外高联与八九中国民运——我的八九民运亲身经历与见证

2026年9月19日

第一部分：引言

在1989年那场波澜壮阔的伟大民主运动过去整整三十七周年之际，命运让我在历经了大半生无奈的遭受迫害、隐忍与千难万险后，于2026年9月11日终于踏上了自由的土地——美国纽约。

来到海外后，我最深刻的震撼与宽慰，莫过于正式加入了"外高联同学会"。在这里，我见到了当年的老战友、外高联同学会会长王醒同学——也就是当年与我生死与共、亲密在一起战斗和负重前行的外高联副主席（副总指挥）兼秘书长。当我作为当年秘书处的成员，在跨越了三十七年的时空风雨后向组织"再次归队"时，两世为人的沧桑感将我们深深淹没。特别是王醒代表外高联，首次以组织叙事撰写、出版的《外高联与八九中国民运》纪实专著，让我和广大的八九同仁深受感动，引起广泛共鸣。王醒同学将这部承载了无数八九同仁魂魄与血泪的巨著《外高联与八九中国民运》赠送给我，亲笔签上了名字，并深切地嘱托："这是我们外高联同学与八九一代共同的历史，勿忘铭记，承继八九民运精神和外高联历史"。

翻开这本八九纪实专著，让我深深的回忆起那些八九当年一个个阳光灿烂、风华正茂的天之骄子，一群群社会各界精英和民众，为了自由民主进步奋不顾身，在中共六四屠城中英勇抗暴的学生和各界民众，还有高墙铁窗严刑逼供、斗智斗勇，那些被高墙铁窗生生切断的记忆如潮水般涌来。

1989年那时的我并不是坐在象牙塔里的大学生，我是一名刚刚从解放军空军航空兵第14师机场营房股退役的水电工。在守卫蓝天的部队里，我接受过严格的军事训练，拥有过硬的营房水电专业技能，骨子里流淌着满腔的报国热血与军人荣誉。然而，本该意气风发的我，当退伍回到地方，等待我的却是体制沉重的黑手与残酷的歧视。我原本被正式通知安置到江苏省地方农业银行工作。可当我已经工作了一个多月、满怀希望时，地方官僚却用一纸合同将我的军人尊严彻底践踏——他们仅仅给了我一个"临时工"的屈辱待遇。在那个需要送礼方才可以进步，讲究裙带关系、腐败横行的官僚体制下，我作为一个有技术、有抱负的优秀退伍军人，仅仅因为没有背景、不愿同流合污，就必须承受如此不公正的无情剥削。这种巨大的心理落差与体制歧视，让我陷入了深深的痛苦与对社会本质的清醒思考。

1989年4月中下旬，就在我跟表哥去山东工作出差的途中，北京爆发了震惊世界的学生民主运动。我由此便时刻关注着这场运动，一直到5月中旬，当听到天安门广场上的学生和民众大声喊出"倡廉反腐、打贪官、要求国家进步"等的口号进行大规模游行示威，并进行绝食抗议时，当全国各地学生和民众纷纷组织声援团到北京声援请愿时，我的军人灵魂瞬间被彻底击中了！这绝不仅仅是一场学生的游行、请愿活动，它直击了当时中国社会的根本病灶，也直击了我作为一个普通老百姓、一个退役空军战士在地方上遭受的官僚迫害与不公！个人的委屈与整个国家的命运在这一刻轰然交织。我深刻地意识到：如果这个国家的官僚体制不改变，如果腐败不铲除，那么不论是普通老百姓还是流血奉献的军人，永远都只能任人宰割！在这种强烈社会公义感与对抗不公的心情驱动下，我义无反顾地加入到江苏大学生赴北京声援团队伍中，奔赴北京投身到了这场支援民主运动的洪流中。

《外高联与八九中国民运》纪实专著中对我的八九民运期间的经历、主要参与事件都有记载，其中关于我的八九民运期间的职务记载有很多处："贾正宝：文秘与安保（江苏淮阴市人）"（第61页）；"派出去找总指挥连胜德的秘书处小贾同学"（第75页）；"贾正宝：文书与安全（江苏淮阴市人）"（第133页）；"贾正宝：秘书处主要成员（江苏人）"（第263页，秦城监狱关押名单）。职务写法几次不一，是因为经过了两个阶段的民运历程，分属两个阶段指挥部体系——第一次是5月19日天安门广场临时指挥部与外高联前期组织体系，第二次是外高联改组的后期组织指挥体系。这些正是我在八九民运期间的各个时间段真实经历，我照书中原文引用，不拔高。

第二部分：外高联指挥中心与天安门广场临时指挥部亲身历程

1989年 5月17日左右，我跟随江苏大学生赴北京声援团队伍到达了北京天安门广场，就毫不犹豫的加入到学生和民众的游行示威队伍中。5月19日夜晚9点左右，大学生绝食活动宣布停止，天安门广场上到处都在传播中共政府将要对天安门广场实施军管，此时天安门广场临时指挥部正组织学生和市民组成纠察队堵截军队进城，我没有因为即将来临的军管恐怖而退缩，我毫不犹豫的迅速加入了一支由学生和市民组成的正要出发到交通要道北京火车站执行任务的纠察队，用我在空军部队学到的严密安保技能和一腔热血，站到了堵截军队和保卫学生的最前线，并被推举担负一个纠察小队队长。我们几支纠察队的队长在出发前，到广场指挥部见到了负责人连胜德，并受到鼓励和动员。19日夜10点多，我在返回天安门广场指挥部汇报前线情况时，参加了天安门广场临时指挥部秘书长王醒主持的“指挥部秘书处与纠察队联络协调机制现场会议”，为了协调堵截军队的前线纠察队与指挥部的联系、部署，我被编入到当时的天安门广场临时指挥部的秘书处，成为秘书处二十几个成员之一，被任命为联络秘书和安保组长，之后还协同外高联纠察总队联系协调几千支纠察队，此时负责秘书处的是天安门广场临时指挥部秘书长王醒，总指挥是郑旭光，副总指挥是连胜德。我也是在这期间知道了秘书处同时也是外高联秘书处，外高联总指挥是连胜德，王醒是副总指挥兼秘书长。回望那一刻的八九历史，那些为民主自由为民请愿的慷慨赴难、阳光磊落、勇敢无畏的大学生，那些舍身忘我、同仇敌忾的广大民众。我，不敢忘！也绝不能忘啊！

海内外的八九民运历史叙事，长期以来陷入了一种"北京学生核心圈明星化"的盲区，往往聚焦于本地个别领袖。然而，代表了全国数百所地方高校、数百万奔赴北京声援的外地学子，以及全国各地广大的学生核心组织——"外高联"，却在很长一段时间里被历史的笔墨不公地边缘化了。王醒先生在这部著作中以组织叙事为中心，用极其严谨的史料和客观的组织发展脉络，为外高联和八九民运还原了历史、正本清源，树立了一座不可磨灭的八九民运血肉丰碑。

我在阅读《外高联与八九中国民运》书中第二章5月19日至24日的微观史实，很多内容正是我所亲身经历的。5月19日凌晨、清晨，我在天安门广场东侧的中国历史博物馆台阶和纪念碑外围，和千千万万的大学生、各界民众听到和见证了外高联和天安门广场临时指挥部的成立。外高联是连胜德（天津民航学院）等同学主导、几百所全国各地赴京高校学生代表共同发起成立的组织。紧接着在19日清晨，天安门广场纪念碑的学运广播站宣告“外高联”与“北高联”共同成立了"天安门广场临时指挥部"。外高联和天安门广场临时指挥部正式诞生、成立这两件大事，是八九民运最重要的里程碑大事件。

