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Finances of Student Organizations during the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989

The catalyst for the birth of the Pro-Democracy Movement was the death of Hu Yaobang on April, 15, 1989. Beginning in late April until June 3 large crowds gathered in Tiananmen Square. During this period a significant amount of money was donated to the student organizations, it was spent on providing food, water and other supplies required to sustain the many thousands of protesters who occupied the Square.

Organization in Tiananmen Square

Virtually every day large numbers of people gathered in the Square to demonstrate, on some days tens of thousands of people took participated. During May increasing numbers of students travelled long distances from other parts of China to participate in the protests. As the numbers of people increased it soon became apparent that an attempt had to be made to organize the demonstrations and attempt to keep order in the Square. The Beijing Students’ Autonomous Federation became the self-appointed organizers.

Donations

Donations to the Pro-Democracy Movement came from several sources: Peking University was the first to start fund raising, students collected money on the streets. Other donors included the private sector, trade unions and overseas Chinese, particularly in Hong Kong. The Shekou special economic zone donated more than HK$210,000. the businessman Wan Runnan, head of the Stone Group donated about 200,000 Yuan. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions was another source of funding. By early May HK$10,000 was received from the Chinese University in Hong Kong. On May 27 supporters in Hong Kong staged an all day concert featuring Hong Kong singers, actors and actresses that raised around thirteen million HK Yuan.

Problems receiving and depositing donations

Significant funds were donated but it appears that a lot of this money was not received by the various Pro-Democracy groups. A large amount of the money raised overseas was sent to China as cheques or money orders made out to “the Students’ ”Autonomous Union,” “Hunger Strike Headquarters,” “Tiananmen Square Headquarters,” or even just “Tiananmen Square.” such donations, even if delivered to the student organizations could not be redeemed.

Escalating costs of sustaining the protests

When the hunger strike started on May 13 the costs of running protests at Tiananmen Square increased. At first the number of hunger strikers was quite small, around 300 students, but as their numbers increased so did the crowds that came to support them. The Financial Department of the BASF was spending 200,000 yuan a day on providing food, water and other supplies. Other organizations had their own financial systems and it was thought that the occupation may have cost several million yuan a day at its peak. Observers in Tiananmen Square have reported that a lack of organization resulted in a tremendous waste of resources during the hunger strike. Liu Xiaobo, commented that almost all of the drinks were thrown away before they were emptied. Half or whole boxes of fast food, half or whole loaves of bread, and other foodstuff were spread everywhere.

Did the student groups set up reliable accounting systems?

There have been accusations that none of the student organizations had a good accounting system. The transfer and receipt of funds proceeded chaotically; the students used funds to buy necessary items. But there were no receipts, and the purchases were not even registered. Various student groups were receiving large amounts of money from multiple donors, and every day they purchased and distributed supplies to very large numbers of people in the Square. Given the circumstances it would have been difficult for the student organizations to accurately record every transaction.

Rivalries in Tiananmen Square

There were rivalries between some of the pro-democracy groups that occupied Tiananmen Square. The Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation focused more on corruption and inflation. They complained about the elitism of the students who wanted to keep their protest pure and initially refused to allow the BWAF to operate within Tiananmen Square. There were also disputes between different student groups. When the Hunger Strike Committee took over leadership on the Square the BSAF which had raised nearly one million RMB during the first week of the hunger strike refused to hand the money over. Eventually they gave 100,000 RMB to the Hunger Strike Committee and kept the rest. Later in May the students established a new organization called Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters to manage Tiananmen Square. Because of the intense conflicts among movement activists, General Headquarters had great difficulty getting money out of the BSAF.

Allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement

The rivalries between the different groups and the absence of financial management resulted in allegations of corruption. Student leaders were even suspected of corruption. Thousands of (US) dollars of contributions, mostly from Hong Kong, had been flowing into the student organizations’ coffers, but no accounting had been done.Han, Minzhu, Ed. Cries for Democracy, ( Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 312. The BWAF accused the student leadership of financial misappropriation; they claimed that the students had taken in enormous sums of money in donations from ordinary citizens and from abroad. The issue of student corruption was never fully resolved. Allegations were made that leaders, including Wu’er Kaizi, Zhou Yongjun, Yang Huhui, Chai Ling and Feng Congde personally accepted donations. It was claimed by some that there was no control whatsoever on how these donations were handled, there is only the students’ word that they were used for the student movement. Given that there were several student organizations it would be difficult to make the claim that there were no controls at all.

What happened to the unspent donations after June 4th?

The Hong Kong concert that raised thirteen million HK Yuan took place a week before Tiananmen Square was cleared by troops. There is visual evidence that some tents and supplies were delivered to Tiananmen Square but it is unlikely that all of the funds raised could have been spent in one week. It is possible that other Pro-Democracy groups still had unspent funds on June 4th. Given the violent and chaotic end of the Pro-Democracy Movement it is not known what happened to these unspent funds.