Death Count at Tiananmen Square 1989

I had to translate an article by copy/paste sice Google translate wasn't working on this site. It's an article on a documents showing a higher death count at the Tiananmen Square protest then officially reported, it is being sourced by English speaking news outlets. I figured I would share the translated version.

The original : https://www.hk01.com/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/140801/%E5%85%AD%E5%9B%9B%E5%AF%86%E6%AA%94-%E8%8B%B1%E5%BC%95%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E5%9C%8B%E5%8B%99%E9%99%A2%E6%88%90%E5%93%A1-27%E8%BB%8D%E6%8E%83%E5%B0%84-%E5%AD%B8%E7%94%9F-%E5%A3%AB%E5%85%B5%E7%9A%86%E4%B8%AD%E6%A7%8D

Translated version :

[June 4 secret file] British cited Chinese State Council members: 27 army sweeping students, soldiers are shot

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In 1989, the "June 4th Incident" took place for nearly 29 years. The British National Archives unblocked the diplomatic archives of the year, recording the British Embassy in China, the British Hong Kong Government and British intelligence personnel, assessing the situation in China and military deployment.

"Hong Kong 01" reporter went to the archives to check the decryption files, one of which was recorded. The PLA was cleared on the following day. The British ambassador to China Donald received a member of the State Council (member of the State Council), referring to the 27th Army's clearing mission. In the case, students, civilians and soldiers in the Shenyang Military Region without weapons were shot. Due to the extremely sensitive content, some of the files are still blacked out, and the identity of the source is still a mystery.

Reporter: Lao Xianliang Special correspondent in London: He Jingtao
*Image of documents
The Tiananmen Square incident ended with military repression. The United Kingdom declassified the diplomatic archives and recorded the details of the 1989 pro-democracy movement since the death of Hu Yaobang in April 1989. (He Jingtao photo)

The British diplomatic archives were unsealed in 1989

The latest amendments to the Public Archives Act and the Freedom of Information Act of the United Kingdom stipulate that from January 1, 2013, the British government will shorten the period for declassifying files from 30 years to 20 years, but with a 10-year transition period. In recent years, the British unblocked the archives more than 20 years ago. Last month, the diplomatic archives of 1989 were unblocked, exposing the British Foreign Ministry and foreign embassies for many years to collect intelligence and situation assessments of various countries.

"Hong Kong 01" reporters in the British Archives in London, inspected thousands of pages of 1989 declassified files, including the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15th, until the martial law in Beijing on May 20, after the clearance on June 4, the United Kingdom The intelligence, the assessment of the situation in Beijing and the mobilization of the People's Liberation Army also have the courage of China and Britain in drafting the Basic Law after the June Fourth Movement.
*photo of wounded people
During the 1989 pro-democracy movement, students and citizens occupied Tiananmen Square for democracy. From the evening of June 3, 1989 to the early morning of the 4th, the People's Liberation Army entered the square. Some students were shot and the June 4th incident ended in bloodshed. (Associated Press)

The identity of the source has been blackened and has not been made public so far.

On the afternoon of June 2, 1989, the day before the army entered the city, the British ambassador to China, Alan Donald, reported back to London, quoting a source saying that the 39th Army received instructions that it would be in the next two or three days. Enter the city.

On June 5, 1989, the day after the military crackdown, Donald detailed a member of the State Council in a telegram sent back to London to provide information to British sources. Compared with other British diplomatic files, the general staff information is quoted. Most of them use "staff" (staff), and "member" can be translated as a member.

The passage of the above two telegrams referring to the identity of the British source was smeared, proving that the identity of the person was extremely sensitive and still cannot be made public. Donald's telegram said that the previous news of the Chinese member has been confirmed to be accurate, and the document states that the Chinese information personnel classify facts, speculations and rumours.
*image of documents
(UK decryption file)
*image of documents

[June-four secret file] The martial law officer said that 200 people died in a stray bullet.
The 27th Army opened fire. The soldiers of the Shenyang Military Region were also shot.

