ABSTRACT

Within a framework of analysis and background by the four editors, this book presents a view from the grassroots of the 1989 student and mass movement in China and its tragic consequences. Here are the core eyewitness and participant accounts expressed through wall posters, students speeches, movement declarations, handbills, and other documents. In their introductions to the material, the editors address the political economy of the democracy movement, the evolving concept of democracy during the movement, the movement's contribution to China becoming a civil society, and the changing view of the Chinese Communist Party by students, intellectuals, workers and others, as the crisis unfolded.

part I|66 pages

Summer 1988-Spring 1989 The Ferment Before the “Turmoil”

chapter 1|5 pages

What Will the Year 1989 Tell Us?

part II|52 pages

April 15–April 27: The Movement Begins

chapter 18|2 pages

Letter to People of the Entire City

chapter 19|2 pages

Ten Questions

chapter 22|1 pages

A Peaceful Petition of Seven Demands

chapter 25|1 pages

After the Peaceful Petition …

chapter 30|2 pages

Our Humiliation Must Be Wiped Out!

chapter 31|1 pages

Maximum Program and Minimum Program

chapter 32|1 pages

Letter to All Compatriots

chapter 35|2 pages

Dad and Mom Support You!

chapter 36|1 pages

Voice of the News Reporters

chapter 37|1 pages

Our Views

chapter 38|1 pages

Lenin Is Crying in the Nether Regions

chapter 39|1 pages

Letter to Compatriots

chapter 40|1 pages

Our Proposals

chapter 41|2 pages

Defects of the Stalinist Political System

part III|64 pages

April 28-May 12 The Conflict Escalates as the Students Defend Their Patriotism

chapter 48|2 pages

Letter to the Students

chapter 51|2 pages

A Talk with Two [White-Collar] Workers

chapter 52|2 pages

True Story of the So-Called Dialogue

chapter 53|3 pages

The Current Situation and Our Task

chapter 54|2 pages

Confession of an Ugly Soul

chapter 57|3 pages

Raise the Flag of Rationality

chapter 58|2 pages

Suspicious! Suspicious!

chapter 66|1 pages

Statement

chapter 67|2 pages

Statement

chapter 72|1 pages

Letter to Qinghua University Students

part IV|50 pages

May 12-May 19 The Hunger Strike: From Protest to Uprising

chapter 74|1 pages

Declaration of the Hunger Strike

chapter 75|1 pages

Announcement

chapter 77|1 pages

Letter to the People of the Whole Country

chapter 78|1 pages

Letter to the Capital Workers

chapter 79|1 pages

Statement

chapter 80|4 pages

The Socialist Multiparty System in China

chapter 82|2 pages

Hunger Strike Declaration of May 13

chapter 84|3 pages

May 16 Statement

chapter 89|3 pages

Letter to Compatriots of the Nation

chapter 90|1 pages

Who Owes Whom a Debt of Gratitude?

chapter 91|1 pages

May 17 Declaration

chapter 93|2 pages

A Sketch of the Chinese Communist Party

part V|134 pages

May 19-June 3 Sliding Toward Tragedy: Martial Law

chapter 98|2 pages

Wolf

chapter 99|1 pages

Open Letter to the People's Soldiers

chapter 100|2 pages

Declaration of Capital Workers

chapter 101|2 pages

Letter to the People

chapter 103|1 pages

The Crimes of the Government

chapter 107|2 pages

Stand Up Bravely, Our Elder Brother Workers

chapter 111|2 pages

Declaration to Defend the Constitution

chapter 112|2 pages

Letter to the People of the Whole Country

chapter 113|1 pages

Letter to the Capital Workers

chapter 114|2 pages

A Statement to the Soldiers

chapter 118|1 pages

BWAU Public Notice

chapter 120|1 pages

Urgent News

chapter 121|1 pages

Some Thoughts

chapter 122|2 pages

Declaration of Human Rights

chapter 123|3 pages

Thoughts beneath the Monument

chapter 126|2 pages

Urgent Appeal to the Citizens of the Capital

chapter 127|1 pages

Urgent Suggestions

chapter 128|1 pages

Another Urgent Appeal

chapter 129|1 pages

Introducing Xinwen kuaixun

chapter 130|1 pages

Letter to the Workers' Pickets

chapter 134|2 pages

Some Viewpoints on the Current Situation

chapter 136|1 pages

Letter to the Residents of Beijing

chapter 141|1 pages

Aspirations of Thieves

chapter 145|1 pages

Letter to Workers Nationwide

chapter 147|2 pages

The Popular Will Must Not Be Insulted!

chapter 149|1 pages

I Want to Say a Few Words

chapter 151|2 pages

Interviews on May 25

chapter 153|1 pages

Letter to All People in Beijing

chapter 154|2 pages

Why Are Troops Bearing Down on the City?

chapter 155|2 pages

About Martial Law

chapter 156|2 pages

Watch Out for the New “Reichstag” Case

chapter 157|2 pages

What Do Factional Disputes Reveal?

chapter 162|3 pages

Statement on the Current Situation

chapter 164|2 pages

Reflections on the Student Movement

chapter 167|2 pages

The Republic Is Not Private Property

chapter 168|2 pages

Letter to People Throughout the World

chapter 171|1 pages

Our Task Is Hard and the Road Is Long

chapter 173|2 pages

Solemn Statement

chapter 174|2 pages

You Would Have to Wait Ten Thousand Years

part VI|72 pages

June 3-4 The Beijing Massacre and Its Aftermath

chapter 180|2 pages

Letter to World Compatriots

chapter 181|2 pages

Urgent Appeal of June 4

chapter 182|2 pages

June 3 “Joan of Arc”

chapter 185|2 pages

Remember! This Dark Day of June 4

chapter 188|1 pages

Foreword

chapter 189|3 pages

The People Will Never Forgive You

chapter 191|3 pages

Killing Their Children

chapter 195|3 pages

Eyewitness Account

chapter 196|1 pages

Television Transcript

chapter 197|4 pages

Eyewitness: The Chengdu Massacre

chapter 198|4 pages

I'm Still Alive!