[music playing] NARRATOR: 1989 is the
year that communism died, but not in China. Millions of students and
residents of Beijing crowd into Tiananmen Square,
a 5,000-year history of autocratic rule looks like
it is about to evaporate. The Tiananmen Square
protest shocks the world. Tiananmen threatened
really to totally rupture the relationship between
China and the United States. NARRATOR: Now, the
secret story of the men who ordered the army to
kill their own people can be revealed. You cannot run
tanks over hope. NARRATOR: This is Tiananmen
Square, "Declassified." [music playing] June 6, 1989, Beijing, China. The People's Liberation
Army has brutally crushed the two-month-old
Tiananmen Square protests. LI LU: Tiananmen massacre
was the very first in the history of mankind
in which a government of a large size
publicly massacred its own peaceful demonstrators
in front of the whole world. NARRATOR: Beijing still
echoes with gunfire as furious townspeople throw
rocks at passing troops. [indistinct screaming] From this sea of mayhem emerges
one of the most iconic images of the 20th century-- a single striking image of
a lone, outraged individual stopping a column of tanks. ORVILLE SCHELL: He is a
metaphor for what happened. He stood in front of the tanks. He stopped them for a while
but he didn't stop them for very long. And we don't know who he is. NARRATOR: This is the
symbol of the story that most Westerners know-- bravery and principle
confronting the grim tools of oppression. ORVILLE SCHELL: It's
something of an enigma which I think supercharges
the image all the more. NARRATOR: For the first time
ever, thanks to previously secret Chinese state
documents, we get a peek into the bare-knuckled
brinkmanship within the highest levels of government. A war hidden from the cameras, a
secret coup that plays out here in a public square that
is the heart of China. Tiananmen Square, it is
the largest public space in the world. It combines the
national symbolism of the mall in Washington
DC, with the iconic power of Times Square. ORVILLE SCHELL: It has
enormous symbolic importance, and always has. And ever since a
century ago, it's been the place where people
repair when they're unhappy, when they wanna say something,
when they wanna be heard. NARRATOR: June 4, 1989,
the undisputed power behind the scenes during the
Tiananmen Square crackdown is Deng Xiaoping. HENRY KISSINGER: He was
a different personality. Maybe in terms of
contribution, the greatest and the most important
of the Chinese leaders because what we
see in China today, tremendous economic vitality,
was primarily created by him. CHARLES LU: Part of
his legacy, obviously, is the decision to crack down. He is also seen
as a-- as a person who caused innocent to die and
who used an iron-fist approach to an essentially peaceful and
reasonable Democratic movement. NARRATOR: Deng is a pragmatist,
cutting a striking contrast from his predecessor
Mao Zedong, who is an idealistic revolutionary. By the early 1960s, Mao has run
the country into the ground, killing millions in famine. The Communist Party
pushes Mao aside and turns to China's
elite bureaucrats, including Deng Xiaoping. They immediately restore
order to China's finances. JAMES LILLEY: They import
turnkey plants from Europe. They begin to deal with Japan
for economic assistance, Mao sits down there and plots. He says, this is crazy. This is killing the revolution. He says, I'm gonna clean
all those guys out. NARRATOR: 1966, Mao strikes
back by unleashing the Cultural Revolution. His weapon is a fanatical army
of teenagers called the Red Guard, directed to struggle
against their elders. Millions of people
perish in the chaos. Mao's vengeance strikes
Deng Xiaoping personally. CHARLES LU: Deng and his wife
were exiled to a remote area of China, where they did
not see their children and grandchildren
for many, many years. NARRATOR: 1972, as China's
economy once again threatens to implode, Deng Xiaoping
makes a Phoenix-like return to political power. 1978, with the death of
Mao, Deng Xiaoping is firmly in power, declaring, "To
get rich is glorious." He opens the long closed borders
of China to western goods. Yet the dramatic change has
some unexpected consequences. JAN WONG: I, personally,
having returned to China after the Maoist era and seeing
how well-off people were, meaning they could
wear colors and you could get all kinds of books
now, and the food was amazing. You can get cherries. Before, you needed a doctor's
note to even buy a watermelon because it was scarce. It took me a while to understand
that when you don't have to count every grain of
rice in your rice bowl, you're much less of an animal. You're much more
of a human being and you started
having aspirations. You wanna control things. You wanna control your destiny,
your life, your choices. NARRATOR: Deng quickly makes
it clear how much openness he is willing to take. 1979, a group of dissidents puts
up posters demanding democracy. The government promptly
