We had just returned to Wuhan University from Hunan province when the 1986 student protest started. On December 9, students in Beijing, Hefei, and Wuhan went on the street with slogans like “Democracy and Freedom.”
There were two protests at Wuhan University on that day. The first one started at noon on campus. After passing the Wuchang railway station and the Central South University of Finance and Economics (CSUFE), they finally arrived at the auditorium of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and had a dialogue with a vice-governor. The second protest started from GuiYuan in Wuhan University in the evening. They marched through the Cherry Blossoms Avenue, MeiYuan, and out of the campus. They firstly converged with students of CSUFE and then went to Wuchang railway station.
At Wuchang railway station, student Ludi from Hubei Conservatory of Music, an ordinary citizen, and student Liu Xiangyang from Wuhan University, jumped on top of a bus one after the other to give a speech.
On the way back, the students were noticed that provincial officials were willing to dialogue with students. They turned to the auditorium and talked with several secretaries-general of the Hubei Provincial Government.
The outcome of the 1986 student protest is the resignation of Hu Yaobang, Vice President Fang Li Zhi of the University of Science and Technology of China, and President Liu Daoyu of Wuhan University.
The 1986 student protest was not only a preview of the 1989 student protest, but also an integral part of the whole ideological liberation movement of the 1980s.
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