Funding of student organizations during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests money was not received by the various Pro-Democracy groups. A large amount of the money raised overseas was sent to China as cheques or money orders made out to “the Students’ ”Autonomous Union,” “Hunger Strike Headquarters,” “Tiananmen Square Headquarters,” or even just “Tiananmen Square.” Such donations, even if delivered to the student organizations could not be redeemed. When the hunger strike started on May 13 the costs of running protests at Tiananmen Square increased. At first the number of hunger strikers was quite small, around 300 students, but as their numbers increased so did the crowds that came to support
Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters through student pickets and entered the square, demonstrating the inability of the pickets to resist the army. Once the crackdown began, the responsibilities of the pickets widened to include maintaining order during the square’s evacuation, as well as physically protecting the Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters leaders, which facilitated the escape of Chai Ling, Feng Congde, Li Lu, and Wang Chaohua. Attempting to exercise effective authority, the Headquarters established a central location so that they could create security lines and be found easily. It is important to note that the intended use of these security lines differs between the English and