大事记

四月十五日

前中共總書記胡耀邦病逝。北京大學生紛紛貼上數以萬計的悼念大字報，讚揚胡耀邦，並要求對胡於八七年初因同情學運而被迫去職一事予以平反。

四月十七日

天安門廣場上的「人民英雄記念碑」陸續出現了悼念胡的花圈及弔唁人群，隨後出現衝擊中南海的情況，學生提出要求政府推行民主改革的數條請願。

四月十九日

學運第一個自治組織「北大籌委會」（北京大學團結學生會籌委會）於晚間成立，成員主要是以前學潮被壓制的「行動委員會」和一些活躍的學生會社團（民主沙龍、教育學社、奧林匹亞等）。

四月廿日

凌晨，圍堵中南海入口新華門的學生遭軍警暴力毆打驅散，部分學生被裝車送往北大三角地，各校學生就此開始串聯罷課，這是後來形成「北高聯」的最早行動。北京大學團結學生會籌委會改名為「北京大學學生自治會籌委會」，組織上千學生冒雨遊行至天安門廣場，並與北師大、人大和政法等校形成「北京高校臨時行動委員會」。

 四月廿一日

晚間﹐「十九高校學生臨時行動委員會」組織十萬學生連夜趕赴天安門廣場，準備參加次日的追悼會。第一批外來學生也自天津南開大學抵京。

四月廿二日

「人民大會堂」內舉行胡耀邦追悼會，三學生在大會堂石階上跪交請願書，要求總理李鵬與學生見面。李鵬沒有回應，學生們決定進行集體罷課抗議。

四月廿四日

晚間﹐各校學生在圓明園附近醞釀成立「北京高校學生自治臨時聯合會」（臨時學聯、北臨聯），北大籌委會沒派代表參加。

四月廿六日

「人民日報」社論（四二六社論）把學生的示威及罷課行動定性為「動亂」，警告「極少數別有用心的人」不得利用學生陰謀推翻共產黨領導的社會主義制度。

四月廿七日

北京五十四所高校學生不顧中共警告和北臨聯取消遊行的通知，勇敢地衝出校園，衝破軍警阻攔，上街示威，抗議四二六社論，超過一百萬學生和群眾大遊行。

四月廿八日

「北京高校學生自治聯會」（北高聯，中共稱「高自聯」）正式成立，各校繼續罷課。

四月廿九日

國務院辦公室主任袁木等官員和官方學聯邀請的四十五名官方學生會同學對話。「北高聯」否認此次是真正對話。

五月四日

十二萬北京高校學生遊行，紀念五四爭取民主。北京新聞工作者加入遊行。趙紫陽發表溫和談話，與四二六社論顯著相違背。「北高聯」未經正當程序，宣佈次日複課，遭北大、北師大抵制，二校繼續罷課，隨後高聯主席辭職，總部遷往北大。

五月十三日

由於政府一直拖延對話，數以百萬計的學生和群眾在廣場上展開了絕食和靜坐行動。學運組織分裂為三：絕食團、對話團、北高聯。

五月十四日

下午四時許，中共終於在統戰部與學生代表正式見面，閉門對話，但三小時後因政府未守電視轉播對話過程的承諾而破裂。

五月十五日

蘇聯領導人戈爾巴喬夫抵達北京。中共因學生們佔據天安門廣場，取消了在廣場接待戈爾巴喬夫的計劃。

 五月十七日

下午，鄧小平在家召集中共中央政治局開會，決定大舉調兵，進京戒嚴。

五月十八日

學生絕食第六天。上午，李鵬與十二學生在「人民大會堂」見面，統戰部長事先安排兩個一年級新生主談，結果不歡而散。事後電視僅轉播了部份場景。

五月十九日

工人自治聯合會成立。中共準備戒嚴的消息傳出，學生們議決取消絕食，改以大規模靜坐抗議。

五月廿日

中共宣佈戒嚴，開赴北京的野戰軍在城外被群眾攔截。

五月廿二日

趙紫陽被中共正式解職。超過法定人數的人大常委簽名要求召開人大緊急會議，遭中共政變拒絕。

五月廿三日

二十多萬野戰軍被阻擋在北京城外。學生內部分裂為堅守和撤離廣場兩種不同意見。

五月廿四日

「首都各界聯席會議」成立，並宣佈成立「保衛天安門廣場總指揮部」，北高聯失去廣場主導權。

五月廿五日

江澤民聽命鄧小平，將人大委員長萬里扣在上海。北大籌委會在北高聯提議「空校運動」。

五月廿六日

江澤民秘密進京，預備接任中共總書記。凌晨，三百多高校學生代表組成的「廣場營地聯席會議」議決堅守廣場、主動出擊。北高聯北大主席楊濤與廣場指揮部商定「南下北上、空校撤離方案」。

