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Canadians flee troubled Beijing

Broadcast Date: June 7, 1989

It's three days after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Frightened and eager to flee Beijing, the first planeload of Canadians has left the Chinese capital and landed in Tokyo, from where they will fly to Canada. In this radio clip, a reporter talks to homeward-bound Canadians at the Tokyo airport. "A guy right next to me was shot, two bullets in the leg," says one man. Another describes being in a crowd that "all of a sudden had to turn and start running for our lives."

Canadians flee troubled Beijing

• The Tiananmen Square protest began in April 1989 after the death (from a heart attack) of Hu Yaobang, a former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. University students in Beijing, who saw Hu as a supporter of democracy, began the protest as a memorial to him.
• The pro-democracy students were supported by their professors, intellectuals and workers in Beijing who were concerned about corruption in the government.

• Leaders within the Communist Party disagreed on how to deal with the ongoing protest.
• Hardliners in the party won out with a decision to use force. "It is better to shed a few drops of blood now to prevent greater bloodshed later," leader Deng Xiaoping told army generals.
• On May 25, military troops were warned by their officers that they should be ready to "suppress the chaos and restore public order."

• On June 3 and 4, army tanks and soldiers were sent into the square to crush the protest. A bloody attack on the protesters ensued. (For a detailed look at the Tiananmen Square massacre, see the clip "Massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square" in the CBC Archives topic Revolution and Evolution in Modern China.)
• Exactly how many people died in Tiananmen Square is unknown. The Chinese Red Cross estimated about 2,600 civilians were killed; Globe and Mail reporter Jan Wong puts the number at about 3,000.

• Following the events of June 4, the Canadian government was eager to remove its citizens from potential danger in Beijing and throughout mainland China, where a variety of related protests continued. There was a real threat of random violence across the country, but it was considered especially dangerous for students living on Beijing university campuses.

• Most Canadian citizens were equally keen to get out of China. Many sought refuge at the embassy. "There were between 50 and 60 people at a time sleeping on the floor at the [Canadian] embassy," according to a June 8, 1989, Toronto Star article.

• Canada's ambassador to China, Earl Drake, recalled the evacuation process in his 1999 book A Stubble-Jumper in Striped Pants: Memoirs of a Prairie Diplomat. He explained that because most scheduled flights out of China had been cancelled indefinitely, the embassy had to work fast to arrange special flights, mainly using Canadian Airlines. Tracking down all Canadians living in China and advising them of evacuation plans kept the embassy staff frantically busy.

• Drake believed Canada did quite well in its evacuation process in comparison to other countries. "We were the first to get everyone out and we had the most calm and orderly crowd at the airport," he wrote.
• Drake said the process was "emotionally wrenching" for the evacuees, who had to pack up and leave on extremely short notice with little chance to say goodbye to family and friends in China.

• About 250 Canadians left Beijing on June 7, and close to 300 more were flown out of China in the next several days. According to the Toronto Star, by June 15 all Canadians who wanted to leave China had left.
• Some Canadians remained in China, including a skeleton staff of embassy officials and a number of journalists.

• Globe and Mail reporter Jan Wong was one of the reporters who stayed, despite being urged to leave by the embassy. In her 1996 book Red China Blues she recalls a moment of panic: "'What should I do?' I asked [my husband] Norman, all but wringing my hands. 'Well, if I were a housewife, I'd go to Hong Kong,' he said dryly. 'But if I were a journalist, you couldn't pry me out of here.' He was right. I calmed down and never thought about leaving again."

Canadians flee troubled Beijing

Medium: Radio

Program: The World At Six

Broadcast Date: June 7, 1989

Guest(s): Stephen Fredericks, Dale Haynes, Madeleine Monese, Lorne Switzer

Host: Russ Germain
Reporter: Tom Koppel

Duration: 2:25

Last updated:
June 6, 2008