15 May:
Mid May
16 May:
Minister of State Education Commission Li Tieying, CCP Secretariat member Yan Mingfu, and Minister of Supervision Wei Jianxing hold talks with student representatives.
Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in China for historic Sino-Soviet summit. Welcoming ceremony
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presided over by Yang Shangkun takes place at airport instead of Great Hall of the People because of demonstrating students in Tiananmen Square.
Student protests disrupt official programme. Planned talks between Gorbachev and Yang Shangkun delayed for two hours. Gorbachev enters Great Hall of People through backdoor. (AFP 15.5.89)
Central authorities appeal to students on Tiananmen Square to "do nothing harmful to our national dignity and interests.' (Xinhua 15.5.89)
Students in Shanghai begin a hunger strike in support of students in Peking (Shanghai Radio 18.5.89).
demonstrations in Hainan, Harbin
(Heilongjiang), Zhengzhou (Henan), Shenyang (Liaoning), Changchun (Jilin), Shanghai, Chengdu (Sichuan), Lanzhou (Gansu), Hefei (Anhui), Nanjing (Jiangsu), Shenzhen and Canton (Guangdong), Guiyang (Guizhou), Urumuqi (Xinjiang), Hohot (Inner Mongolia), Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou (Zhejiang).
During talks with Gorbachev Zhao Ziyang says although Deng Xiaoping has withdrawn from the Central Committee and the Politburo" we cannot do without him, without his wisdom and experience. We formally adopted a decision at the first plenary session of the 13th CCP Central Committee although this decision has never been published, it is a very important decision that, on the most important
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questions we still need him as the helmsman. This information has never been published for the outside world until now." (Peking television 16.5.89).
Gorbachev's plans to lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen
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