The clearing began on the evening of June 3. The original plan was carried out in four phases. The first three phases were carried out by the Shenyang Military Region. The soldiers did not bring weapons, armed with non-munition weapons, and used the weapons to shoot and scare the crowd. The last step was to send the 27th Army to fire.

However, the document quoted the news that the soldiers of the Shenyang Military Region had entered the Tiananmen Square from the raft in the west and Shilibao in the east, but the first three stages failed. The 27 soldiers in the armored vehicles directly included the citizens and other soldiers. The crowd inside shot in the direction.
*image of people in front of fire
In the June 4th incident in 1989, the People's Liberation Army went to Tiananmen Square from late night on June 3 to June 4, and cleared the field with force. (Getty Images)

The first batch of soldiers from the Shenyang Military Region who had entered Tiananmen Square had separated the students from the citizens, and the students were told to leave within an hour. But five minutes later, the armored vehicles arrived at the scene and the soldiers and students without weapons were shot.

Another section of the document records several details:
"1,000 people were allowed to leave with the road of justice, but there were machine guns ambushed there."
In the repression of the June 4th Qing Dynasty, there have been reports of military tanks suppressing students. Among them, the student Fang Zheng, who came from the murder of the victims, is the most famous example. However, there have been few reports, reports or oral references about tank misunderstandings. The situation of the military.
"The soldiers of the Shenyang Military Region who had caught up with the armored vehicles fell over them."
*image of crowd
During the 1989 pro-democracy movement, Beijing Tiananmen Square gathered hundreds of thousands of students and citizens to demand democracy. Finally, the People's Liberation Army used force to suppress the clean-up. The June 4th incident ended in bloody. The picture shows the 4th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement on May 4, 1989. (Getty Images)

*image of map
The distribution map of the death sites of the "June 4th" victims. (Tiananmen Mother Website)

Record multiple versions of deaths

The source quoted in the document confirmed that Yang Shangkun and Deng Xiaoping were friendly, and some members of the State Council believed that the civil war was imminent. He also speculated that the authorities sent 27 troops to clear the field because the 27th Army was the most reliable and obedient.

At the end of the document, the State Department official estimated that the civilian death toll was at least 10,000 (Minimum estimate of civilian dead 10,000). How many people were killed or injured in the June 4th incident, there have been different versions. At the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress held on June 30, 1989, Chen Xitong, then State Councilor and Mayor of Beijing, reported that more than 3,000 non-military people were injured and more than 200 were killed, including 36 college students. In 2008, "Tiananmen Mother" representative Ding Zilin summed up the number of victims who had been visited in 19 years. The total number was 188, including 71 students. She stressed that this is not the case for all the victims, and 13 people on the list still can't find the body.

Zhang Wanshu, who served as director of the Xinhua News Agency's domestic news department and later as the president and editor-in-chief of the Xinhua News Agency, published the "Big Bang of History - A Panoramic Record of the June 4th Incident" in 2009. He wrote in the book: "The Liberation Army Literature and Art" Liu Jiayu, the senior editor of the school, told me that Tan Yunhe, the party secretary and vice president of the Chinese Red Cross, told him that during the "June 4th" period, a total of 727 people died, 14 troops, and local (including students and the masses) 713 People, every body has been tested by him."

In addition to receiving information from Chinese State Council sources, Donald also reported to the London Power Generation News to report the intelligence collected by the British Embassy in China. On June 4th, the Donald Telegraph used "Beijing City to spend a night of cruelty and bloody" to describe the clearance from the evening of June 3 to the early morning of June 4.

*image of people around burned tanks
In the June 4th incident in 1989, the People's Liberation Army in the Tiananmen Square was forced to clear the field. On June 4th, Chang'an Street had tanks intercepted by the public during the clearance. (Getty Images)