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15 Years
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Tiananmen, 15 Years On
Where Are Some of the “Most Wanted” Participants Today?
Han Dongfang
“1989
was the very first time the Chinese people themselves directly faced the
regime. Before that time, there was only hope. June 4 put a big
question mark on the legitimacy of the Party. The people lost trust and they
lost hope. My dream broke that day. It was the turning point of my whole
life.”
—May 2004
Han Dongfang, a twenty-six year-old railway worker, first became involved in
the pro-democracy movement on April 15, 1989, the day Hu Yaobang died. But it
was not until May 20, when he joined the Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation
(BWAF) one day after it was formed, that he found his niche. The BWAF, the first
independent union since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949,
grew to some 200 members before it was banned on June 4. Han’s emergence as its
leader earned him the top spot on the list of wanted worker
leaders.
After the massacre in Beijing on June 4, Han took off on his bicycle on what
he expected to be a one- or two-year cross country trip designed to help him
learn more about working conditions in China. It was not to be. On June 19, Han
found out much to his surprise that he was wanted and turned himself in to the
police. Han was never tried or sentenced, but at the end of April 1991, after
he contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis, he was permitted to return home. Seventeen
months later, when it was clear his health was not improving, he was permitted
to travel to the U.S. for treatment. He made it clear to Chinese authorities
that he would stay away no more than one year.
True to his promise, Han returned to China in August 1993, only to immediately
be forcibly ejected for “opposing and attacking China, betraying it and his Chinese
citizenship, undermining the interests of the country and harming its international
prestige.” Han was able to settle in Hong Kong where in 1994 he formed the influential
China Labor Bulletin to promote independent trade unionism in China. His call
in talk-show on Radio Free Asia is one of the network’s
most popular programs.
More Profiles:
 Wang
Dan
“ The future for democracy in China is dependent not just on political institutions
but on the growth of a vibrant civil society.”
—May 25, 2004 |
 Feng
Congde
“Tiananmen was the beginning of the end of the communist camp. It was a wake-up
call to Chinese inside and outside China.”
—May 2004 |
 Zhang
Boli
“1989 stands out as a beautiful moment. We stood up. It wasn’t easy.
Overturning the government’s official verdict isn’t important; what’s important
is what we did. History will judge us properly.”
—June 2, 2004 |
Liu
Gang
“We didn’t fail—failure is the mother of success. There’ll be more chances—and
we have more experience.”
—May 2004 |
 Zheng
Yi
Zheng worked with other intellectuals to craft statements of
support for the students including the famous “Declaration of May
16.” |
Wang
Chaohua
“I jumped into the center of the movement. I thought I could
make a decision for myself....But this...decision had repercussions
for others, including ones I love dearly.”
—May 26, 2004 |
Li
Lu
“Once in [Tiananmen] Square you did anything and
everything that needed doing.” |
Zheng
Xuguang
“Within the movement we consistently adhered to the
principles of peace, reason and nonviolence.”
—1993 “Peace Charter” |
 Zhang
Ming
Accused
of inciting subversion and attempting to overthrow the socialist
system, Zhang was sentenced in January 1991 to a three-year term. |
 Xiong
Yan
“We believe, no matter whether the government does or does not, that history
will recognize this movement as a patriotic and democratic movement….”
—May 1989 |
Wang
Juntao
“Tiananmen changed Chinese history. It was a benchmark in Chinese
political development, furthering the liberal trend of the 1980s and
destroying the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.”
—May 2004 |
 Ma
Shaofang
Ma Shaofang, the former Beijing Film Academy student who
was No. 10 on the most wanted student list, has remained politically
active in China. |
 Wang
Youcai
“The develop-
ment of a democratic system is crucially
important. Democracy is the only way to avoid a second Tiananmen.”
—May 2004 |
Yang
Tao
Authorities charged Yang Tao had been an instigator of a “counterrevolutionary
rebellion,” had “advocated bourgeois liberalism,” and “wantonly
attacked Marxism.” |
 Han
Dongfang
“1989 was the very first time the Chinese people themselves directly
faced the regime. Before that time, there was only hope.
—May 2004 |
 Zhou
Fengsuo
“It was the one time I experienced the beautiful
character of the Chinese people longing for a democratic China
where we could freely speak our minds.”
—May 2004 |
Zhang
Zhiqing
Zhang Zhiqing, No. 16 on “Wanted List 1,” disappeared from view shortly
after June 4, 1989. None of the other students on the most wanted list
has heard from him since. |
 Yan
Jiaqi
By the time the 1989 protests came to a head, Yan Jiaqi had
years of experience in reform politics, working both inside and
outside the system. |
Lu
Jinghua
“Tiananmen 100 percent changed my life. Even since ’89, I’ve tried
to make people understand what life without human rights is really
all about.”
—May 24, 2004 |
Fang
Lizhi
“June 4, 1989 was one of the most important events of the
last century.”
—May 2004 |
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Reports
Nipped in the Bud: The Suppression of the China Democracy Party
Slamming the Door on Dissent: Wang Dan’s Trial and the New “State Security” Era
Leaking State Secrets: The Case of Gao Yu
China: Enforced Exile of Dissidents" Government "Re-entry Blacklist" Revealed
Further Reading
Chinese Scholars Detained
Human Rights Watch Campaign Document
Tiananmen
Mother’s Campaign
Off-Site Link
Dr.
Jiang Yanyong’s Letter and Petition
Off-Site Link
Documents
Wanted List 1: The
21 Beijing Student Leaders
Wanted List 2: Three Workers Leaders
Ministry
of Public Security Compilation No. 2
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