“May 14” Square Negotiation Record
【Note: Someone forwarded this photo to me: ‘Look, you’re stirring up students!’ I’m not sure, first, is that me? Second, is that in Tiananmen Square? However, on the night of May 14, 1989, I did follow a group of people to the square, so later the CCP charged me with ‘counterrevolutionary incitement.’ This photo is the evidence, and I have nothing to say; But that scene was like a Rashomon, filled with countless memories and countless perspectives. This is my own version, written in 2013 in the book “The Age of Dragon Slaying,” titled “Epilogue: Parrot Puts Out the Fire.” Thirty-two years later, on May 14th, I will post it. 】
On the eve of a sudden upheaval, a very crude copy of “Utopia Festival” appeared at newsstands all over the country. With a red cover, portraits of CCP leaders leapt off the page: Mao Zedong sat at the top, with Lin Biao on the left and Zhou Enlai on the right; Jiang Qing’s portrait is at the center of the cover, with Kang Sheng at the bottom. All of the above are color photos: Lin Biao further left is Liu Shaoqi; Zhou Enlai went further to the right, and it was Peng Dehuai, both in black and white. A typical underground publishing style of historical insider stories.
I still keep one to this day and consider it a rare copy.
Ten days after Hu Yaobang’s death, on April 25, 1989, Shanghai’s Wen Wei Po published a front-page news story:
『The literary scene is full of spring vitality, and once again, Hsinchu is still beautiful
the inaugural Wen Wei Arts Awards were presented yesterday
Su Xiaokang and five others won the Newcomer Literary Award, Xie Jin and fifteen others received the Wen Wei Literary Award, and Shi Shuqing and seven others won the “Blue Sky Cup International Tourism Essay Award
.”
the final interlude of “Utopia Festival,” surprisingly occurred more than a month before the June 4th massacre.
Before that, in the autumn of 1988, when “Utopia Festival” was sealed by the Jiangxi Provincial Publishing Bureau and was about to be turned into pulp, Shanghai’s Wenhui Bao suddenly published an excerpt from the book on September 24, titled “The Marshal ‘Dies’ Before Army Day,” describing Mao Zedong’s furious outburst on July 23, 1959, and the first Standing Committee meeting on July 31 to settle historical accounts with Peng Dehuai; The next day, August 1st, was Military Day, and Peng Dehuai, still serving as Minister of National Defense, received congratulations from foreign telegrams… Among them are these two sentences:
‘His name, his title, is still carried by radio waves across the country, flying to the world, while his soul is being whipped and ravaged atop Mount Lu.’ The Marshal ‘died’ on the eve of Army Day.’
Shanghai Municipal Party Committee’s official newspaper, Liberation Daily, also reprinted this excerpt. —At that time, the Shanghai Party Secretary was none other than Jiang Zemin.
Judging from the efforts of the National Writers Association and New Observation to promote it without success, Shanghai is the only place in the country to publicly publish “Utopia Festival.”
In the spring of 1989, Beijing was already in a uproar. Wen Wei Po suddenly gave me the “Literary Newcomer Award,” and specially sent Ji Wei, editor of Wen Wei Monthly, to Beijing specifically to pick me up and fly to Shanghai to receive the award. On April 22, she and I took a late flight to Shanghai, and on the 27th, I took the Beijing-Shanghai Express back to Beijing by myself. This award was chosen by a panel of 23 judges, including veteran writers such as Ke Ling, Wang Meng, and Lu Wenfu, as well as literary and artistic leaders such as Wang Yuanhua, Zhang Guangnian, and Tang Dacheng. My win may be related to the Wen Wei Po selected for the magazine Utopia Festival.
In late April, inspired by the Tiananmen Square student movement in Beijing, universities across the city were also vigorously mobilized, eager to move. Ji Wei and I came to Shanghai with the intention of hiding for a bit, but we were also worried that if we got exposed in Shanghai, the students would drag us into giving talks. Unexpectedly, when Ji Wei took Shi Shuqing and me to visit Wang Ruowang, we were about to arrive on the bus, and she
called out:
‘ ‘Su Xiaokang, you’re getting off at this stop.’
A group of students, probably students, immediately searched around and started shouting:
『Which Su Xiaokang?’ “He Shang,” is that Su Xiaokang? How could he be in Shanghai?’
This is troublesome. As soon as we got off the bus, they surrounded us completely. Ji Wei desperately pulled me out of the crowd, grabbed Shi Shuqing, and quickly escaped. It was my first time meeting Wang Ruowang (1918–2001), and it was also in his home that I first encountered the author of ‘Man, Man!’ Shanghai female writer Dai Houying (1938–1996).
