullets. Another group of us stepped on

the dead bodies to run towards the tanks. Eventually one tank was

pushed away and an opening appeared. Three thousand students and I

were able to escape through this opening. But by the time we reached

the history museum, only one thousand were left.

At this time, there were already lots of civilians in front of

the museum. We emerged together. In this terrible situation, we

immediately headed North, that is, in the direction of the Forbidden

City. But as soon as we started running, gunshots were heard from the

trees in the North. In the dark, we couldn't see any soldiers, but we

could see flashes from the guns. So we immediately turned to the

South. That is the direction of Chian Men.

MACHINE GUNS SHOOT CONTINUOUSLY FOR 20 MINUTES

At that time I was crying while I was running. We saw a

second group of students who were breaking out from the circle of

tanks in a rain of machine gun bullets. The path was covered with

dead bodies. We all started to cry. We were crying and running at

the same time. As soon as we reached Chian Men, we ran into more

soldiers. The were coming from the Ju Bau Shi. They didn't shoot at

us. They all had large wooden sticks. They started to brutally beat

us. At the same time, lots of civilians were running from Chian Men,

fiercely fighting with the army to protect us. This allowed us to

escape to Beijing Train Station, with the soldiers running after us.

It was then around 5:00 am. The gunshots were slowly fading away in Tiananmen

Square. Later, I met my classmate at the International Red

Cross. He told me that everyone that was able to run had gotten out.

The machine gun shooting had lasted about 20 minutes.

The most unforgettable thing is that one of my classmates in

Tsing Hua University (he was from Jiang Su Province). He was wounded

by a machine gun. But he was still trying to run together with us. On

the way, he couldn't stand anymore. He fell on my back from behind

me, saying, "Please hold me up!" At that time, I was holding up one

girl with each arm, so I couldn't hold him because my hands were

occupied. He fell to the ground. The crowds stepped on him, and he

disappeared... He must be dead. See, on my back, I still have his

blood. At that time half of his body was soaked with blood.

STUDENTS RISK LIVES TO RETRIEVE DEAD AND WOUNDED

I can never forget that after some of my classmates were shot,

everybody risked their lives to get the bodies and rescue the wounded.

Some girl students took off their shirts to bind wounds, leaving

little to wear...

After our group of people reached the Beijing Train Station,

me and the other two classmates returned to the square. It was 6:30

in the morning then. Many, many civilians were around the Chian Men.

I followed them, walking towards the square. When we reached the Mao

Tse Tong Monument, we had to stop. Several rows of tanks blocked the

way, and soldiers formed a wall of people. So I climbed up a tree on

the roadside, and I saw into the square. Soldiers were putting bodies

of students and civilians into big plastic bags: one body, one bag.

And then, they covered the piles of bodies with tarps.

SOLDIERS WON'T ALLOW DOCTORS TO SAVE PEOPLE

I met another classmate near the square. He was in the second

group of people to break through. He told me the death toll was very high.

Soldiers wouldn't let the International Red Cross ambulances

into the square to rescue wounded students and civilians. This

classmate and I immediately went to the International Red Cross

emergency center. We saw many wounded people that were carried here by

tricycle. The doctors here told me that one ambulance which entered

the square was shot at by soldiers and caught fire. At the Red Cross

I met the second, third, and fourth groups of students who escaped

from the square. They said many wounded students were still lying on

the square.

At around 7:20 am I went back to the square again. I asked

about the situation. Especially, I asked more than ten senior

citizens. They all said that the crosswalk in the square was covered

densely with dead bodies. The soldiers had set up tarps so the

civilians could not see the bodies. They also told me that many army

trucks had moved in and taken away the wounded students lying in the

square; to some place nobody knows.

Around 7:30 soldiers in the square suddenly threw teargas at

the crowds of civilians. More soldiers ran towards them. At this

time I ran again towards Beijing Train Station. On the way there, I

saw the first and second group of students. They were all crying.

CIVILIANS SHELTER STUDENTS

The University Students Union asked students who had families

in Beijing to be responsible for sending students from other cities to

the train station. I brought these students to the waiting room,and

tried to send them back home, but an officer in the station said that

all the trains had stopped. We had to leave Beijing train station.

At this time, many civilians came to us and said they were willing to

shelter students in their homes. Many citizens were very sad. They

were all crying. Civilians in Beijing are really great people. They

are really great.

Totally, how many people have died? I'm not sure. But, I do

believe that some day people will clear this bloody debt! Pessimistic?

No, I am not pessimistic because I saw the hearts of people. I saw the

justice. I saw the hope of China! Some of my classmates are dead.

More peoples' wounds are still bleeding. I am a survivor. I know how

to live my life. I won't forget my dead classmates. I also deeply

understand that all those just people will understand us and support

us!

Edited by Jao Jiang Ching.

Mitchell N. Perilstein

arpa: mitch@alpha.ces.CWRU.edu

usenet: {decvax,sun}!cwjcc!alpha!mitch

------

Path: apple!kanner

From: kanner@apple.com (Herbert Kanner)

Subject: Situation in China

Date: 12 Jun 89 23:34:13 GMT

Organization: Development Systems Group, Apple Computer

The following was posted on an Apple internal electronic bulletin board

with the request that it be disseminated as widely as possible:

Sub: Situation in China

The following is a report of the events in China that I received from

a friend at Digital Equipment Corp. Please distribute this to anyone

interested.