亲身经历戒严与反戒严

自5月19日夜里，我被编入天安门广场临时指挥部的秘书处，同时也是外高联的秘书处。那天夜里，我先后认识了连胜德、王醒、郑旭光等同学。在此之前，我先参加临时指挥部纠察队，被推举为纠察小队队长。后因我了解部队情况、做联络纠察队和堵军车的协调工作，被征调进秘书处——当时一共征调了二十多人，我是其中之一，任联络秘书和安保组长。作为联络秘书，我负责协调前线纠察队与指挥部的联系和部署；作为安保组长，我把在空军部队学到的安保本事用在了保卫学生、维持秩序上，并协同外高联纠察总队联系协调纠察队伍。堵军车、保卫学生、保障指挥部的安全，就是我每天的任务。

5月19日傍晚起到夜里，天安门广场上到处都在传：中共政府要对北京实施戒严，军队要进城了，天安门广场上一下子就紧张起来了。天安门广场临时指挥部当即组织学生和市民，组成纠察队到各个路口去堵截军车和军人进城——绝不能让军队开进城来镇压爱国学生运动。我毫不犹豫就加入了一支正要出发的纠察队。我是空军部队退下来的，懂安保、懂组织，队里的人就推举我当这个纠察小队的队长。那天晚上，我们的任务只有一个：堵住军车，不让军队进城。就在这个晚上，因为我在堵军车中表现积极，又懂部队的组织和联络，指挥部秘书处把我从纠察队调进了秘书处。当时秘书处一共征调了二十多人，我是其中之一，被任命为联络秘书和安保组长。

5月20日，戒严令正式下来了。大批军队开始向北京城开进，这是动真格的了。我们的纠察队日夜守在各个路口和要道上，一有军队推进的消息，马上报告指挥部，马上劝阻、堵截。北京的市民也自发顶上来——男女老幼全上街了，帮我们堵军车、送水送饭、通风报信。那几天，要没有北京市民，我们这些学生和纠察队根本撑不下来。

5月21日上午，我与几个秘书处的同学跟随王醒来到天安门广场东侧中国历史博物馆前的外高联指挥部，王醒代表外高联组建成立了外高联纠察总队。当时成千上万的纠察队员列队，王醒宣布和任命纠察总队的正、副总队长，以及部分大队队长。我对"总队"是有亲身感受的，我在秘书处任安保组长，工作之一就是协同外高联纠察总队，联系协调各路纠察队伍。广场上、主要交通要道路口上，成千上万支纠察队和广大队员，没有统一的指挥和联络，就是一盘散沙。组建外高联纠察总队，就是要把这些抗议学生、民众队伍真正组织起来——有建制、有指挥、有联络。外高联组织机构当中，赵昕任纠察总队总队长。我在做联络安保工作时，就是和总队这边经常对接的：前线的消息报上来，指挥部的部署传下去，靠的就是这条线。

戒严令下，几千支纠察队伍能守住路口、堵住军车，靠的正是这样的组织。所以我在读到《外高联与八九中国民运》第五章时，我是有深切同感的：外高联纠察总队不是纸面上的机构，是那几天真实运转起来的巨大力量。

戒严最初的19日、20日、21日、22日这几天，我在秘书处的工作就是三块：一是联络——主要是纠察总队及前线各路纠察队和指挥部之间的联系，把前线的消息报上来，把指挥部的部署传下去，还有跑一些主要交通要道口了解、侦查军队情况，以及我们的纠察队状况；二是安保——保卫学生、维持广场秩序，保障指挥部的安全；三是与秘书处其他同仁一起，配合外高联外联部及负责人刘同学，以及秘书长赵常青开展外联协助工作。

那是我在八九民运期间最紧张、也最难忘的日子。白天黑夜连轴转，困了就在指挥部和纠察队驻点打个盹，饿了就吃市民送来的食物。但我心里是亮堂的：我们堵的不只是军队、军车，我们堵的是开向学生和人民的枪口。我们这些纠察队员和北京市民，用血肉之躯挡在军队前面，保卫的是天安门广场上争取民主的学生和民众。

指挥部在戒严面前没有乱，一边组织反戒严，一边把指挥部组织的事一件件落定。这就是那几天的真实情形。是戒严那几天我的亲身经历。我只写我亲历的，记不清的我不写、不编。

外高联印鉴／天安门广场临时指挥部印鉴

北京戒严初期，天安门广场临时指挥部刻制了组织印鉴——「祖国万岁」，这就是临时指挥部的公章。印鉴由王醒秘书长负责保管，使用要联合签批：郑旭光、连胜德、王醒三人中，须有两人签批才能用印。外高联的组织印鉴刻制的是——「人民万岁」，也是由王醒副总指挥兼秘书长亲自保管，与总指挥连胜德两人签批使用。我当时是秘书处负责文书与安全的一员，为了各处纠察队负责人往来指挥部，曾多次申请使用过「祖国万岁」印鉴进行“通行证”盖章。我对这两枚组织印鉴的分量是有深切体会的。指挥部的公章，就是指挥部的资格与管理权。戒严的节骨眼上，广场上人杂、各级组织多，没有一枚认得出的公章、没有严格的用印规矩，指挥部的号令就很难畅通和立起来。

5月23日凌晨到24日上午：北高联临时回学校休整，协议原绝食团负责人柴玲接替广场临时指挥部总指挥，授权48小时。5月24日，广场上的局面变了，北高联没有如期返回天安门广场继续与外高联行使管理天安门广场临时指挥部，天安门广场临时指挥部被柴玲等人改为：保卫天安门广场指挥部，管理机制随着也发生变化，打乱了原来的机制和部署。连胜德、王醒当机立断，带领我们秘书处的人撤了出来，回到了外高联指挥部继续工作——我就在队伍里，跟着来到外高联指挥部，一步没有落下。24日当天晚上，我和几个秘书处的同学跟随连胜德、王醒参加了在纪念碑二层高校代表会议，王醒用手持大喇叭向大家宣布了次日傍晚在外高联指挥部，召开外地高校学生组织负责人大会的通知。

第三部分：外高联改组与整合——外地高校学生自治联合会

5月25日外高联改组是外高联历史上关键大事件，我作为秘书处成员参与了全过程。

25日下午傍晚，外地高校200多个代表早早地都到了外高联指挥部驻地等待开会。此时的外高联，副总指挥只剩下王醒一人坚守。王醒主导和安排部署了本次外高联扩大改组会议，向与会的同学代表表示，外高联组织不但要在北京发展，还要协调组织全国学生运动，发展到全国，组织必须按照民主原则，进行扩大和健全组织。王醒还对我们秘书处和组织部提出积极组织和配合本次大会完成改组扩大任务。按照会议部署要求，每个省的高校选举出常委，各大区再选出执委，这些人增补加入到外高联。外高联原有的总指挥、副总指挥是执委，各部门主要负责人是常委。同时，组织的名称从"外地赴京高校学生临时指挥中心"正式改为"外地高校学生自治联合会"。从那一天起，一直到六四以后，都是这个组织、这个名称。