The two days after arriving in Shanghai, I hesitated about when to return to Beijing. If he wanted to avoid that major crisis, he would have to wander around in Su Nan for another month. On the night of April 25, I called Fu Li from home in Beijing, and she said:
‘ ‘Let’s go home. Beijing looks like things can calm down for a while. Zhao Ziyang coming out to calm the students seems to be quite effective.’
Inspired by Fu Li’s words, I returned to Beijing two days later; At noon, I just stepped out of the train station and caught the famous ‘April 27’ parade. That blazing revolutionary formation! I could only silently complain in my heart. What followed was a twist and turn, with the student dolls stubbornly fighting their way through. The old men didn’t budge an inch, and the players in the middle were extremely excited. I naturally understand that the disaster of ‘River Sorrow’ we have already caused will leave us ‘in grave trouble,’ but we are already unable to escape.
Looking back on that period, I still cited the interview records of French scholars Cheng Yingxiang, Gao Da Le, and myself in the spring of 1990 for a more detailed experience.
process: You are now entering the movement itself.
Su: May 14th is a Sunday, and Gorbachev will be in Beijing the next day. The day before, May 13th, students suddenly entered the square and began a hunger strike. The situation was extremely tense. Yan Mingfu had already begun persuading the students, asking them to give up the square so it wouldn’t affect state affairs, but it was useless. He asked Dai Qing to help. Dai Qing gathered eleven intellectuals: Li Zehou, Liu Zaifu, Li Honglin, Yu Haocheng, Wen Yuankai, Bao Zunxin, Yan Jiaqi, Su Wei, Li Tuo, Mai Tianshu, myself, and herself—a total of twelve people. We first went to Guangming Daily to hold a symposium.
At the start, everyone strongly criticized the government and discussed what to do, and what intellectuals should do. At that time, Yao Xihua, the editor-in-chief of Guangming Daily, even came out to tell us that Hu Qili had already given instructions: the discussion here today would be published in full in the Guangming edition tomorrow. Actually, he didn’t publish it later, only sent a message.
was under discussion when the United Front Work Department drove a member of the Standing Committee of the Self-Defense Self-Defense Union to the meeting. His name was Wang Chaohua, a female graduate student. She told us that this student hunger strike did not go through the Gao Zilian (Gao Zilian Federation), so the Gao Zilian couldn’t command them. But the situation was extremely urgent now. She had already received news that tonight they would definitely clear the area by force. The Beijing Municipal Party Committee had prepared the military police, and all kinds of anti-explosion equipment. The students would definitely bleed tonight. She said, our Gaozulian is completely passive because several main standing committee members, Wang Dan and Wu’er Kaixi, advocated a hunger strike and brought people to the square to join the hunger strike. We had no choice. She cried as she spoke, saying we had lost control and had no choice. She hoped you would step forward and persuade the students.
As soon as she finished speaking, we all started arguing. Yan Jiaqi said, “We can’t go to the square. The government won’t back down at all. How can we persuade the students?” But Wen Yuankai told Li Zehou that at times like this, we should go and persuade him. Otherwise, how could it work? Li Zehou especially emphasized: This is the responsibility of us intellectuals!
I didn’t advocate going to the square at the time, because the government was so outrageous—we had no premise to persuade the students. Later, everyone agreed to go anyway, drafting an emergency statement that I wrote on the spot, meant to be read aloud in the square. The statement is essentially a double statement: on one hand, it calls on the government to engage in dialogue with students, acknowledge the legitimacy of student organizations, and absolutely forbid the use of violence; On the other hand, he urged students to stay rational and clear-headed, not to let anyone stir up trouble, and to temporarily withdraw from the square.
At that time, everyone raised a question: Does it work? Should we first invite a few students from the square to come over and talk about the current situation at the square? How are the students feeling emotionally? In this way, twelve of us were sent to the Central Petition Office, which was a …… specifically for receiving petitioners.
Cheng: Is the petition office near Tiananmen?
Su: It seems to be around Yongdingmen Railway Station. Then a dozen or so students were brought over from the square. They weren’t on a hunger strike, but were patrol team students maintaining order in the square. We asked them whether they should stay in the square or evacuate. They all said they should evacuate. We asked what the students in the square were thinking. They said they wanted to retreat too, but couldn’t—it was strange. We asked again, ‘So can we go and make an impact?’ After analyzing the situation, they said that if you go, you’ll definitely be able to persuade the students.
good, everyone decided to go. When we arrived at the square, not everyone spoke. It seemed only Wen Yuankai and I exchanged a few words, though the situation was largely similar. First, we affirmed that your great victories in the early stages of the student movement were achieved thanks to rational spirit; Second, the situation is very complicated now. Students are reminded not to be exploited by conservatives and to understand the importance of …… boundaries. We’ve already said this much, and many students applauded, as if everyone agreed with this analysis.