五月廿七日

「首都各界聯席會議」原計劃「至少堅持到六月二十日」，否決了「南下北上、空校撤離方案」，但在接受「廣場總指揮部」的動議後，建議廣場學生在五月三十日撤出天安門廣場。

五月廿八日

「廣場學生營地聯席會議」否決五三〇撤離建議，「首都各界聯席會議」改回最初的六月二十日後才撤出天安門廣場的方案。

五月卅日

高達十公尺的民主女神像在廣場上揭幕。這時廣場上人數已明顯下降，且多為外地來京學生。

六月二日

參加「首都各界聯席會議」的劉曉波邀請侯德建、周舵及高新四人在廣場絕食，抗議政府壓制學生民主運動。原計劃的知識分子數千人絕食未能達成。

六月三日

軍隊接到命令，不惜一切代價清理廣場。大約在晚上十時，解放軍向阻截軍隊的人民和高呼抗議的群眾開槍，大批坦克車及持槍械的部隊向北京城中心逼進。無數市民和學生包括路人均被槍殺及受傷。

六月四日

約凌晨一時，解放軍聚集在天安門廣場附近等候命令。

約凌晨四時，侯德建、周舵與軍隊協商，讓學生安全撤離廣場。

零晨近五時，指揮部主持口頭表決，數千學生市民在機槍坦克下撤離廣場。

約零晨六時，中國紅十字會稱有二千七百人在夜間的衝突中死亡，三萬人受傷。

九○年七月十日，中共公安部內部文件稱全國因六四而死亡的人數是九百三十一人，二萬二千餘人受傷。準確數字至今無法確定。九四年，天安門母親丁子霖教授公佈155位死難者名單和遇難經過，這個名單現在為205位死難者，皆有兩個以上獨立來源的確證。

 Chronology

 Major events of the Pro-democracy Movement in 1989.

 

April 15, 1989, Hu Yaobang died of heart attack at age of 74. Immediately, people around the nation began to organize activities to commemorate Hu, who was removed from the post of The General Secretary of the Communist Party during 1986-87 students movement. #Tiananmen Square became the center for the protesters.

April 17. There were more and more posters and banners calling for more freedom and democracy. A group of students from Beijing universities put forward a petition with seven demands including "freedom of the press" and "more transparency to fight corruption".

April 19. First independent student organization was formed in Peking University by a free election.

April 22, the day of the official memorial ceremony for Hu. A crowd of over 100,000 students from more than 30 Universities in Beijing marched down the streets and were applauded by thousands of people on #Tiananmen Square. After a sit-in demonstration at the Square failed to receive government response, student representatives from 19 universities announced 7 demands in their petition to the government. The students also called for a nationwide strike on classes. Most of the Universities in Beijing went on strike.

On April 26, the People's Daily front page carried an editorial, which labeled student activities during Hu's memorial ceremony "plotted riot". It also attacked any criticism toward the government. The day before, Deng Xiaoping, in a speech widely distributed among Communist party cadres in Beijing, called for the use of armed forces against the students and talked about a bloody crackdown that came true later.

On April 27, 150,000 students exploded with huge parades around Beijing. The parade went on for 15 hours and ended peacefully. Over a million people cheered the students and supported them food and beverages. The government agreed to talk with the students.

In the afternoon of April 29, government officials selected a group of students, most of them members of the Communist party, for a 3-hour talk. This manipulated talk was rejected by the student body. Instead the students elected their own representatives and demand a direct dialogue between the government and the student representatives. The strike went on.

May 4. 150,000 students gathered at #Tiananmen Square for another peaceful demonstration. They published "New 5.4 Declaration.", which calls for more political and economical freedom, and continued their push to open talk with the government. For the first time, journalists and intellectuals walked shoulder by shoulder with the students. "No more lies in the news and media" was one of their banners.

