1986 Chinese Student Demonstrations

Student demonstrations took place in a number of Chinese cities from December 1986 until mid-January 1987. The demonstrations started in the city of Hefei before spreading to other cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing. The movement was heavily influenced by the Chinese intellectuals Fang Lizhi and Wang Ruowang, who were critical of the Chinese government’s lack of political reforms. The demonstrations quickly dissipated by mid-January before achieving any of its stated goals. The lack of response from Hu Yaobang, who was General Secretary of the Communist Party of China at the time, would result in his removal from power on January 15, 1987 and his replacement by Zhao Ziyang.

The 1986 student demonstrations took place in the context of economic difficulties caused by an inflation rate of 16% which led to large increases in living costs. There was also a view that there was corruption within the government which made it difficult for people without connections to get ahead, many of these accusations of corruption targeted the children of Deng Xiaoping. During this time astrophysics professor and vice president of the University of Science and Technology of China Fang Lizhi was giving a series of lectures at universities in Shanghai and Ningbo in which he encouraged to “open in all directions” which meant that he believed that China should open up to the ideals of academic freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of the press that he associated with the West. He also stated that the rights in the Chinese constitution should be “actual rights” and not just on-paper rights. The speeches encouraged many students to use their right to demonstrate and assemble in order to protest the government. Students from around the country were able to listen to these speeches when audio recordings were spread throughout college campuses. In response to these comments Fang Lizhi was pressured to attend a conference in Anhui province where he was heavily criticized by Wan Li and other high ranking provincial officials over his earlier comments.

...
Wikipedia