crushes the movement and jails the critics. The line has been drawn. If its outside government
control, it's out of bounds. CHARLES LU: Deng Xiaoping
was a firm believer that in all other things,
there might be reforms but the absolute power must rest
in the hand of the Communist Party. NARRATOR: Two factions within
Deng's government sprang from his paradoxical desire
for reform and stability-- the Conservatives, who
value the stability of the Communist Party above
all else, and the Reformers who nudged the government into
loosening political controls. [all clapping] WANG JUNTAO: The basic struggle
was between the Conservative and the Reformers. But the truth, they both did,
they try together Deng Xiaoping support. If Deng Xiaoping supported
and then they would win. Sometimes he supported
reformers sometimes he supported the conservative
in the whole 1980s. NARRATOR: In the
mid-1980s, Deng's number two man is a
reformer Hu Yaobang, ANDREW J. NATHAN: Hu Yaobang
in that position proved to be, again, very open-minded
guy who would allow liberal intellectuals to write
things, and say things, and go to meetings, and say things
that some other party officials didn't approve of. NARRATOR: 1987, students
start a wave of protests. [non-english speech] Deng sides with hardliners
who argued China has exposed itself too much
to Western political thought. Hu is pushed out of
office yet the conflict between freedom and
stability remains unresolved. It is a crisis
waiting to happen, and it all starts
with a heart attack. [music playing] 1987, Deng Xiaoping survives
the Cultural Revolution to rise from Mao's shadow and
become the leader of China. He charts the nation on a
path towards free markets, declaring, "To get
rich is glorious." Yet after intellectuals demand
democracy, Deng crushes them. To get rich may be glorious, but
the Communist Party is always in charge. By the spring of
1989, the public is growing impatient
with the pace of reform. ORVILLE SCHELL: There was a
feeling of a-- of disaffection, corruption people feeling the
system was unfair, inflation. And I remember remarking,
it was in March, something's cooking here. Something's brewing. And indeed, when Mao used
to like to say that a-- a single spark can
light a prairie fire. NARRATOR: April 15, 1989, that
spark is the fatal heart attack of reformer Hu Yaobang. Spontaneously, people begin
to lay wreaths at the Monument of the Revolutionary Heroes. LI LU: His death really, in a
sense, it was a signal to all the students, that we
have to do something, that it is our turn
to do something, to A, commemorate this
great man and his hope, and his plan to reform China
in a more democratic country, and B, to perhaps bring our
cause of political reform to a greater audience
in the society. [non-english speech] NARRATOR: Their
demands are basic-- better food in the
cafeteria, better conditions in the dormitories, and
more funding for schools. Yet behind this is restlessness
for political change. Their word for it
is "democracy." SHERYL WUDUNN: I remember
asking myself, these students, do they really know
what democracy is about? They talk about
democracy but here they are asking for better
conditions in their-- in their dorm. There's a big difference. And one student sort of spoke
for all of them and said, you know, I don't know
what democracy is, but I know we need more of it. ANDREW J. NATHAN: When the
students went out to, uh, show their sentiment and went out to
have a memorial service for Hu, the party responded in
a-- a very ambiguous way. So it left a big power vacuum. And the students were like,
oh, nobody is repressing us. Nobody is telling us to go home. Let's come back tomorrow. And that went on
for about a week. And by that time, there
was a tremendous momentum. NARRATOR: More worrisome for
the government, the people of Beijing have
their own complaints. For the first time in the
history of the People's Republic of China, inflation
is becoming an issue. ROSS TERRILL: In Mao's
China, an egg cost $11 cents. It cost that in 1949, it cost
that when I went first to China in 1964, it still cost the
same when I went back in 1971. And inflation was a
different question. You never knew what things cost. So they decided to
back the students, to feed them, to bring them
popsicles and jugs of water. The weather was getting quite
warm at the end of April, and into May, very hot. NARRATOR: April 22, 1989,
the entire Politburo gathers for the funeral of Hu Yaobang. General Secretary Zhao
Ziyang delivers the eulogy. He is Hu Yaobang's protege
and Deng Xiaoping's handpicked successor. ORVILLE SCHELL:
One of the engines of that political reform
was Zhao Ziyang, who'd been both party chief and premier. A quite enlightened man had
come up through the party. NARRATOR: Also there
is Premier Li Peng, a hardliner and successor
apparent to Zhao Ziyang. [applause] JAMES LILLEY: He's
got a very sharp mind, and he's also a law and order