外高联改组扩大后的主要核心成员是：连胜德任主席，王醒任副主席兼秘书长，增加执委和常委三十多人，并对外高联指挥部各职能部门补充了负责人。人事上还有一点变动：前期外高联常务副总指挥葛刚于5月23日被其父亲带回天津。本次外高联改组以后，主要起作用的是连胜德和王醒。本次改组会议后，原来大家习惯叫总指挥、副总指挥，改组以后，我们大多时候就都改叫主席、副主席了。那天大会的结尾连胜德才赶回指挥部，并形成最后改组扩大决定——本来要等他到了再开会，结果他迟迟没到，外地高校学生组织代表来了几百人，不推动不行了，是王醒主持、主导把会开下来，完成扩大改组工作的。

作为秘书处负责文书与安全的主要成员，我亲身参与和亲眼见证了这次改组的全过程。改组中也出了不和谐的事。在分别进行省份常委选举会场，有些高校学生代表选举常委时，秘书处安排的会议联络员哈斯2人从中操作，把自己选成了常委，过了两天还号称自己是总指挥、副总指挥。有那么几天，组织里是很不和谐的。这就为5月31日的外高联整合会议埋下了伏笔。

外高联整合 / 撤出决定 / 交接安排

5月31日外高联整合会议

5月31日的外高联整合会议及过程，我亲身参加、亲眼见证。

事情要从5月25日改组扩大说起。个别省份选举高校常委时有人从中操作，把自己选成了常委，过了两天还号称自己是总指挥、副总指挥。组织里一下子冒出了"两个总指挥"，有那么两天是很不和谐的。

在外有大军压境，内有分裂危机的关头，连胜德、王醒决定于5月31日组织召开了外高联整合会议，王醒主持了本次整合行动，对号称分裂外高联的行为进行了整顿和整合，恢复了外高联正常的组织管理。我当时就在场，作为秘书处负责文书与安全的主要成员，我亲眼见证了这场整顿的全过程。

很多人不知道这段历史。《外高联与八九中国民运》书中第八节把来龙去脉写得很清楚：这是一次历史上非常关键的组织整顿整合行动。正是这次整顿，保住了刚刚改组为全国性组织的外地高校学生自治联合会的统一，为之后几天的坚持斗争稳住了阵脚。

6月1日：交接与撤出

1989年6月1日中午左右，外高联决定并发布宣告胜利撤出天安门广场，走向全国开展校园民主和全国民主运动——但遗憾的是没有全部撤完。连胜德遂即辞职，不再担任外高联主席（总指挥），副主席王醒代理主席（代理总指挥）兼秘书长。

我和指挥部的一些负责大多数同学当时都在场，亲眼见证了这一交接。连胜德把担子交到了王醒肩上，而我作为秘书处文书与安全负责人，继续留在王醒同学身边。那一刻我们都知道，广场上的日子不多了，但组织还在，斗争还要继续。

第四部分：六四惨案与医院调查取证（6月3—8日）与被捕

从6月初起，我与连胜德、王醒和秘书处的一些主要成员同学完完整整地在一起，基本上没有分开过，是作为外高联核心组织在开展工作。白天一起外出——发传单和联络救护同学、去医院调查取证；晚上一起住到杨燕家。一起吃饭，一起睡觉，一起外出。他干了什么，我基本上就配合干了什么。这个时候已经没有秘书的工作了，我们就是几个人组成的外高联指挥部。

6月3、4、5、6、7这几天，我们在北京参加抗争，并参与医院调查取证。白天，我们上街发传单，告诉北京市民和外地省份同胞六四惨案真相；我们去医院，看望受伤的学生和市民，调查取证——把镇压的罪证记录下来。我们去了，我们看了，我们记了。

我要在这里写下最真实、最感人的一笔：最最可爱的北京人民，北京的市民，是我们的救命恩人。否则，我们有可能在天安门广场就失去了生命。没有他们堵军车、掩护我们、救助伤员，我们就不可能活下来。

三十七年过去，很多具体细节我已记不清，记不清的我不写、不编；但"这几天我们是在一起的"，这是确定的。书中记载王醒他们那几天做了什么，我当时就在他们身边，一步没有分开——这就是我的见证，我只诉说事实。

被捕（6月8—9日）

连胜德、王醒、刘传兵同学和我，我们一行四人是6月8号去的天津民航学院，就是连胜德的所在大学。6月8号下午，我们从北京出发，当天晚上10点左右，到达天津民航学院。6月9日凌晨4、5点钟，大学招待所房间的门被敲开，我被警察抓捕控制了。

这里有一段背景：我们原定是要到中国南方继续坚持抗争的，也有香港支联会的人士指引赴香港的动议。因为连胜德的父亲到达了天津民航学院，连胜德决定回去见父亲，先交代安排一下。我们临时改道天津，从而在天津被抓。和我一起被抓的，有王醒、秘书处的刘姓同学；连胜德也是同期被抓。我们被关在同一拘留所，我和王醒、刘姓同学关在拘留所同一牢房。6月15日，我们被押上车，运往北京，我们被送到了秦城监狱。

第五部分：秦城监狱

在秦城监狱的高墙里，我与外高联的同事刘志国、陈培军始终都在一个牢房，互相照应，互相打气。当年在秦城的这批人——王醒、董翔、刘松强、王晨阳、曹思源、段洪银、郭海峰，还有陈培军、刘志国和我，这个名单我是完全可以确定的。我被关押在秦城监狱8号牢房我是确定的：有我、刘志国、陈培军、郭海峰等、董翔、刘松强、王晨阳、曹思源、段洪银等人。至于其他牢房具体谁在哪个牢房，我现在记不住了，不能确认，也不能补充，待与书中记载、狱友说法交叉核对。我只写我确定的：在秦城，我们在一起。

在秦城监狱，董翔是北京一个歌剧院的演员，他经常为我们讲述八九六四惨案发生后，他参与护送吾尔开希离开北京的惊险的细节，以及精彩的社会生活故事，还为我们畅想、描述未来自由的天空。特别是让我记忆深刻的是，通过董翔的传授，我们牢房的人都学会了“敲墙密码方法”来与左右牢房和上楼牢房进行秘密联系，这给我们的监狱折磨岁月带来惊喜和巨大的精神鼓舞。曹思源带着我和刘松强、陈培均、刘志国等三四个人一起学太极，段宏寅的那本政治学书，我拿来看，董翔说那本书枯燥无味，我却一天到晚拿着看、学习，感觉有滋有味。我跟陈培均一起娱乐、斗鸡，互相打气。后来曹思源赠送我一本他签名的《破产法》。多年以后，曹思源去世的时候，我很悲痛，还为他写过一首诗，怀念他、纪念他。

第六部分：出狱以后

1990年1月，我从秦城监狱释放出狱，又被北京市公安局拘留了两天，随后由二哥把我带回老家。秦城的高墙结束了，我的磨难并没有结束。三十多年来，因为参加了1989年民主运动，我持续被打压、持续被打击，精神和身体都受到双重打击，在工作、生活、做生意的方方面面，一直受到歧视和打压。

最先落到我头上的，是开除党籍。1990年底，江苏淮安老家城南乡政府把电影院当作大礼堂开会，全乡一千五百到三千人参加的大会，我本人参加了，会上公开批判我，说我“思想不正”，要求改造。1991年5、6月间，我在广东工作时，家里人通知我，我已经被开除党籍了。这件事至今没有给我任何书面决定，唯一能证明结果的书证，是退伍军人登记表上“党员（开除）”的标注。我老家原登记地址是江苏省清江市清浦区城南乡新庄村八组，现为江苏省淮安市清江浦区城南乡关城村十七组，拆迁后为现地址。

