by Richard S. Ehrlich
BEIJING, China -- The fight for democracy has spread to scattered cities across China along with arrests by secret police, though most of the nation appears unaffected by the insurrection and army massacre which has left more than 1,000 people dead and over 400 in jail.
Copyright by Richard S. Ehrlich
Website, more Asia news by Richard S. Ehrlich plus the non-fiction book of interviews, documentation and investigative journalism, titled: "Hello My Big Big Honey!" Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews
June 1989
Fight for Democracy Spreads Across China After Tiananmen Bloodshed
The Chinese capital was crippled by the pro-democracy movement and subsequent police crackdown.
Other cities joined the fray including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Langzhou and Xian, according to witnesses and government officials.
China's cities in crisis:
In the teeming port of Shanghai, China's largest city, more than 20,000 students from several campuses wore black arm bands and staged a 10-mile peaceful march, Western eyewitnesses said.
Demonstrators earlier blocked railway lines around Shanghai for four days, set fire to at least one train.
They also bravely staged a sit-down protest at police headquarters demanding release of nine workers who were imprisoned after declaring formation of an independent trade union.
Troops cleared Shanghai's railway tracks and students suspended all protests on Saturday, the witnesses said.
But the students gave Shanghai authorities a Sunday deadline to satisfy three main demands, while threatening to unleash further anti-government activity.
In addition to calling for the release of the nine union leaders, students demanded a public account of the army's massacre of more than 1,000 pro-democracy supporters last week in Beijing, and for the flying of China's flag at half-mast throughout Shanghai in mourning.
Their demands were not expected to be met.
Shanghai authorities, however, have used restraint while tackling the growing discontent in the bustling port where the mighty Yangtze River opens to the East China Sea.
The clash between pro-democracy supporters and Shanghai authorities, however, was expected to be temporarily postponed until after Sunday because a typhoon was due to hit the central coastal port, bringing much of Shanghai to a halt.
There were no immediate reports of troops moving in on Shanghai.
Unlike Beijing with its very wide, straight avenues which allowed hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, troop transport trucks and other vehicles to easily attack demonstrators, Shanghai is a congested city of narrow streets and a maze of lanes which would make it more difficult for armor to move against protesters.
But with a major nationwide crackdown against pro-democracy supporters underway, and the government declaring it will kill or jail anyone suspected of defying the Communist Party's strict line, the confrontation in Shanghai may cause fresh headaches for the regime.
Meanwhile in Xian, central China's former ancient capital, confrontations erupted between "a small number" of pro-democracy supporters and authorities, which Xian Radio described as "very grim."
The radio reported arson and looting broke out, and called on people to help the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to restore order.
Xian is capital of Shaanxi province and internationally famous for life-sized terracotta armies which were discovered buried hundreds of years ago under nearby hills.
Xian is also strategic because many railway lines pass through the city on routes connecting northern and southern China.
Some Western travelers said their trains were diverted during the week to avoid Xian because of the unrest.
If Xian remains disrupted, it would seriously affect train transport in much of central China, though troops would find it easier to deal with demonstrators there because of the city's broad streets and surrounding dusty flatlands.
In Langzhou, capital of impoverished Gansu province and west of Xian, authorities appear to have restored order after some streets were blockaded and clashes broke out, according to government-controlled television.
Travelers who came east to Beijing from the hot Gobi Desert city of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, said there were no disturbances there or along the rugged mountains of western Gansu province.
There were also no immediate reports of trouble in Chinese-occupied Tibet where rioting has broken out during the past few years due to demands for independence by Tibetans.
Independent travel to the capital, Lhasa, has been curtailed, however, and troops are on alert.
In Chengdu, capital of overpopulated, fertile Sichuan province in southern China, some disturbances erupted but authorities kept the city under control, official reports said.
The Yangtze River city of Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, was seriously troubled by demonstrators.
But official TV showed Wuhan's vital bridge which crosses the river open to traffic on Saturday and unidentified suspects being rounded up.
Militant students in Nanjing, capital of Jiangxi province, earlier vowed to march 900 miles north to Beijing in solidarity with pro-democracy demonstrators and also staged other protests, but details were scarce.
China's most-Westernized and liberal city, Guangzhou, was rocked by several demonstrations during the week, official reports said without elaborating.
Guangzhou is just across the border from the British colony of Hong Kong, and the two cities have slowly begun to merge as international investment in the southern region skyrockets amid foreign influences and rapid modernization.
The scattered reports of unrest across China, however, were relatively minor compared with the firm control Beijing authorities wield, relying on secret police, neighborhood informers, strict identification card checks, and a lack of public support by most workers to join the student-led movement for greater liberty, press freedom and an end to corruption.
As a result, martial law has been declared only in Beijing, though arrests have been made in several cities.
Students who fled Beijing after surviving last week's army bloodshed promised to the spread word to their hometowns about their uprising for democracy.
While announcing the crackdown in Beijing and other cities, however, TV broadcasts showed grim, unidentified people with their hands tied together, forcibly bent over by authorities, while being shoved through police stations into interrogation rooms.
The arrested people look terrified, ill-treated and glum as they obediently keep their heads bent down and answer questions put to them by angry police and men in plain clothes.
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