man, in the strictest sense of the word. He will not tolerate
any sort of dissonance. NARRATOR: April 23, 1989. [crowd cheering] ANDREW J. NATHAN: Zhao
Ziyang, the leader of the Liberal faction had
a prescheduled state visit to North Korea. And he went. And while he was gone,
developments took place, intelligence came in. NARRATOR: Recently uncovered
government transcripts show the strong reaction
of the hardliners. Li Peng states, "Students
are taking to the streets, sending envoys into
factories, high schools, elementary schools, and even
to other provinces in an effort to stir the entire
nation to boycott classes and go on strike." ANDREW J. NATHAN: Li Peng
went to Deng Xiaoping with this intelligence,
and said, you know, the students are-- are
shouting your name. They wanna overthrow
and all this, and Deng said, off
with their heads. NARRATOR: The official media
publishes an angry editorial on April 26. The article blames the protests
on a small number of people. It says, their goal is
to poison people's minds, to create turmoil
throughout the country. JAN WONG: So when the government
labels this protest, turmoil, it is really labeling them bad. You're all bad. There's no equivalent
in English, I think. It doesn't have the
same connotation. It doesn't mean all the evil
things it means in Chinese. But in China, it was
the kiss of death. NARRATOR: The government
has laid down the gauntlet. Instead of the protests fizzling
as a result of the editorial, 100,000 people marched to
the Square the following day. SHEN TONG: They simply wanted
to show how frustrated they are by being so patriotic but then
labeled as a small handful of counter-revolutionaries
trying to create harm, stir up the society for no good. NARRATOR: May 1, 1989, the
Politburo calls an emergency meeting. Recently declassified
transcripts reveal the rancor
in this meeting. Li Peng claims that if the
protesters have their way, everything will
vanish into thin air and China will take a
huge step backwards. [speaking chinese] Zhao Ziyang pleads
for moderation in these secret
transcripts, saying, the students slogans
uphold the Constitution, promote democracy,
and oppose corruption, all echo positions of the
party and the government. I share everyone's view
that we must move quickly to diffuse a situation that
is nearly gotten out of hand." May 4, 1989, a quarter
of a million people filled Tiananmen Square in
the largest protest yet. Demonstrations have spread
to 51 cities across China. [crowd clapping] That same day, Zhao
Ziyang delivers a speech to the Asian Development Bank. He declares that the government
should engage in dialogue with the protesters. This is in contradiction
to the April 26 editorial. Zhao Ziyang may
not realize it yet, but the noose is slowly
tightening around his neck. Meanwhile, students continue
to demand their grievances be addressed. [non-english chanting] LI LU: We wanna sacrifice
everything we have including our life and our health just
to really present a very simple request, to reverse
the verdict on April 26 to acknowledge that the
student protest only is for the benefit of the country. NARRATOR: The students at
Tiananmen Square raised the stakes. They vowed to starve
themselves to death. [music playing] 1989, Beijing, the
death of a party elder sparks mass student
protests throughout China. While reformer Zhao Ziyang
is out of the country, hardliner Li Peng gets Supreme
Leader Deng Xiaoping's blessing to publish a law and order
editorial on April, 26th that brands the protests as
counter-revolutionary. The student protesters vow
to reverse the government's verdict of their movement. ANDREW J. NATHAN: They found
themselves in bad trouble when the "People's
Daily" said, you people are against the party. Now all of a sudden, you're
on the other side of the line and you're gonna be punished. And so, now you've got to
be bold because you stand to lose everything. NARRATOR: The government
refuses to negotiate and the students are
beginning to return to class. The protests begin to flag. Some students decide
to raise the stakes. LI LU: There were
a number of people who have been floating about
this idea of hunger strike. And it makes a lot of sense
in a sense because that way, we can really show people
and the government officials who we are, now that we are
willing to sacrifice everything we have. NARRATOR: This is
a bold move that strikes a deep emotional
chord with the Chinese people. JAN WONG: In China, where we
have suffered through thousands of years of famine, to have
people voluntarily not eating for, quote, "to save their
country," this made people cry. It moves from the students
to the general population. Everyone goes, oh, my
God, these poor students are missing their lunch. Let's go support them. And suddenly, you have
mass demonstrations. NARRATOR: The hunger strike
electrifies the movement. The split between the
reformers and the hardliners hardens as the government
sinks into paralysis. A further complication is