On the same day, Zhao Ziyang, the General Secretary of the CCP, made a speech to recognize students as "patriotic," . But the government continued to delay a new talk with the students.

May 10, the news media held a demonstration of its own. Protestors called for more freedom of press and demanded a re-evaluation of World Economic Herald, the Shanghai-based newspaper that was shut down by Jiang Zemin after carrying reports on student movement. Jiang was selected by Deng to be the nominal head of CCP after the Massacre On June 4th.

May 13, frustrated by the government's rejection of an open dialogue, hundreds of students began a hunger strike on #Tiananmen Square.

May 14, the number of hunger strike students increased to 3000. The government began to open a talk with the students for about 3 hours. But the talk failed because the government rejected the demand that the talk would be broadcasted "live and uncensored". Students on hunger strike shouted, "I desire rice, but I desire democracy more."

May 15, hundreds of students were taken to hospital for emergency care while the remaining over 2,000 students continued the hunger strike. The society began to display great sympathy to the students from all angles. Teachers, scientists, researchers, writers, journalists, and many other citizens had all voiced their support, and at one time people gathered at the #Tiananmen Square surpassed one million. The government declared that talk with the students had begun and asked the students to return to schools.

May 17, over a million people from all walks marched onto #Tiananmen Square to show support of the students. Students continued to demand for a formal dialog with the government. People from 30 cities across the country held demonstrations to support students in Beijing.

May 18, Li Peng received student leaders at the People's Great Hall. The news of the meeting was televised to the nation, although the talk accomplished little.

May 19, workers who were supporting the students formed Free Labor Union on #Tiananmen Square.

Zhao Ziyan visited the students said, "We have come too late, and we are sorry."

Later the day, news that the government was preparing for declaring martial law was leaked to students leaders. The Hunger Strike Headquarter held a meeting and decided to end the hunger strike at 9 pm, but students would stay on #Tiananmen Square in form of sit-in demonstration

In a 11 pm speech, Li Peng reaffirmed the government's stiff stand and declared martial law in Beijing. Military troops were to enter the city and clear the Square.

May 20, the troops, with their trucks and tanks, were not able to enter the city when entering streets were blocked effectively by large number of residents and students. Some of the residents even carried their kids to show the troops that people in Beijing were peaceful, law-abiding.

May 22, Zhao Ziyang, who made his last public appearance at #Tiananmen Square visiting the students, resigned as the General Secretary of CCP. Jiang Zemin, the Party chief of Shanghai, was recalled to Beijing.

May 23, The army pulled back to outside Beijing on May 23 after attempts to enter the city failed. Student supporters from all over the country kept streaming into #Tiananmen Square. The students body were split on whether to retreat from #Tiananmen Square.

May 27, the Beijing Alliance to Protect the Constitution, which was set up to coordinate various groups involved in the movement, accepted the motion of the Student Headquater on the Square, and recommended that the students leave #Tiananmen Square by May 30. But the recommendation was rejected by the representatives of students from over 300 universities, many of them from outside of Beijing.

May 30, a statue of Goddess of Democracy stood up on #Tiananmen Square near noon. The statue was 10 meters high. A student read out the Declaration of Goddess of Democracy to an excited crowd.

June 1, the students announced conditions to open talk with the government, including to end martial law, retreat troops, and promise not to retaliate students afterwards.

Meanwhile, army troops outside Beijing awaited orders to enter the city. Around the country, thousands of people held demonstrations in major cities, demanding the dismissal of Li Peng and an end to the martial law

June 2, Four intellectuals began a hunger strike on #Tiananmen Square.

A group of the members of the People's Congress of China, signed a petition for an emergency session to resolve the crisis, the number of signers exceeded the legal requirement, but the petition was ignored.

June 3. In the late evening the army troops received order to enter the city and capture #Tiananmen Square at all cost.13 Army Groups of the PLA, over 250,000 troops attacked Beijing from all directions with tanks and armored personnel carriers. Hundreds if not thousands were killed with tens of thousands wounded. Bystanders were chased and shot, including a boy at the age of 9. Explosive bullets were used against unarmed civilians. The CCTV televised the crushing of the Goddess of the Goddess of Democracy on #Tiananmen square by the tanks.