Next, Dai Qing stepped forward to announce a compromise plan. But what about Dai Qing? She proposed a plan that she hadn’t discussed with the rest of us beforehand. What was her compromise? She said:
‘Right now, let Zhao Ziyang or Li Peng come to the square, right here, and say to the students: You are patriots!’ Or simply say: You’ve worked hard! Just say one word, let them leave, and then the students will evacuate. Is that okay?’
To be honest, when I heard Dai Qing say that, I was completely stunned! Why didn’t you discuss it with us, and just pulled eleven of us here to put on a show? I guess her plan was something Yan Mingfu had discussed repeatedly, or maybe it was her own idea. Then Yan Mingfu went to find the heads of the Central Secretariat—Zhao Ziyang, Li Peng, Yao Yilin, Qiao Shi, Hu Qili—one by one. The result was that everyone agreed, and they could only go to the square to say one of these two sentences. The Communist Party is this foolish! —”You are patriots,” this phrase has always been said in the newspapers.
After Dai Qing said this, the students naturally refused. Feng Congde immediately stood up and recited his hunger strike oath, instantly turning the atmosphere in the square around. We left and returned to the United Front Work Department, where I had another argument with Li Tieying.
Cheng: Why are you noisy?
Su: When we returned to the United Front Work Department, Yan Mingfu and Li Tieying were still there talking and negotiating with student representatives. After the two of them finished over there, they came over to see us and thank us. After entering, they greeted us and spoke in official language. Liu Zaifu stood up and said to them:
‘Why can’t the central government make some concessions at this moment? Why must students be labeled as ‘unrest’? It’s clearly not ‘turmoil,’ and you all see it clearly. Why do you have to do this?’
Li Tieying listened and said sternly, “The central government can’t be so careless!” Can’t you just change it casually?There needs to be a process to make changes. Judging by his lecturing tone, Liu Zaifu must be at least a few years older than him. We were already exhausted, and the students refused to listen to us, which made us feel terrible. Seeing things about to fall apart, I sat there feeling dejected. Seeing Li Tieying scolding Liu Zaifu like this, I suddenly jumped up and said:
‘Comrade Li Tieying, why did you decide so quickly to decide on ‘unrest’? Have you thought it over carefully? Did anything happen? What I mean is, isn’t your ‘turbulent’ decision just so casual and hasty?’
he muttered something, then softened his tone a bit and laughed it off. I said again:
『It’s always like this, so why must I make mistakes and see them all the way through? Why does it have to wait until it’s out of control before giving up? Then admit mistakes, reflect on yourself, and vindicate or clear their names, causing huge losses. Why can’t you take the initiative now?’
Li Tieying continued, “Ah, let’s not talk today. You’re all tired, and we’re tired too. Let’s all rest today!”
the day is considered over. Then Yan Mingfu sent a car to take Dai Qing and me home. As soon as we got in the car, we started arguing again. I said, Dai Ching, why didn’t you discuss your plan with the rest of us? We should go to the square to persuade the students, but we can’t do it like this.
Dai Qing said, this is just a solution, and it took tremendous effort to finally get it. Su Xiaokang, let me tell you, if we can’t make both sides compromise, both of us will end up in jail!
Cheng: She said it too! It shows that she knows the upper echelons much deeper than you do.
Sure enough, the June Fourth gunshot rang out, Dai Qing was imprisoned in Qincheng Prison, while I, under the cover of being a “wanted criminal,” went undercover and escaped for a hundred days, finally rescued by Hong Kong’s “Yellow Sparrow Operation,” and then began a long period of exile overseas.
Looking back, from the bloody disaster of June 4th, the figure of the “dragon of men” can still be faintly discerned: Mao Zedong, a “lowly man,” ruled for twenty-seven years, the world had long been corrupt. Yet, what we still find hard to predict back then is that the legacy of the zombie in the “Mao Hall” continues to devastate China. As historian Yu Yingshi said, “To borrow Gu Yanwu’s words, ‘The custom of destroying conventions and ruining conventions is more than enough for Mao Zedong alone.’”
Mao’s legacy was “justified in rebellion,” but after the “Cultural Revolution” trial, it gave his old Communist comrades a painful lesson of losing power. As a result, the “89” students and children even terrified the so-called “Eight Elders” into a massacre, massacring the capital. From then on, the party became a ruling group that “defended power and position, had a home but no country,” and had to kidnap the entire nation and the homeland of its descendants—how could China not fall into darkness?
Photos and text in this article are reprinted from Su Xiaokang’s Facebook