Instances of Insubordination in the PLA during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Instances of Insubordination in the PLA during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 saw a massive redeployment of People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops into and around Beijing. After the declaration of martial law, the PLA mobilized at least 22 divisions from 13 Armies, which converged on Beijing . This force far exceeded the local garrison, with troops being sent in from across China. Altogether, roughly 300,000 troops were involved in the campaign to quell the protests. By their end, the PLA had proven that it was largely willing to enforce party decrees with lethal force.
A Tiananmen Journal Tiananmen Journal" is based on Feng's "Memo of 1989 Student Protests" (八九學運備忘錄), first drafted in 1990. To ensure the details of the activities are in correct order and what he heard from others during the protests was truthful, Feng started editing his "Memo" and adding footnotes in the following eighteen years, before finally publishing them in the book, "A Tiananmen Journal". The book is divided into nine chapters: It briefly records the 1987 student protest at Tiananmen Square on New Year's Day. Some of the students were angry about the "Ten Regulations" (十條) issued by the government on 26 December