the impending state visit of Mikhail Gorbachev. ORVILLE SCHELL: The Chinese
Communist Party solves things usually by control, not by
negotiation or compromise. And it could not see that
that might save the day. And I think it viewed that
as a very slippery slope. Once you yield to protests, you
may never stop the protests. So with the government
divided that way, the students really didn't
know who they were talking to. They would talk to the
reformers but the reformers were completely in control. NARRATOR: The reformers reach
out to the student protesters, hoping to get them to clear
the Square before the summit. Just hours before Gorbachev
is scheduled to arrive, government officials
tell the students that a live televised
meeting is technically impossible on such short notice. [indistinct ruckus] The facade of
student unity cracks. SHEN TONG: So at that point,
students, uh, the hunger strikers, or the
more-- actually, the more aggressive, uh, members
of the student leadership, couldn't take it anymore. They call the end
to that dialogue and that discussion was
never resumed, unfortunately. NARRATOR: May 15, 1989,
Gorbachev arrives in Beijing. JAN WONG: It was extremely
embarrassing to them when Gorbachev
came for his visit. They couldn't do the 21-gun
salute in Tiananmen Square because it was occupied
by the students. He couldn't even get
around his motorcade, couldn't even get
around Beijing. It was really
embarrassing for them. NARRATOR: What is supposed
to be a feather in Deng's cap turns into a thorn in his side. Thousands of journalists
are in Beijing with brand new satellite
links to cover the summit. SHERYL WUDUNN: The Chinese
students use it as a lever to get more attention. If you want us to clean up
Tiananmen Square for your state visit, listen to us. It's basically what they said. But they also got
a lot of dividends because the journalists who
had all come to cover the state visit, in their spare time
when there were no meetings, they went out on the Square and
interviewed all the students. NARRATOR: More than one
western correspondent compares the Square with Woodstock,
the three-day rock festival often cited as the high point
of the 1960's protest movement in the US. ORVILLE SCHELL: It was
like a miniature city. There were places where the
contributions were collected, like banks. There were food,
commissary areas, there are sleeping areas,
there were hospital areas. Self-policed, no violence,
no theft, the whole city for this amazing period of weeks
became a city of tranquility, brotherhood. NARRATOR: On May 17, 1.2 million
people converged on The Square, making it the largest mass
protest in the history of the People's
Republic of China. ORVILLE SCHELL: Looking down
the Avenue of Eternal Peace in either direction, for
miles, and miles, and miles, you saw nothing but well over
a million people flooding into the Square,
banners flying, and it was every conceivable
organization in the city-- the Air Force, the police,
the hotels, universities, factories, the post office,
all flying these banners and marching into the Square
with an extraordinary sense of-- of elation and a feeling
that maybe now, at last, things were going to change. NARRATOR: There is an
electric sense in the Square that history has
reached a tipping point. ORVILLE SCHELL: This was
an extraordinary moment when people did feel, at
last, that they could speak their mind. And for a moment
there, I would have to say, many, many people
thought the genie could never be put back in the
bottle, that it would be impossible
for the Communist Party to regain control. NARRATOR: That same day,
an emergency meeting of the standing
committee convenes, seething with anger over the
international humiliation of the summit. Deng Xiaoping quietly
pushes for martial law. [speaking chinese] The committee follows
Deng's lead and votes to authorize martial law. The hunger strike continues. May 18, as the hunger
strike enters its fifth day, the government agrees
to one final meeting, an unprecedented dialogue
between Li Peng and student leaders to be aired live
on national television. Li Peng clearly intends to
lecture the protesters as if they were unruly children. SHERYL WUDUNN: Li Peng was
very strident, very dismissive of the students. And it was clear
from his attitude that he wasn't gonna
take them seriously. NARRATOR: But student
leader Wuer Kaixi, who comes straight from the
hospital wearing his pajamas and still connected
to an IV drip, has little patience for Li
Peng's paternalistic arrogance. WANG CHAOHUA: There's Li
Peng's talking about how he-- he was caring about all
these, uh, young students. You are like my children. At about this moment, Wuer
Kaixi interrupted him. We were not your children
and you are not our parents. We are citizens, and
you are our official and we are here
for equal dialogue. JAN WONG: He wags
his finger, Li Peng, this has never happened before. This is a country that not
that long ago had an emperor, and the rules were,
