Thousands of Hong Kong people hold a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park on June 4, 2017, in memory of those killed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
On Jan. 8, Xu Qinxian, the former commander of the 38th Army who refused to carry out orders from the Chinese Communist authorities to shoot during the June 4 incident in 1989, passed away in Shijiazhuang after having been under surveillance by the Chinese Communist authorities. Hong Kong media reported that the Chinese Communist Party military allowed Xu Qinxian’s children to come to Shijiazhuang to discuss the handling of his affairs.
Radio Hong Kong reported on January 9 that Xu Qinxian, an 85-year-old commander of the Chinese Communist Party’s 38th Army, died in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, on January 8. It is reported that three of Xu’s children received permission from the Chinese Communist Party military to travel to Shijiazhuang to discuss the funeral, but Xu’s former friends did not receive permission from the authorities and therefore could not be present.
In an earlier interview with the news media, Yang Xiaoming, a soldier who served on the Chinese Communist Party’s General Staff during the June 4 1989 student movement, said he spoke with Xu twice a week and also communicated with him via WeChat. Because Xu Qinxian is easy-going, his soldiers and officers adore him, and even the military police in Qincheng prison are very willing to approach him.
Yang Xiaoming revealed that he had a dinner with the former general of the Shenyang Military Region of the Communist Party of China, and one of the generals there praised Xu Qinxian for his courage to refuse to carry out the orders of the Central Military Commission.
Before his death, Xu Qinxian had difficulty in moving around due to a serious eye disease. Therefore, he was bedridden in Shijiazhuang Hospital for a long time. However, the Chinese Communist authorities have been monitoring Xu Qinxian, strictly limiting the number of visitors and prohibiting them from taking photos or videos.
Xu’s friends and former colleagues were informed of his death on the afternoon of Jan. 8.
In his book “Political Struggle in the Reform Era in China (Revised Edition),” Yang Jijian, a renowned historian and former senior journalist for Xinhua News Agency and professor at the China Institute of Journalism, wrote that during the June 4 Movement in 1989, Xu Qinxian was treated for kidney stones at the General Hospital of the Beijing Military Region (301 Hospital). On May 17, 1989, he was notified of a meeting at the Beijing Military District. Li Laizhu, then deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, announced the Central Military Commission’s order to transfer troops to martial law, and asked all army commanders to state their positions immediately. Xu Qinxian said, “I can’t carry out the verbal order, I need a written order.” Li Laizhu then asked him to call his political commissar to convey the order, and Xu Qinxian called his political commissar and said, “I conveyed it, I am not involved, this has nothing to do with me.” Then he went back to the Beijing Military General Hospital.
Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported that Xu Qinxian told a friend afterwards, “I’d rather kill my head than be a sinner in history!”
Radio France Internationale reported that after his release from prison, Xu Qinxian was retained as a deputy military officer in the Communist Party of China, and that the authorities initially arranged for him to settle in Baoding, Hebei Province, which was home to the 38th Group and had many of his subordinates, so he was relocated to Shijiazhuang to avoid unnecessary trouble.
He was imprisoned and placed under house arrest for 30 years because he refused to carry out the order of the CPC Central Military Commission to shoot him during the June 4 incident in 1989. He is now terminally ill, but is still being monitored by Beijing authorities during his critical stay in hospital.
Mao’s former secretary Li Rui once wrote a couplet to Xu Qinxian: “A proud bone and a false heart are true strength; a warm heart and cold eyes are great compassion.”
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