Tiananmen Square Document 10: Cable, SITREP No. 27: Martial Law with Chinese Characteristics, 1989

This cable provides fascinating eyewitness accounts of the disorganized and confused retreat of PLA soldiers from the center of Beijing after their advance on Tiananmen Square was halted by crowds of demonstrators on the morning of June 3. The document describes how the soldiers were ridiculed by Chinese citizens and scolded by elderly women who called them "bad boys" and "a disgrace to the PLA." One U.S. official quoted in the document described the events as "a Chinese version of Napolean’s retreat from Moscow." Embassy officials speculate that the soldiers were to have been used to cordon off the square while regular police units would have moved on the crowds with clubs in an effort to clear the square. The document suggests that the episode galvanized the demonstrators, encouraging them to resist further attempts to move them from the square.

To access the document, please click here.

Original source: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/documents/index.html#d10