you weren't even allowed to look at the emperor. And here you are chastising
the premier of China. This was an amazing moment. NARRATOR: The hardliners give
up hope of getting the students to obey through dialogue. They prepare for martial law. Meanwhile, in the early
morning hours of May 19, Zhao Ziyang ventures
into Tiananmen. ORVILLE SCHELL:
Zhao Ziyang finally, despairingly one
night, drove out into the middle of the Square
and had this tearful farewell to the students. That's when he said, I've
come too late, you know, and, in effect, apologized. And, uh, it was
clear at that point that he disappeared,
that he'd lost. NARRATOR: This is the last time
Zhao Ziyang appears in public. Rumors of Zhao's fall and
the coming of martial law ripple through Beijing. On the evening of May 19,
the blade finally falls. In a fiery televised
speech to the party, Li Peng declares martial law. [speaking in Chinese] LI LU: That was
very, very shocking. I don't think anybody who
participate in the hunger strike, any of the tens
of millions of people around the country who
participate in demonstration, one kind or the other in
support of the Beijing students, ever anticipated
this type of reaction from the Chinese government. NARRATOR: Once again, instead
of gaining the upper hand as the hardliners expect, they
lose control and credibility. And for the first time
since its founding, the Communist Party
fights to maintain power, and they will do
anything to keep it. May, 1989, after three weeks
of government stonewalling, student leaders declare a hunger
strike in Tiananmen Square. As the people of Beijing turn
out in ever-growing numbers, Deng Xiaoping sides
with hardliner Li Peng and declares martial law. [speaking Chinese] JAMES BAKER: President
Bush picked up the phone to call Deng Xiaoping, who was
the leader of China at the time and who was-- who-- whom he
had known well when-- when he was our ambassador,
and Deng Xiaoping wouldn't take the call. [indistinct pandemonium] NARRATOR: Events are
spiraling out of control. Governments around
the world can only watch as the students and
government hardliners rush towards a final confrontation. JAMES BAKER: The relationship
between China and the United States is a very important
one since the time that Richard Nixon
went to China in 1972. And Tiananmen
threatened, really, to totally rupture the
relationship between China and the United States. NARRATOR: Despite
international pleas, the government is ready
to send in the troops. JAN WONG: So China
declares martial law and I didn't know
what was gonna happen. They've never done this before. NARRATOR: The reaction to
the declaration is swift. The students abandoned their
hunger strike and prepare for a crackdown. Meanwhile, as troop transports
enter the city the night of May 19, enraged citizens of Beijing
blocked major intersections, preventing the troops
from entering the Square. This is no longer just
a student protest. This is a citywide revolt. Shocked by the outpouring of
emotion against martial law, the government withdraws
the troops to the suburbs and tries to shore up its base. ORVILLE SCHELL: And it was
another extraordinarily cathartic moment. And it led the people who
were part of this movement, this populist
movement, in the city, to believe that they were
perhaps more invincible than they turned out to be,
because nothing like this had happened since the Chinese
Communist Party took power. They had never met
such popular resistance and never been
thwarted, never suffered the indignity of-- of
being, uh, challenged and defeated in the middle
of their own capital by ordinary people. NARRATOR: Meanwhile, as the
city of Beijing rejoices, the mood in the
Square grows sour. [indistinct chatter] LI LU: You know, there we were,
students in our early 20's, have every good intention
to help the country and did everything to sacrifice
ourselves for that purposes. But all of a sudden, what we
got from the government response was escalating threat. This is completely
out of our control. We don't know how
to deal with this. NARRATOR: Students passionately
debate whether or not to vacate the Square and
head off a violent conflict. Though they demand more
democracy from the government, the students are unclear
how democracy works. [chattering] JAN WONG: So what was democracy? People didn't know. At one point, the
students thought they should end the hunger strike. They thought they
weren't getting anywhere. But then they had
a vote and they didn't understand that, you
know, it just takes a majority. They thought that,
oh, that's no good. We-- everybody has
to vote to leave. Many student leaders
wanted to said, it's time to leave the Square. You know, the army is all around
us, let's just get out of here. But the problem at
Tiananmen Square was, new students
were coming everyday. They were arriving by train. They heard about it. They got off the train,
they're all excited. NARRATOR: The situation in the
Square is increasingly chaotic, and soon, the leadership
