Palace Coup · Full chronicle and history

Deng Xiaoping summoned Premier of the State Council Li Peng, labeling it as "turmoil", setting the tone for the subsequent clearing operation.

Deng Xiaoping convened a Politburo Standing Committee meeting at home to discuss whether to impose martial law in Beijing, and Zhao Ziyang explicitly stated that it could not be carried out.

Chinese students and citizens gathered in Beijing Tiananmen Square to demand reforms, anti-corruption measures, and freedom, and were met with a military crackdown by troops and tanks.

Afterwards, Deng Xiaoping issued a victory proclamation, defining the June Fourth incident as a counter-revolutionary riot.

Li Peng called Deng Xiaoping, suggesting convening an expanded Politburo meeting to implement the dismissal decision. Deng Xiaoping requested to wait until the army entered Beijing to hold the meeting.

Deng Xiaoping convened a meeting at home and decided to remove Zhao Ziyang from the position of General Secretary. Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili were not notified of this meeting.

Deng Xiaoping personally summoned the heads of the major military regions and branches, beginning the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of field troops to gather around Beijing.

Over 200,000 students and 1 million citizens took to the streets, holding the famous "April 27th Grand Parade" in support of the student movement.

People’s Daily published an editorial titled “We must unequivocally oppose this unrest,” labeling the student movement as unrest.

Deng Xiaoping officially made the decision to label the students' actions as "turmoil against the Party and socialism" and established a leading group to quell the turmoil.

The Beijing Municipal Party Committee, at Deng Xiaoping's behest, reported to the Standing Committee of the Politburo, and put forward the theory of a "black hand in the Central Committee."

Before his visit to North Korea, Zhao Ziyang consulted Deng Xiaoping, and Deng Xiaoping promised that after returning to China he would be appointed Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and agreed to the visit.

Former the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Hu Yaobang died of heart disease, prompting spontaneous mourning by Beijing university students.

To force out senior party elders and continue to control the military, Deng Xiaoping announced his withdrawal from the Politburo Standing Committee, after which the CCP's 13th National Congress amended the party constitution, removing the requirement that the Chairman of the Central Military Commission be a Standing Committee member.

To ensure that he could legally serve as Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Deng Xiaoping promoted an amendment to the CCP's 12th Congress party constitution, stipulating that the Chairman of the CMC must be selected from the members of the Politburo Standing Committee.