出狱以后，我当地无法找到工作，只能到外面谋生。1991年，我在广东东莞虎门镇的雅里宫酒店做采购和后勤部长，拿管理层最低的工资，任劳任怨。后来我在广州做生意，勉强立足过一段时间，那几年相对宽松一些，但八九六四份子的标签始终没有摘掉，找工作、办手续、办社保，处处都比别人难。

1998年，广州国安的人找我，要我当线人，打探身在美国的连胜德和自由中国运动的情况，我拒绝了。我没有出卖战友，也没有拿这个换前程。从那以后，我受到的打压一直没有断。

2006年底开始，我参加家庭基督教聚会，持续了约七个月，牧师是韩国人，后来被当地公安以“非法聚会”驱散。

到了习近平执政以后，打压又明显加重了，我再次成了打击的目标。我在广州的生意被关停，五家公司的营业执照被一次性注销；退伍军人补缴社保问题，广州和老家都以农村户口为由拒绝了我；老家两次拆迁抗争，第一次是2003年，我在广州远程参与，没有被打，第二次是2022年底到2023年初，我回老家交涉时被打伤；2025年，我向广州市公安局从化分局申请游行示威，被驳回，白云区分局的多次申请也没有登记表，5月30日又收到不予批准通知。

在这里我只写要点，不展开三十多年的全部经过，因为第六部分不是回忆录，是出狱后的主要迫害经历。

《外高联与八九中国民运》这本书，是我找回答案的地方。我的身体被中共专政机关打坏了，1989年那段时间很多细节我记不清，记不清的我不写、不编。但是书里写清楚了，我回忆起来啦：我是秘书处“文秘与安保”的一员，6月3日起我们几个人完完整整地在一起，6月8日到天津，6月9日凌晨被抓，6月15日同车押送秦城。王醒同学也亲口确认了这些，录音带里还有我自己说话的声音。我才敢写：这不是凭空回忆，这是见证。

八九民运这场运动给我带来的，不只是苦难，也是一种人生修行和提升。当年我走上北京天安门广场请愿示威，堵截戒严军队，是因为受到广大的大学生的爱国争民主，和为人民进行抗争，同时，我自己受了体制歧视和不公正，心里不服；三十多年被迫害下来，我才明白，那不只是我一个人的委屈和苦难，只要这个独裁体制不改变，老百姓、退伍军人，谁都逃不过被压迫和任人宰割的命运。我没有因为被关押、开除、被关停企业、被打伤就低头服软，也没有因为国安招募就出卖战友。今天，我在自由的土地上重新归队，把这段亲历如实写下来，对得起当年倒下的学生和市民，对得起北京市民的救命之恩，也对得起自己的良心。这就是我写下这篇八九民运亲身经历和见证的原因，也是我后半生要为之努力的方向。

1989年之后，我与王醒、连胜德实质失联了三十多年，多年以来互相不知道下落。2000年左右我通过互联网了解到连胜德去了美国。2010年左右我通过互联网看到王醒的有关金融行业会议方面信息，曾去北京联络过，很遗憾当时王醒出差没在北京，没有能够见到，再之后几年大约2019年听闻王醒遭受中共再次迫害入狱了。

2026年6月初，我在中国大陆通过翻墙软件在外网看到王醒的《外高联与八九中国民运》新书发布会暨八九中国民运三十七周年纪念研讨会召开的新闻。2026年6月17日，我在广州时给“外高联同学会”及王醒写了电子邮件，6月18日王醒回信相认，称我"正宝兄弟"。2026年9月30日，我到纽约后经自由中国运动的公开邮箱转交致信连胜德，10月1日他回信："我们共同经历的1989……老战友……你的永远的战友和狱友，胜德"。

结语

三十七年过去，我从当年八九民运组织秘书处的小贾，变成了今天在纽约重新归队的老兵。历史没有忘记外高联，王醒同学的这部八九历史专著书籍为我们作证；我的这篇八九历史回忆与见证，为我自己作证，为八九历史证明。

我的八九民运亲身经历，我的亲身见证。我记得我与八九同学们在一起，我记得北京市民救了我们的命，我记得那些倒下的和勇往直前的学生和市民。我不敢忘，也绝不能忘。

还有一件事要记下：八九民运期间，按照指挥部指示和要求，秘书处成员使用多部录音机录制了大量会议等录音资料，其中我负责录制了的四盘会议录音带，当年存放在北京八九同道中人的家中，在上世纪90年代初的几年，是连胜德出狱后到北京友人家中取出并带到美国的。录音带里不但有开会的声音，也有我自己说话的声音，这是我亲身在场的证明。

我们八九这代人追求的，是一个没有专制、没有迫害，自由民主的中国：平反八九六四，还历史以真相；结束中共专制统治，实行三权分立，宪政民主；新闻自由，言论自由；台湾的前途由台湾人民自己决定；香港重获自由；中国走向联邦制；新疆、西藏不再有残害；老百姓的生命不再如草芥。这就是我写下这些文字的原因，也是我后半生要为之努力的方向。

最后，我要感谢北京市民——是你们在八九六四救了我们，你们是我们的救命恩人，没有你们，就没有我们的今天。我更要感谢连胜德同学和王醒同学当年临危受命、担当大任、赴汤蹈火、前仆后继。感谢王醒同学，把这段关乎成千上百万、甚至几亿人历史命运的壮阔历史，写成了一部完整的生命交响曲——《外高联与八九中国民运》，这是现实中的一部重要著作，为我们这一代人、为外高联、为八九民运立下了不朽的见证。我能做的，就是把我亲历的这一段如实写下来，对得起他们，对得起历史，对得起自己的良心。这就是我写下这篇八九民运经历与见证时，心里最想说的话。

勿忘铭记，承继八九民运精神。

The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement — My Personal Experience and Testimony

19 September 2026

Part One: Introduction

Thirty-seven years after the great, momentous democracy movement of 1989, fate finally brought me to the free soil of New York, in the United States, on 11 September 2026, after I had spent much of my life enduring persecution, suffering in silence, and confronting countless hardships and dangers.

Since coming abroad, nothing has moved or comforted me more deeply than formally joining the Waigaolian Alumni Association. Here I met my old comrade Wang Xing, the association’s president — the same man who, as Waigaolian’s vice-chairman (deputy commander-in-chief) and secretary-general, had fought closely alongside me, sharing mortal danger and shouldering heavy burdens. When I, a former member of the Secretariat, ‘rejoined the ranks’ after thirty-seven years of upheaval, we were overwhelmed by the feeling that we had lived through more than one lifetime. In particular, Wang Xing’s documentary history, The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement, written and published on Waigaolian’s behalf as its first history told from the organisation’s perspective, has deeply moved me and many fellow participants in the 1989 movement and struck a powerful chord. Wang Xing gave me a personally signed copy of this substantial work, which carries the spirits, blood and tears of countless participants, and urged me earnestly: ‘This is the history we share as Waigaolian students and as the generation of 1989. Remember it always, and carry forward the spirit of the 1989 democracy movement and the history of Waigaolian.’

Opening this documentary history brought back vivid memories of those bright, gifted young students in the prime of their lives, and of the many outstanding people and ordinary citizens from every walk of life who risked everything for freedom, democracy and progress. I remembered the students and citizens who bravely resisted the Chinese Communist Party’s massacre on 4 June, and the torture, coerced confessions, and struggles of courage and wits behind prison walls. Memories brutally severed by those walls and bars came flooding back.