is outstripped by newer, more radical elements. ORVILLE SCHELL:
There came a moment when these more moderate,
reasonable student leaders were eclipsed, and there were a
different group that came, quote, "to power." And one of the lines
that, um, was taken was that, you know, until the
Square is washed with blood. China really
wouldn't understand. You know, we have to bring
out the worst in the party to make the country
understand how violent and how authoritarian
they actually are. And that set up a very bad
dynamic where there could be no further compromise. NARRATOR: May 29, 1989, a new
icon graces Tiananmen Square. Students from the
Art Academy erect a 37-foot statue dubbed
The Goddess of Democracy, a pure white figure clutching
a flame with two hands, staring directly at the portrait
of Mao on the Forbidden City. I think, you know,
when Goddess of Democracy appeared on Tiananmen
Square, that was probably the most memorable moment of my
entire Tiananmen demonstration experiences. NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Li Peng and
fellow hardliners orchestrate a decisive end to the crisis. In recently released government
transcripts from a meeting on June 3, 1989, Li
Peng states, quote, "We have to be absolutely
firm in putting down this counter-revolutionary
riot in the capital. We must be merciless. Security forces are
authorized to use any means necessary to deal
with people who interfere with the mission. What happens will be the
responsibility of those who do not heed warnings and
persist in testing the limits of the law," unquote. ROSS TERRILL: I
arrived in Beijing on what turned out to be the
last international flight before the airport closed. And as soon as I got
out of the plane, I could see there was
something unusual. NARRATOR: That day,
the city of Beijing seems to hold its breath,
preparing for the worst. ROSS TERRILL: There was
no customs or immigration official. We walked from the plane, into
the terminal, unaccompanied by any question,
any interference, and, uh, got our own bags. And then at the curb, the taxi
drivers refused my business. They said it's too dangerous. We can't go into the city. NARRATOR: That evening, the
troops mobilized once again for the Chinese capital. The stage is set for a massacre. 1989, China is
wracked with protests throughout the country. In Beijing,
hardliners have seized control of the government. Conservative Li Peng, with the
blessing of Supreme Leader Deng Xiaoping, orchestrates
a violent crackdown. Meanwhile, radicals take control
of the student leadership in Tiananmen Square. The stage is set for bloodshed. JAMES LILLEY: We
knew what was coming. Deng has to act. He can't take this. He's an Old Testament man. He's-- he takes-- seeks revenge,
and he's been humiliated. He was gonna act, he
was gonna strikeout. NARRATOR: June 3, 1989,
over 50,000 troops along with armored
personnel carriers enter the city from
every direction. Just as on the day after
martial law is declared, townspeople pour into
the streets in an attempt to thwart the army. ORVILLE SCHELL: They were told
to not allow themselves to be stopped by anybody
under any circumstance, and they came in
with live ammunition. And they started
shooting their way into the center of the city. [gunfire] SHEN TONG: It was a very
strange mood among people that they felt that there
was some misunderstanding. They simply couldn't believe
troops would open fire. Because China's army is called
People's Liberation Army, they couldn't believe the
PLA opened fire at the-- at peaceful demonstrators. NARRATOR: The streets of Beijing
soon become killing fields. Most of the people that
die this horrible night are, in fact, not students,
but outraged citizens in the wrong place
at the wrong time. SHEN TONG: All of a
sudden, I was pulled back. It turned out to be two
of my relatives finding me in the middle of the street. And then, the same moment I was
pulled back, I heard a gunshot. I saw a girl that was
standing behind me fell flat on her back. And then people were running
and screaming at the last. So I looked straight down to
her face, and there is blood and there's a hole
on her forehead. I mean, I-- I still think
that bullet was meant for me. NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
in the Square, a sense of panic and
confusion builds. LI LU: And it wasn't very
clear to us, you know, where the massacre was
really taking place. It appears that the massacre was
taking place in all directions. Troops are coming
from all directions into Tiananmen Square and
killing people along the way. JAN WONG: I felt very helpless. And you see all these
bodies coming out, and you see ambulances. And then you see there's
not even ambulances. The pedicab drivers are going in
and they're putting the bodies in the back of
the-- of pedicabs. NARRATOR: The closer
the army comes to the Square, the
stiffer the resistance from the townspeople. [indistinct chatter] WANG JUNTAO: The other
