SHANGHAI QUIET ON TIANANMEN ANNIVERSARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHANGHAI 000249 STATE FOR EAP/CM, INR AND DRL NSC FOR LOI, KUCHTA-HELBLING E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/4/2034 TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON ELAB SOCI ASEC CH SUBJECT: SHANGHAI QUIET ON TIANANMEN ANNIVERSARY REF: A. (A) SHANGHAI 245 ¶B. (B) CHENGDU 99 ¶C. (C) GUANGZHOU 338 ¶D. (D) BEIJING 1467 ¶E. (E) BEIJING 1390 CLASSIFIED BY: CHRISTOPHER BEEDE, POL/ECON CHIEF, US CONSULATE SHANGHAI, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Shanghai appeared quiet on the 20th anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown. CongenOffs visiting People's Square, Pudong, and local universities observed an increased police presence in several areas, but there were few indications that the situation was anything but business as usual. Shanghai's local media was silent about June 4, and Shanghai bloggers offered few comments. There were several reports that dissidents in Shanghai and neighboring Zhejiang Province were detained prior to June 4. End Summary. Gauging Shanghai's Mood on June 4 -------------- ¶2. (C) CongenOffs visited numerous sites considered to be possible locations for disturbances on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen pro-democracy crackdown. CongenOffs focused particularly on Shanghai's People's Square (Renmin Guangchang), which previously had been identified by reform-minded contacts as the primary area of concern for security forces because it is both a gathering place and the site of official municipal government buildings, including City Hall (Ref A). They also visited Fudan and East China Normal Universities, the Bund, and the Pudong New Area. PolOff also met on June 4 with Hangzhou-based lawyer and Charter 08 signatory Zhuang Daohe, who was visiting Shanghai. Shanghai's Downtown: Business as Usual -------------- ¶3. (C) Pedestrian traffic was heavy and business appeared brisk on Nanjing Road in the heart of Shanghai's Jingan business district on June 4. CongenOffs observed only business as usual on the Nanjing Walking Street and the Bund. Wujiang Road, an "eating street" near Nanjing Road was crowded with pedestrians during the morning and the lunch hour. Police Presence Heavy at People's Square -------------- ¶4. Walking east on Nanjing Road at midday, PolOff noted a significant shift in mood when approaching People's Square, which includes City Hall. Plainclothes police presence was 
noticeable with numerous pairs of Chinese men -- appearing obviously out of place at a venue normally frequented by tourists visiting the art museum, urban planning hall, or municipal museum -- positioned throughout the square, particularly at subway exits. On the road in front of City Hall, there were at least 20 marked police vehicles and another 20 unmarked vehicles placed within a block of the municipal government offices -- a dramatic increase from the 4-5 police vehicles normally positioned there. In addition to the vehicles, there appeared to be a corresponding presence of both uniformed and plainclothes police. ¶5. Congenoffs visiting People's Square throughout the day observed that there appeared to be more Chinese police than Chinese tourists in the area. At one point, large buses parked on People's Avenue in front of City Hall were filled with police officers. Roving plainclothes officers with radios checked-in periodically with those stationed at subway exits. There appeared to be fewer tourists at People's Square than normal, but foreign tourists still appeared in large numbers. Police Preparations in Pudong -------------- ¶6. (C) Police officers also appeared prepared for trouble in the Lujiazui financial district in Pudong New Area. Officers with dogs patrolled the area around the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. There also were temporary barriers pre-positioned at Century Park in the event of a protest. There was no visible police presence at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo site, which CongenOff observed to be continuing with normal construction. No Activity at Local Universities -------------- ¶7. (C) There was no apparent protest activity at Fudan or East China Normal Universities, and CongenOffs did not observe a large number of students wearing white or carrying out some other sort of silent protest. There was no sense from students that there was anything unusual about the day. A student at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (near Fudan) told CongenOff that most classes had scheduled exams on June 4, meaning that many students were in classrooms taking tests or studying. There was an extra police presence at Fudan with a number of police cars parked next to the campus. Shanghai Media Silent, Bloggers Work Around Censors -------------- -------------- ¶8. (C) Shanghai media was silent on the Tiananmen anniversary with no mentions of the anniversary either in local newspapers or online on June 4. Some prominent Shanghai bloggers worked around censors, posting photos or comments about June 4 without directly referencing the anniversary. Several bloggers referred to the anniversary as May 35 (May 31 plus 4 days). Yuan Yulai, a liberal attorney, complained in a blog that all of the postings at one website with the number "20" (years) had been blocked. Yuan complained in his blog that it was ridiculous to have to refer to "20" as "30-10." ¶9. (C) Zhu Dake, a professor at Tongji University, posted pictures entitled "Mother's Sacrifice." Xu Jingya, a famous poet, posted a poem on sina.com entitled "Can't Say" with references to June 4. Zhang Peihong, a young Shanghai-based defense attorney, put a picture of many white candles but with no words on his blog at tianya.cn in the morning, but the posting had been taken down by the afternoon. He Weifang, a liberal law professor, posted a blog entitled "Memory" that mourned the death of a friend who died 20 years ago. Dissidents Detained in Shanghai and Zhejiang -------------- ¶10. (C) PolOff confirmed that several dissidents in Shanghai and Zhejiang Province were detained prior to June 4 and prevented from leaving their homes on the Tiananmen anniversary. Mao Hengfeng, a Shanghai dissident, reported to PolOff on June 3 that she had been under 24-hour surveillance and prevented from leaving her home by three police officers and two public security officials since the previous day. Mao characterized her situation as "illegal house arrest." She added that she had been warned by public security officials several times since May 24 to not travel to Beijing during the Tiananmen anniversary period, and police blocked her attempt to depart Shanghai via train on the evening of June 2. ¶11. (C) In Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, provincial officials detained Wu Gaoxing, a former Tiananmen prisoner who last week co-signed an open letter to the government complaining about economic discrimination against dissidents. Wu's detention, first reported by U.S.-based group Human Rights in China and later mentioned in a New York Times article, was confirmed by Hangzhou-based lawyer and Charter 08 signatory Zhuang Daohe, who told PolOff on June 4 that Wu currently is under house arrest in Taizhou. ¶12. (C) Zhu Yufu, a member of the China Democracy Party (CDP), also was detained earlier in the week in Hangzhou, Zhejiang's provincial capital, Zhuang said. Zhu had planned to travel to Shanghai on June 4, Zhuang told PolOff, but he was prevented from doing so by police. ¶13. (C) Zhuang said he had himself experienced harassment, stating that public security agents had interviewed him on the train from Hangzhou to Shanghai, and the only reason he was not forced to return to Hangzhou was that he had business to take care of in Shanghai's Qingpu District Court where he was the lawyer in a commercial case on June 3. SCHUCHAT