In 1989, I was not a university student sheltered in an ivory tower. I was a plumber and electrician recently demobilised from the airfield barracks section of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s 14th Aviation Division. In a force entrusted with defending the skies, I had received rigorous military training and acquired solid professional skills in barracks plumbing and electrical work. I was filled with patriotic commitment and a serviceman’s sense of honour. Yet when I returned to civilian life, at an age when I should have been full of confidence, what awaited me was the oppressive hand of the system and cruel discrimination. I had been formally notified that I would be assigned a job at a local branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Jiangsu Province. But after I had worked there for more than a month, full of hope, local officials handed me a contract that trampled on my dignity as a former serviceman: I was to receive only the humiliating status of a ‘temporary worker’. Under a bureaucracy in which advancement required gifts, personal connections mattered, and corruption was rampant, I, a capable and ambitious veteran with valuable skills, had to endure such unjust and ruthless exploitation simply because I had no influential connections and would not join in corrupt practices. The gulf between my expectations and reality, and the discrimination built into the system, caused me profound distress and prompted a clear-eyed examination of the nature of our society.

In mid-to-late April 1989, while I was travelling to Shandong on business with my older male cousin, the student democracy movement that would astonish the world erupted in Beijing. From then on, I followed it constantly. By mid-May, when I heard that students and citizens in Tiananmen Square were staging mass marches and demonstrations, calling for ‘integrity and opposition to corruption, punishment of corrupt officials, and progress for the country’, and undertaking a hunger strike, and that students and citizens across China were organising delegations to Beijing to support their petition, it struck me to the core as a former serviceman. This was far more than a student march or petition. It confronted the fundamental ills of Chinese society and spoke directly to the bureaucratic persecution and injustice I had experienced in civilian life as an ordinary citizen and demobilised airman. At that moment, my personal grievances became inseparable from the fate of the country. I realised profoundly that unless the country’s bureaucratic system changed and corruption was eradicated, ordinary people and servicemen who had shed blood and devoted themselves to their country would remain at the mercy of others. Driven by this powerful sense of social justice and determination to resist injustice, I unhesitatingly joined a delegation of university students from Jiangsu travelling to Beijing in solidarity, and threw myself into the movement in support of democracy.

The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement records my experiences and the main events in which I took part during the movement. It describes my responsibilities in several places: ‘Jia Zhengbao: secretarial work and security (from Huaiyin City, Jiangsu)’ (p. 61); ‘Xiao Jia from the Secretariat, who had been sent to find Commander-in-Chief Lian Shengde’ (p. 75); ‘Jia Zhengbao: documentation and security (from Huaiyin City, Jiangsu)’ (p. 133); and ‘Jia Zhengbao: a principal member of the Secretariat (from Jiangsu)’ (p. 263, the list of those held in Qincheng Prison). These variations reflect two phases of the movement and two successive command structures: first, the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters established on 19 May and Waigaolian’s early organisational structure; second, the command structure following Waigaolian’s reorganisation. These descriptions reflect my actual experiences at different stages of the 1989 democracy movement. I quote the book’s wording without exaggerating my role.

Part Two: My Experience in the Waigaolian Command Centre and the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters

Around 17 May 1989, I arrived in Tiananmen Square with the delegation of university students from Jiangsu and immediately joined the students and citizens marching and demonstrating. At about 9 p.m. on 19 May, the students announced the end of their hunger strike. Reports were circulating throughout the square that the Chinese Communist Party government was about to impose military control over Tiananmen Square. The Provisional Headquarters was organising students and citizens into steward teams to stop troops entering the city. I did not retreat in fear of the impending military control. Without hesitation, I joined a team about to leave for Beijing Railway Station, a major transport hub. Drawing on the security skills I had learned in the Air Force and my passionate commitment, I stood on the front line of blocking the troops and protecting the students, and was chosen to lead a steward squad. Before setting out, the leaders of several teams, including me, went to the square’s headquarters, where we met Lian Shengde, who encouraged and briefed us. After 10 p.m. that night, when I returned to report on the situation at the front line, I attended an on-site meeting chaired by Wang Xing, secretary-general of the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters, to establish liaison and coordination between the Headquarters Secretariat and the steward teams. To coordinate communications and deployments between the front-line teams blocking the troops and headquarters, I was assigned to the Secretariat as one of its more than twenty members and appointed liaison secretary and security team leader. Subsequently, I also worked with Waigaolian’s General Steward Corps to coordinate several thousand steward teams. At that time, Wang Xing headed the Secretariat as secretary-general of the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters; Zheng Xuguang was commander-in-chief and Lian Shengde deputy commander-in-chief. It was during this period that I learned that the Secretariat also served as Waigaolian’s Secretariat, with Lian Shengde as Waigaolian commander-in-chief and Wang Xing as deputy commander-in-chief and secretary-general. Looking back at that moment in 1989 — at those open-hearted, fearless university students prepared to face danger while petitioning for democracy, freedom and the people, and at the citizens who selflessly stood together against a common threat — I dare not forget. I must never forget.

For a long time, accounts of the 1989 democracy movement in China and abroad have suffered from a blind spot: the elevation of a ‘Beijing student inner circle’ to celebrity status, with attention often concentrated on a few local leaders. Yet Waigaolian — representing hundreds of universities outside Beijing, the millions of students who travelled to the capital in solidarity, and a broad core of student organisation across the country — was for many years unfairly marginalised in historical writing. By placing the organisation’s history at the centre of his account, and drawing on painstakingly researched sources and an objective account of its development, Wang Xing has restored Waigaolian and the 1989 democracy movement to their rightful historical context, corrected the record, and created an enduring monument to the lives and sacrifices of the movement.

Much of the detailed history of 19–24 May in Chapter Two of The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement concerns events I experienced personally. In the early hours and morning of 19 May, on the steps of the Museum of Chinese History on the east side of Tiananmen Square and around the Monument to the People’s Heroes, I joined countless university students and citizens from all walks of life in hearing about and witnessing the establishment of Waigaolian and the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters. Waigaolian was initiated jointly by representatives of students from hundreds of universities across China who had come to Beijing, under the leadership of Lian Shengde of the Civil Aviation Institute of China in Tianjin and other students. Soon afterwards, that same morning, the student movement’s broadcasting station at the monument announced that Waigaolian and the Beijing Students’ Autonomous Federation, or Beigaolian, had jointly established the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters. The formal establishment of these two bodies was among the most important milestones of the 1989 democracy movement.

Experiencing Martial Law and the Resistance to It

On the night of 19 May, I was assigned to the Secretariat of the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters, which also served as Waigaolian’s Secretariat. That night I met Lian Shengde, Wang Xing, Zheng Xuguang and others. Before that, I had joined a steward team under the Provisional Headquarters and been chosen as a squad leader. Because I understood military affairs and was coordinating liaison with steward teams and efforts to block military vehicles, I was then transferred to the Secretariat. More than twenty people were recruited at that time; I was one of them, appointed liaison secretary and security team leader. As liaison secretary, I coordinated communications and deployments between the front-line steward teams and headquarters. As security team leader, I used the skills I had learned in the Air Force to protect students and maintain order, and worked with Waigaolian’s General Steward Corps to coordinate the teams. Blocking military vehicles, protecting students and keeping headquarters safe were my daily tasks.

From the evening of 19 May into the night, reports spread throughout Tiananmen Square that the Chinese Communist Party government was about to impose martial law in Beijing and that troops were coming into the city. The atmosphere suddenly grew tense. The Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters immediately organised students and citizens into steward teams and sent them to intersections to block military vehicles and troops from entering. We could not allow the army into the city to suppress the patriotic student movement. I unhesitatingly joined a team that was about to depart. As a former airman who understood security and organisation, I was chosen by the others to lead the squad. That night, we had only one task: stop the military vehicles and keep the troops out of the city. Because I took an active part in blocking those vehicles and understood military organisation and communications, the Headquarters Secretariat transferred me from the steward team to the Secretariat that same night. More than twenty people were recruited; I was one of them, appointed liaison secretary and security team leader.