as civilians, you know, they try to use their life,
take the risks to stop the army. Then when the army reached
the Tiananmen Square, they didn't want the
army to kill the students on the Tiananmen Square. JAN WONG: 1:00 AM, they've
arrived at the Square, they're shooting. It takes them three
hours to actually take control of the Square. So that's a lot of shooting. The people have a couple
of Molotov cocktails and they have the barriers
they try to put up. I saw them take city buses and
try to put them in neutral, and then everybody pushed
to try to block the roads with the tanks and kind of-- there were both tanks and
armored personnel carriers. And, you know, you
block with the bus, and the bus was on its
way, and they crunch right over these concrete dividers. Nothing would stop the tank. LI LU: Most of the students who
stayed until the last moment of the Tiananmen protest
somehow already made up their mind that if
they have to die, they would die
with their dignity, they would die with
their hopes and dreams, and they would die right in
the middle of Tiananmen Square and no place else. JAN WONG: The soldiers
are shooting on them, too. This is battlefield weapon. This is not ordinary
bullets and a handgun. These are major
weapons, assault rifles, and the crowds were dense,
and they would shoot and shoot and shoot. LI LU: Soldiers and the killing
randomly towards demonstrators, yet in the center of the
storm, thousands of students sit together, hand in hand,
singing songs, determined to be martyrs of their belief. I've never seen anything
more beautiful than this. JAN WONG: So it went
on until 4 o'clock, and I don't know
what's gonna happen. I think the students
are gonna get killed. NARRATOR: June 4, 5:00
AM, with the Square ringed with jumpy troops and
the remaining students huddled around the Monument
of People's Heroes, a couple of intellectuals
negotiate a peaceful withdrawal from the Square. LI LU: So they went out
and figured out a way to talk to a colonel who
apparently was in charge and was able to get an agreement
that if the students leave by certain hours, the troops
will not kill the people. And then, Feng
[inaudible],, Chai Ling, and myself led the last
several thousand survivors through a particular
entrance and left the Square around 5 o'clock, 6
o'clock in the morning. NARRATOR: Troops take
control, crushing the Goddess of Democracy
under the treads of a tank. ORVILLE SCHELL:
Most of the fighting and most of the
death and wounding did not take place
in the Square itself. There was relatively
little right within it. It took place as
the soldiers came in from all different directions
and fought their way down both the Avenue of Eternal
Peace and through other avenues of ingress in the city. So the massacre was not
as most people think. You know, the Tiananmen
Square massacre was a Beijing massacre. NARRATOR: The killing
continues throughout the night and into the following day. June 9, 1989, Deng Xiaoping
appears on television, praising the military for
successfully crushing the riot. The state's first
report of the event claims that 1,000
soldiers died while only 23 counter-revolutionary
thugs and hooligans perished. These numbers seem improbable,
even in a country used to hyperbolic propaganda,
and soon, casualty figures are revised to 300
counter-revolutionaries. Western experts put the
number between several hundred and a few thousand. We will likely never
know an exact amount. [music playing] Since then, the Square is
patrolled day and night by secret police watching
for any sign of protest. Most dissidents are
jailed or exiled. And in 2005, Zhao Ziyang
dies under house arrest. To his last breath, Zhao refuses
to renounce his opposition to the June 4th crackdown. [speaking chinese] LI LU: And his opposition
cost his freedom. He was under house arrest
until his death 16 years later. And according to recently
available informations, after Tiananmen
massacre, Deng Xiaoping have approached Mr. Zhao
Ziyang several times with offer for him to
return to the government on the condition he would give
up his position on June 4. And every time, he
turned him down. And by doing so,
that Zhao Ziyang is consciously defending
a fundamental principle of a civilization in China,
that the government would never be allowed to publicly massacre
its own peaceful demonstrators under any circumstances. If Chinese government
to survive, if China's society to survive,
that principle will always be a fundamental
pillar, and Zhao Ziyang went to symbolize that spirit. NARRATOR: Now, China is poised
to become a dominant world power, yet Tiananmen
remains an explosive issue. The protests were the first time
a popular uprising challenged the Communist Party. As China moves into
the 21st century and does more and more business
with the rest of the world, time will tell what new
challenges face China and its people, and whether
those challenges will bring unity or conflict
to Tiananmen Square. [music playing]
