CRAIG CALHOUN
573
were from Inner Mongolia and spoke little or no Putonghua (common peo–
ple's language, Mandarin, or standard dialect). Be that as it may, those face to
face with students outside Zhongnanhai compound or the railroad station
showed little interest in talking-or in being harangued by the protesters. The
government succeeded in getting a substantial number to at least three loca–
tions in proximity to the Square: Zhongnanhai (the capacious official resident
of most top party leaders, though they had apparently left Beijing during the
period ofattempted imposition ofmartial law), the central railroad station, and
the old Imperial Palace Museum-the Forbidden City. On the mornings of
June 2d and June 3d troops went jogging around the Square and otherwise
advertised their presence. Later on the 3d, a few thousand advanced on the
crowd, but without firing guns. They were repulsed with light fighting;
skirmishes continued throughout the day. Tear gas was used at least once, at
the gate to Zhongnanhai, but not widely. Troops beat protesters with belts
and truncheons; the crowd fought back with limbs pulled from the trees along
Chang'an Boulevard. Though violence never entirely subsided, the troops
were kept at bay (to what must have been their growing frustration) and the
conflicts were confined enough that families came out to enjoy a popsicle and
the entertainment the fighting offered. Around seven p.m., I bought a crepe
from a street vendor less than three hundred yards from a barricade behind
the Great Hall of the People where troops still challenged protesters,
occasionally flailing away with belts.
Around 8:30 that evening, troops quartered in the southwest of Beijing
began to move towards Tiananmen Square. They encountered strong
resistance along Fuxingmen and Chang'an Boulevards (different sections of
the same street), especially in the Muxudi district about two miles from the
Square. They fired on demonstrators and drove their vehicles into crowds
and over barricades. Occasionally, when a tank was stuck struggling over a
bicycle that had been pulled into the road, protesters ran out and stuck iron
bars into its tracks; those which were disabled were often torched, usually
after the occupants had been given a chance to escape (though this did not
necessarily spare them a beating). According to eye witnesses, thousands had
already been killed before the troops or the other column moving in from the
East reached Tiananmen Square. There the advancing troops were joined
by those from the Forbidden City routing the remainder of the students and
other protesters.
For two days after this massacre, everyone was in a state of shock.
Some retreated to their homes. Others scurried about the town, trying to get
a clearer sense of what had happened. Hospitals were overflowing with
wounded. Sporadic shooting continued. Throughout an unusually hazy Sunday
afternoon and much of Monday, columns of smoke rose from burning