From: APLNET::JULIET::SMIEHOROW_DI "07-Jun-1989 1026"

Subj: News from China

From: CADSE::JOHNSON "CTC Support, Customer Consulting"

Subj: FYI - Situation in China

*

*

*Many headers have been removed *

*

*

From: GIAMEM::HETRICK "06-Jun-1989 1420" 6-JUN-1989 14:20:10.54

Subj: IF YOU'RE INTERESTED...ACCOUNTS OF THE SITUATION IN CHINA

OUR PEOPLE IN THE FAR EAST HAVE REQUESTED THAT THIS BE DISSEMINATED AS

WIDELY AS POSSIBLE.

CHERYL

I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M

Date: 6-Jun-1989 07:30am EDT

From: NIGEL KWOK

NIGEL KWOK AT A1 at HKOV04

Dept: FINANCE

Tel No: [852]-0-6499728-X323

TO: See Below

Subject: NEWS FROM CHINA

HERE BELOW ARE SOME HORRIBLE ACCOUNTS OF WHAT HAPPENED IN BEIJING FROM

OUR SALES PEOPLE WHO STATIONED THERE.

We just received a phone call from Beijing.

The caller is living near Mou-Xue-De where most killing happened.

1) The killing is MUCH MUCH worse than you can think of.

The bullet is explosive kind ( Zha4 Zi3).

Five of his neighbours were killed while sleeping at home.

2) He visited Fu-Xing Hospital where he saw blood

was flooding in the hallway. The youngest killed is seven years old.

The youngest wounded is 3 years old.

3) The killers are 27th army.

Some of them were Sino-Vietnam war veterans and they killed

our people very effectively (i.e. to shoot right in the head and

heart). As they were shooting at the people, they laughed and yelled

at the people, "Pekingnese (bei3 jing1 de0), show your guts!! (Ni3 Men2 Bu2 Shi4 You2 Zhong3 De0 Ma1)".

4) The 38th army came in later on.

They saw this horrible scene and refused to move.

The helicopters from 27th forced them to fire at

people and said that was the order from Central

Military Committee.

The 38th replyed that they ONLY took orders from

their own commander and their commander did

not order them to fire. Later on, some of

38th soldiers fought bare-handedly with 27th

to protect Beijing people.

5) A wounded 27th soldier told the doctors that

the order was from Central Military Committee,

saying that "We would rather destroy the

whole Beijing city in order to keep the

stability of the nation".

6) In the daytime, anybody who dared to complain loudly

to the soldiers was shot by them.

7) The soldiers in 38th abandoned their tanks volunteerly

and let the people burn them.

An officer of the chinese embassy in East-Berlin told the students

last night (4 May ), up to 10000 people were killed by the army  alone

in Beijing. 7 journalist were executed by the army on the TAM-square.

According to a telephone call to Beijing, there were many people didn't

now that tanks rolled on the Beijing streets, even they are employees

at National College ( Zhong Yiang Min Zhu Xue Yuan).

The chinese students in West Germany will demostrate [sic] in several

big cities today, Hamburg, Bonn, Stuttgart, Munich and West Berlin.

Attention everyone!!

Following are shocking news obtained a minute ago and are considered

to be very reliable ( don't ask me the source):

1. Deng Xiaoping had died of heart attach before the military action

and was said left a word 'Do not use military force' before his death.

[ Obviously, this is inaccurate, since Deng has been seen since.- CWM]

2. Now the government is under the control of Chen Yun, Wang Zhen,

Yang Shangkuen, Li Xiannian, Li Peng.

3. The actual military action was ordered by Qing Jiwei and was

carried out by 28th and 38th army. Soldiers were forced to kill by Du2

Zhan4 Dui4 on the back of them.

4. Situation is much more worse than we can imagine. There should

be more than 10,000 students and civilians have been killed.

A latest phone call to Beijing Normal University , at 3:00 pm Alberta

time (Canada), has revealed that the government has opened fire on

people demonstrating on Beijing streets. A group of graduate students

and professors from Beijing Normal University were on their way to TAM

and were stopped by armed forces in XiDan Avenue. Machine guns were

used against the demonstrators, streets are covered with blood and

bodies. According to a professor in Beijing, the death told in Beijing

has totaled over 7,000!!!

According to TV news tonight, 9 doctors are killed by PLA

because they are trying to care for wounded students, 5 others

wounded. Unconfirmed news says PLA men even run into hospitals,

killing wounded in hospital beds. This is more atrocious than Hitler.

China is in some animals' hands.

- Platt

According to tonight's NBC news, Deng ordered the massacre in

hospital bed. He is suffering from prostate cancer. It will be better

if he died earlier. NBC quotes Deng's words: "In China, a million

could be a small number."

- Platt

7 a.m. Monday June 5

According to TV news civil war has started between various

factions in the military.

I hope the students and workers will stay out of the line of

fire. Better to live to fight another day than to get killed

by random gunfire. Let the enemy become martyrs instead.

[ Again, this would now seem to have been inaccurate, though full

information is still not available - CWM]