On 20 May, the martial law order was formally issued. Large numbers of troops began advancing into Beijing; this was now a very real threat. Our steward teams guarded intersections and major roads around the clock. Whenever news came of troops advancing, we immediately reported it to headquarters and tried to persuade them to stop or block their passage. Beijing residents also stepped forward of their own accord: men and women, young and old, came onto the streets to help block military vehicles, bring us food and water, and pass on information. Without the people of Beijing, we students and stewards could never have held out during those days.

On the morning of 21 May, several Secretariat members and I accompanied Wang Xing to Waigaolian’s headquarters in front of the Museum of Chinese History on the east side of Tiananmen Square. Acting on behalf of Waigaolian, Wang Xing established the General Steward Corps. Thousands upon thousands of stewards stood in formation as he announced and appointed its commander and deputy commander, as well as some of its unit commanders. The ‘General Corps’ was something I experienced directly. As the Secretariat’s security team leader, part of my job was to work with it to maintain contact and coordinate the various steward teams. Without unified command and communications, the vast numbers of teams and their members in the square and at major road junctions would have remained scattered and uncoordinated. The purpose of the General Steward Corps was to organise these protesting students and citizens into a functioning structure, with units, command and communications. Within Waigaolian’s organisation, Zhao Xin served as commander of the General Steward Corps. My liaison and security work brought me into frequent contact with the corps: information from the front line came up through this channel, and headquarters’ instructions went back down through it.

It was precisely this organisation that enabled several thousand steward teams to hold intersections and block military vehicles under martial law. That is why Chapter Five of The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement resonates so deeply with me. Waigaolian’s General Steward Corps was no organisation that existed merely on paper: it was a tremendous force that was actually operating during those days.

During those first days surrounding the imposition of martial law — 19, 20, 21 and 22 May — my work in the Secretariat had three main aspects. First was liaison, principally between the General Steward Corps, the various front-line teams and headquarters: passing up reports from the front line and passing down instructions, as well as visiting major road junctions to observe and investigate the situation of the troops and our steward teams. Second was security: protecting students, maintaining order in the square and keeping headquarters safe. Third, together with my Secretariat colleagues, I assisted Waigaolian’s External Liaison Department and its head, a fellow participant surnamed Liu, as well as Secretary-General Zhao Changqing, with external liaison work.

Those were the most intense and unforgettable days of my involvement in the 1989 democracy movement. We worked day and night without pause, catching a little sleep at headquarters or at the steward teams’ posts when we were exhausted, and eating food brought by residents when we were hungry. Yet my purpose was clear: we were blocking more than troops and military vehicles; we were blocking gun barrels aimed at students and the people. We stewards and the citizens of Beijing placed our own bodies in the army’s path to protect the students and citizens in Tiananmen Square who were striving for democracy.

The Headquarters did not descend into confusion in the face of martial law. While organising resistance to it, we also put the Headquarters’ own organisational arrangements in place, one by one. That was the reality of those days, and my personal experience during martial law. I write only about what I experienced. Where I cannot remember, I neither write nor invent.

The Seals of Waigaolian and the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters

In the early days of martial law in Beijing, the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters had an official organisational seal made bearing the words ‘Long Live the Motherland’. Secretary-General Wang Xing kept the seal, and its use required joint authorisation: two of Zheng Xuguang, Lian Shengde and Wang Xing had to approve before it could be used. Waigaolian’s organisational seal bore the words ‘Long Live the People’. It too was personally kept by Wang Xing, in his capacity as deputy commander-in-chief and secretary-general, and its use required his approval together with that of Commander-in-Chief Lian Shengde. As a Secretariat member responsible for documentation and security, I applied on several occasions to use the ‘Long Live the Motherland’ seal to stamp passes for leaders of the various steward teams travelling to and from headquarters. I understood deeply the weight these two seals carried. The official seal embodied the Headquarters’ standing and administrative authority. At that critical moment under martial law, with so many people in the square and so many organisations at different levels, it would have been difficult to establish the Headquarters’ authority and ensure that its orders were carried out without a recognisable official seal and strict rules governing its use.

From the early hours of 23 May to the morning of 24 May, Beigaolian temporarily returned to the universities to rest and regroup. By agreement, Chai Ling, who had led the hunger-strike group, took over as commander-in-chief of the Provisional Headquarters for an authorised period of forty-eight hours. On 24 May, the situation in the square changed. Beigaolian did not return as scheduled to continue jointly administering the Tiananmen Square Provisional Headquarters with Waigaolian. Chai Ling and others changed its name to the Headquarters for the Defence of Tiananmen Square, and its management arrangements changed as well, disrupting the previous system and deployments. Lian Shengde and Wang Xing acted decisively, leading us Secretariat members out and back to Waigaolian’s headquarters to continue our work. I was among them and followed them there without missing a step. That evening, several Secretariat members and I accompanied Lian Shengde and Wang Xing to a meeting of university representatives on the monument’s second tier. Using a handheld loudhailer, Wang Xing announced that a meeting of leaders of student organisations from universities outside Beijing would be held at Waigaolian’s headquarters the following evening.

Part Three: Waigaolian’s Reorganisation and Consolidation — the Autonomous Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing

Waigaolian’s reorganisation on 25 May was a pivotal event in its history. As a member of the Secretariat, I took part in the entire process.

By late afternoon and early evening on 25 May, more than two hundred representatives from universities outside Beijing had arrived early at Waigaolian’s headquarters to await the meeting. By then, Wang Xing was the only deputy commander-in-chief still holding his post. He led, planned and organised this meeting to expand and reorganise Waigaolian. He told the student representatives that Waigaolian should develop beyond Beijing, coordinating and organising the student movement throughout the country, and that its structure must therefore be expanded and strengthened in accordance with democratic principles. He also called on the Secretariat and Organisation Department to take an active role in helping the meeting accomplish that task. Under the arrangements for the meeting, universities from each province elected standing committee members, and each major region then elected executive committee members, who were added to Waigaolian’s leadership. Its existing commander-in-chief and deputy commanders-in-chief served as executive committee members, while the principal heads of departments served as standing committee members. At the same time, the organisation’s name was formally changed from the ‘Provisional Command Centre for Students from Universities Outside Beijing Who Had Come to the Capital’ to the ‘Autonomous Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing’. From that day through the period after 4 June, this remained the organisation and its name.

Following its expansion and reorganisation, Waigaolian’s principal leaders were Lian Shengde as chairman and Wang Xing as vice-chairman and secretary-general. More than thirty executive and standing committee members were added, and additional heads were appointed to the various functional departments of Waigaolian’s headquarters. There was another personnel change: Ge Gang, Waigaolian’s executive deputy commander-in-chief in its early phase, had been taken back to Tianjin by his father on 23 May. After the reorganisation, Lian Shengde and Wang Xing played the leading roles. Before the meeting, we had been accustomed to saying ‘commander-in-chief’ and ‘deputy commander-in-chief’; afterwards, we generally used ‘chairman’ and ‘vice-chairman’. Lian Shengde returned to headquarters only near the end of that day’s meeting, when the final decision on expansion and reorganisation was reached. We had originally intended to wait for him before beginning, but he was delayed. With hundreds of representatives of student organisations from universities outside Beijing already present, the meeting had to go ahead. It was Wang Xing who chaired and led it and completed the work of expansion and reorganisation.

