Chinese Students March On Capital

WASHINGTON--Approximately 3700 Chinese students--some 100 from Harvard among them--marched through Washington yesterday to show their support for democracy in their homeland on the 40th anniversary of Communist rule.

Braving heavy rain, the group defiantly chanted and waved placards on the approximately two-mile trek from the Lincoln Memorial to the Chinese embassy. Participants described the scene as eerily similar to that at Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the sight of last spring's demonstrations and the focal point of a government crackdown that left thousands of students dead or arrested.

"You have to look right back to the beginning in Tiannanmen that started out of innocence," said Haiching Zhao, president of the International Chinese Students Federation and a graduate student at Harvard. "They were innocent people, and we are too."

The march followed a demonstration at theLincoln Memorial, that according to unofficialestimates attracted more than 7000 students. YuanHuang, who directed the march, said he was "very,very happy with the support the protest hadobtained."

Last week, many march organizers had said theywere concerned that students might not participatebecause they were being harassed by Chineseembassy officials. Zhao, a post-doctoral studentin chemistry and molecular biology, said yesterdaythe harassment by the Beijing government probablykept many Chinese students away from thedemonstration.

"In Boston, student leaders have been talkingto the people, but at some schools in the Midwestyou don't have communication, so the people getscared," Zhao said.

But Zhao added that "at Harvard and in theBoston area, the turnout has gone way up becausepeople are outraged."

Regardless of how the reported harassmentaffected the turnout, Zhao said that enoughstudents participated to show how strongly theChinese people were committed to democraticreform.

"We're not radicals," Zhao said. "The peoplehere bring very pure, very innocent ideals to thedemonstration, but they will come back again andagain until we have democratic government inChina."

If democacy was the theme of yesterday's show,Wuer Kaixi, a visiting undergraduate at Harvardand one of the founders of the democracy movement,appeared to be the star.

At the Lincoln Memorial, rally posters of Wuerwere on sale. And throughout the afternoon, cameracrews, photographers and admirers surrounded themovement leader.

Wuer did not, however, have much to say at thepodium. The protester read only a brief,unemotional passage and made two short stageappearances at the Memorial before bodyguardswhisked him away.

Also speaking at the rally were student leadersShen Tong, now studying at Brandeis University,and Liu Yan, now at Boston University.

The demonstration was planned to coincide withthe official Chinese government celebrationscommemorating Mao Zedong's declaration of theestablishment of the Peoples' Republic of China onOctober 1, 1949