Deng is Still the Paramount Leader, Said Zhao
16th May, 1989 (Tue)
"In the Soviet Union, they have Gorbachev. In China, we have whom?"
At the square, the hunger strike reached its fourth day. Six hundred of the three thousand hunger strikers lost consciousness and were taken to hospitals. About sixty returned from the hospitals to the strike. An estimated several hundred thousand people were at the square protesting the government's reluctance to establish open discussions.
The enthusiasm for Gorbachev by the Chinese citizens was obvious as many prepared banners in Chines and Russians hailing him as a great reformer. One banner, carried by a student, read, "In the Soviet Union, they have Gorbachev. In China, we have whom?" When Gorbachev drove past the Great Hall of the People, a crowd of onlookers applauded him.
At about 5.40 pm, Yan Mingfu, the secretary of the CPC Secretariat, went to visit the hunger strikers and urged them to returned to schools.
At roughly the same time, Zhao Ziyang, general secretary of the Party, met with Gorbachev. He told Gorbachev that "although Deng has retired from many positions, we still need his wisdom and experience... Because of that, ever since the first plenum of the Thirteenth Party Congress, it is imperative that comrade Deng give his final words on major decisions."
The wave of student movements escalated in other cities in China. In Hong Kong a dozen students staged a hunger strike outside the XinHua News Agency.
Exhibition Pack on the Tiananmen Massacre 
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Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China