As a principal Secretariat member responsible for documentation and security, I personally participated in and witnessed the entire reorganisation. It was not without discord. At meetings to elect provincial standing committee members, two people, including Has, whom the Secretariat had assigned as meeting liaison officers, manipulated the elections among some university representatives to secure their own election to the standing committee. Two days later, they were even calling themselves commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief. For several days, there was considerable discord within the organisation. This set the stage for Waigaolian’s consolidation meeting on 31 May.

Waigaolian’s Consolidation / The Decision to Withdraw / Handover Arrangements

The Waigaolian Consolidation Meeting of 31 May

I personally attended and witnessed Waigaolian’s consolidation meeting on 31 May and the process surrounding it.

The story begins with the expansion and reorganisation of 25 May. During elections for university representatives to the standing committee in certain provinces, some people manipulated the process to get themselves elected. Two days later, they were calling themselves commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief. Suddenly, there were ‘two commanders-in-chief’ within the organisation, and for a couple of days relations were very strained.

With large military forces threatening from outside and a crisis of division within, Lian Shengde and Wang Xing decided to convene a Waigaolian consolidation meeting on 31 May. Wang Xing chaired the operation to rectify and consolidate the organisation in response to conduct that threatened to split it, restoring normal organisational management. I was there as a principal Secretariat member responsible for documentation and security, and witnessed the entire process.

Many people do not know this part of the history. Section Eight of The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement clearly explains what happened and why. This was an organisational rectification and consolidation of critical historical importance. It preserved the unity of the Autonomous Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing, which had just been reorganised as a nationwide body, and stabilised it for the struggle that continued over the following days.

1 June: Handover and Withdrawal

At around noon on 1 June 1989, Waigaolian decided and publicly announced that it would withdraw victoriously from Tiananmen Square and take the movement nationwide, promoting campus democracy and a national democracy movement. Regrettably, the withdrawal was not completed in full. Lian Shengde then resigned as Waigaolian chairman (commander-in-chief), and Vice-Chairman Wang Xing became acting chairman (acting commander-in-chief) while remaining secretary-general.

Most of us, including a number of those with responsibilities at headquarters, were present and witnessed this handover. Lian Shengde placed the burden on Wang Xing’s shoulders. As the Secretariat member responsible for documentation and security, I remained at Wang Xing’s side. At that moment we all knew that our days in the square were numbered, but the organisation still existed and the struggle had to continue.

Part Four: The 4 June Massacre, Hospital Investigations and Evidence Gathering (3–8 June), and Arrest

From the beginning of June, I stayed together with Lian Shengde, Wang Xing and several principal Secretariat members virtually without interruption, working as Waigaolian’s organisational core. During the day we went out together to distribute leaflets, coordinate assistance for fellow students and investigate and gather evidence at hospitals. At night we stayed together at Yang Yan’s home. We ate together, slept in the same place and went out together. Almost whatever Wang Xing did, I assisted him with. By then there was no longer any secretarial work as such: our small group constituted Waigaolian’s headquarters.

On 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 June, we took part in resistance in Beijing and in hospital investigations and evidence gathering. During the day, we distributed leaflets in the streets to tell Beijing residents and compatriots from other provinces the truth about the 4 June massacre. We went to hospitals to visit injured students and citizens and gather evidence, recording proof of the suppression. We went there, we saw, and we made a record.

Here I must record something utterly true and deeply moving: the beloved people of Beijing, the city’s residents, saved our lives. Without them, we might have died in Tiananmen Square. Without their efforts to block military vehicles, shelter us and rescue the wounded, we could not have survived.

After thirty-seven years, I can no longer remember many specific details. What I cannot remember, I neither write nor invent. But I am certain that we were together during those days. Whatever the book records Wang Xing and the others doing then, I was beside them, never apart. This is my testimony. I speak only of the facts.

Arrest (8–9 June)

The four of us — Lian Shengde, Wang Xing, Liu Chuanbing and I — went to the Civil Aviation Institute of China in Tianjin, Lian Shengde’s university, on 8 June. We left Beijing that afternoon and arrived at the institute at around 10 p.m. At about 4 or 5 a.m. on 9 June, there was a knock at the door of our room in the university guesthouse, and the police arrested and detained me.

Some background is needed here. We had originally planned to go to southern China to continue the resistance. There was also a proposal, guided by people from the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, for us to go to Hong Kong. But Lian Shengde’s father had arrived at the Civil Aviation Institute in Tianjin, and Lian decided to return to see him and make some preliminary arrangements. We changed our route to Tianjin at short notice and were arrested there. Wang Xing and a Secretariat member surnamed Liu were arrested with me; Lian Shengde was arrested at approximately the same time. We were held in the same detention centre, where Wang Xing, the fellow participant surnamed Liu and I shared a cell. On 15 June, we were put into a vehicle and transported to Beijing, where we were taken to Qincheng Prison.

Part Five: Qincheng Prison

Behind the high walls of Qincheng Prison, my Waigaolian colleagues Liu Zhiguo and Chen Peijun and I remained in the same cell, looking after and encouraging one another. I can confirm this list of people who were in Qincheng at the time: Wang Xing, Dong Xiang, Liu Songqiang, Wang Chenyang, Cao Siyuan, Duan Hongyin, Guo Haifeng, Chen Peijun, Liu Zhiguo and myself. I am certain that I was held in Cell No. 8. Among those there were Liu Zhiguo, Chen Peijun, Guo Haifeng, Dong Xiang, Liu Songqiang, Wang Chenyang, Cao Siyuan, Duan Hongyin and me. As for exactly who was in which of the other cells, I can no longer remember, cannot confirm, and cannot add anything; that will need to be cross-checked against the book and the accounts of fellow prisoners. I write only what I know for certain: in Qincheng, we were together.

In Qincheng Prison, Dong Xiang, a performer with an opera company in Beijing, often told us the dramatic details of how he had helped escort Wuer Kaixi out of Beijing after the 4 June massacre, as well as fascinating stories of life outside. He also helped us imagine a future under free skies. What I remember particularly vividly is that, through his instruction, everyone in our cell learned a ‘wall-tapping code’ that enabled secret communication with the cells on either side and those upstairs. This brought unexpected joy and immense encouragement during our years of torment in prison. Cao Siyuan taught tai chi to a small group of us, including Liu Songqiang, Chen Peijun, Liu Zhiguo and me. I borrowed Duan Hongyin’s book on political science. Dong Xiang found it dull, but I read and studied it all day long with great interest. Chen Peijun and I entertained ourselves, played the one-legged ‘cockfighting’ game and encouraged each other. Later, Cao Siyuan gave me a signed copy of Bankruptcy Law. Many years afterwards, when he died, I was deeply saddened and wrote a poem in remembrance and tribute.

Part Six: After Prison

In January 1990, I was released from Qincheng Prison, then detained for two more days by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau before my second elder brother took me home. My time behind Qincheng’s walls had ended, but my suffering had not. For more than thirty years, because I had participated in the 1989 democracy movement, I was continually subjected to repression and mistreatment. I suffered both mentally and physically, and faced discrimination and suppression in every aspect of work, daily life and business.

The first blow was expulsion from the Communist Party. At the end of 1990, the government of Chengnan Township in my home area of Huai’an, Jiangsu, used a cinema as an assembly hall for a township-wide meeting attended by between 1,500 and 3,000 people. I was there. At the meeting I was publicly denounced for having ‘incorrect thinking’ and told that I needed to be reformed. In May or June 1991, while I was working in Guangdong, my family informed me that I had been expelled from the Party. To this day, I have never received any written decision. The only documentary evidence of the outcome is the annotation ‘Party member (expelled)’ on my demobilised serviceman’s registration form. My original registered home address was Group 8, Xinzhuang Village, Chengnan Township, Qingpu District, Qingjiang City, Jiangsu Province. Under the present administrative divisions, it is Group 17, Guancheng Village, Chengnan Township, Qingjiangpu District, Huai’an City, Jiangsu Province; following demolition and relocation, this became the current address.

After prison, I could not find work locally and had to leave to earn a living. In 1991, I worked as head of purchasing and logistics at the Yaligong Hotel in Humen Town, Dongguan, Guangdong. I received the lowest salary among the management staff and worked hard without complaint. Later, I went into business in Guangzhou and managed to establish a modest footing for a time. Those years were somewhat more relaxed, but the label of ‘1989 June Fourth participant’ never left me. Finding work, completing administrative procedures and arranging social insurance were all harder for me than for others.

In 1998, officers from state security in Guangzhou approached me and asked me to become an informant, gathering information about Lian Shengde, who was in the United States, and the Free China Movement. I refused. I did not betray my comrades or trade their trust for personal advancement. From then on, the pressure against me never ceased.

At the end of 2006, I began attending Christian house-church gatherings and continued for about seven months. The pastor was Korean. The local police later broke up the gatherings as ‘illegal assemblies’.

After Xi Jinping came to power, the repression intensified markedly and I again became a target. My businesses in Guangzhou were shut down, and the business licences of five companies were cancelled at once. Both Guangzhou and my home area rejected my efforts to make back payments into social insurance as a demobilised serviceman, citing my rural household registration. There were two struggles over demolition and relocation in my home area. In the first, in 2003, I participated remotely from Guangzhou and was not beaten. During the second, from late 2022 to early 2023, I was beaten and injured when I returned home to negotiate. In 2025, I applied to the Conghua Branch of the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau to hold a march and demonstration, but was refused. My repeated applications to the Baiyun District Branch did not even result in registration forms, and on 30 May I received another notice refusing approval.

Here I record only the main points, without recounting everything that happened over more than thirty years, because this sixth part is an account of the principal persecution I experienced after prison, rather than a full memoir.

The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement is where I found the answers again. My body has been damaged by the Chinese Communist Party’s organs of dictatorship. There are many details of that period in 1989 that I cannot remember, and what I cannot remember, I neither write nor invent. But the book sets them out clearly, and my memories returned: I was a member of the Secretariat responsible for ‘secretarial work and security’; from 3 June our small group remained together; we went to Tianjin on 8 June, were arrested in the early hours of 9 June, and were transported together to Qincheng on 15 June. Wang Xing has also personally confirmed these events, and my own voice can still be heard on the recordings. Only then did I feel able to write: this is no recollection conjured from nothing; it is testimony.

The 1989 democracy movement brought me more than suffering. It also became a lifelong process of moral growth and self-improvement. Back then, I went to Tiananmen Square to petition and demonstrate and to block the martial law troops because I was inspired by the university students’ patriotism, their struggle for democracy and their stand on behalf of the people. At the same time, I had personally suffered discrimination and injustice under the system and could not accept it. Only after more than thirty years of persecution did I understand that these were not merely my own grievances and suffering. Unless this dictatorial system changes, ordinary people and veterans alike cannot escape oppression and being left at the mercy of others. I did not bow or surrender because I was imprisoned, expelled from the Party, had my businesses closed or was beaten and injured. Nor did I betray my comrades when state security tried to recruit me. Today, on free soil, I have rejoined the ranks and set down this experience truthfully, to honour the students and citizens who fell, to repay the people of Beijing for saving our lives, and to remain true to my conscience. This is why I am writing my personal experience and testimony of the 1989 democracy movement, and it is the purpose towards which I will work for the rest of my life.

After 1989, Wang Xing, Lian Shengde and I effectively lost contact for more than thirty years. For many years, none of us knew where the others were. Around 2000, I learned through the internet that Lian Shengde had gone to the United States. Around 2010, I saw online information about Wang Xing’s participation in financial-industry conferences and went to Beijing to try to contact him. Unfortunately, he was away on business and we did not meet. Some years later, around 2019, I heard that he had again been persecuted and imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party.

In early June 2026, while in mainland China, I used software to circumvent the internet firewall and saw news on overseas websites of the launch of Wang Xing’s new book, The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement, together with a symposium commemorating the movement’s thirty-seventh anniversary. On 17 June 2026, while in Guangzhou, I emailed the Waigaolian Alumni Association and Wang Xing. On 18 June, he replied, recognising me and addressing me as ‘Brother Zhengbao’. On 30 September 2026, after arriving in New York, I wrote to Lian Shengde through the Free China Movement’s public email address. On 1 October, he replied: ‘The 1989 we experienced together … old comrade … your comrade and fellow prisoner forever, Shengde.’

Conclusion

Thirty-seven years have passed. The young ‘Xiao Jia’ of the 1989 movement’s Secretariat has become a veteran rejoining the ranks in New York. History has not forgotten Waigaolian: Wang Xing’s history of 1989 bears witness for us. My own recollections and testimony bear witness for me, and attest to the history of 1989.

This is my personal experience of the 1989 democracy movement, my own testimony. I remember being together with my fellow participants. I remember that the citizens of Beijing saved our lives. I remember the students and citizens who fell, and those who pressed forward with courage. I dare not forget, and I must never forget.

There is one more thing to record. During the 1989 democracy movement, following the Headquarters’ instructions and requirements, Secretariat members used several tape recorders to record a large amount of material, including meetings. I was responsible for recording four meeting tapes, which were kept at the home of a fellow supporter of the movement in Beijing. In the early 1990s, after his release from prison, Lian Shengde retrieved them from our Beijing friend’s home and took them to the United States. The tapes contain not only the sounds of the meetings, but my own voice as well. They are evidence that I was personally there.

What our generation of 1989 seeks is a free and democratic China without dictatorship or persecution: vindication of the 1989 June Fourth movement and restoration of historical truth; an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s dictatorial rule and the establishment of constitutional democracy with separation of powers; freedom of the press and freedom of speech; a future for Taiwan determined by the people of Taiwan themselves; renewed freedom for Hong Kong; a move towards a federal system in China; an end to atrocities in Xinjiang and Tibet; and a country where ordinary people’s lives are no longer treated as worthless. This is why I have written these words, and it is the purpose towards which I will work for the rest of my life.

Finally, I want to thank the people of Beijing. You saved us during the events of June Fourth in 1989. You are our lifesavers; without you, we would not be here today. I also owe profound thanks to Lian Shengde and Wang Xing, who accepted responsibility in a moment of crisis, shouldered immense burdens, faced mortal danger and carried the struggle forward. I thank Wang Xing for turning this sweeping history — a history bound up with the destinies of hundreds of thousands, millions, perhaps even hundreds of millions of people — into a complete symphony of life: The Federation of Students from Universities Outside Beijing and China’s 1989 Democracy Movement. This important work bears enduring witness for our generation, for Waigaolian and for the 1989 democracy movement. What I can do is truthfully record the part I experienced, to honour them, to do justice to history and to remain true to my conscience. This is what, above all, I want to say as I write this account and testimony of the 1989 democracy movement.

Remember always, and carry forward the spirit of the 1989 democracy movement.