It never occurred to him that he would later witness the Tienanmen Square massacre. The Free China Review had a chance to talk with Huang about his experiences. Excerpts follow:
FCR: How well did you know the student leaders at Tienanmen Square? Huang: I was best acquainted with Wang Tan and Yang Tao. I got to know them before the student demonstrations started. I met them at a place where people gathered for lectures held once a week. At that time, they were like two kids. But I saw them grow up and become mature during the course of the whole event. They had to bear the responsibility for so many people's lives and futures.
FCR: How would you describe this event?
Huang: Although there is much speculation [about this], I must say that it was a spontaneous event. It was different from the Cultural Revolution, when the students were directed by Mao Tse-tung to achieve a purpose. In a sense, this event is more significant than the Cultural Revolution, because it came from the students' own free will.
FCR: Where were you on June 3 and 4?
Huang: I was on Changan Avenue. In the early hours of June 3, troops first entered Peking, but they were stopped by local residents 100 meters from the Tienanmen Square. Around 9:00 that night, phone calls from suburban residents began coming into our hotel, telling reporters from Taiwan and Hong Kong about the gunshots they were hearing.
FCR: What impressed you most during the tragic suppression?
Huang: I was very impressed by the pedicab drivers. Many of them carried more than one wounded or dead person on their carts. The scene was very touching. The troops then drew nearer and nearer. We were pushed to the east side of Changan Avenue. The whole square was under control, with about 5,000 students and local residents in it.
From 5:00 to about 5:30, I heard continuous gunshots just like the firecrackers I was familiar with in Taiwan during the Chinese New Year holidays. Military trucks encircled the Square. We could only see flames from something burning. Then, for three days, helicopters landed and carried away some "stuff" from the Square.
FCR: What impresses people here most is that students and others in Peking were not afraid of being killed. Why is this?
Huang: I believe it is because their grievances toward the Communist regime reached an explosion point. It also has something to do with Chinese traits. In ordinary days Chinese people might be afraid of losing their lives, but when a big threat approaches, they will forge ahead and disregard the consequences.
FCR: Did you have any chances to talk with other people, including intellectuals, while you were there?
Huang: I had chances to talk with intellectuals such as Yen Chia-chi and Pao Tsun-hsin. Yen is a rather moderate person. He had expected the movement to be a failure, and thought that mainland China would enter a dark period. But he also believed that the dark moment wouldn't last long and that there would be success in the future.
But a few days before the suppression, Pao said that the Communist authorities are capricious. They can praise students as patriotic today, but the next day they blame students as rioters, and the third day they label the students as "counter-revolutionaries." Pao asked students to be aware of the intrinsic quality of the Communist authorities.
FCR: What happened in the days after the massacre?
Huang: After the order was issued on June 6 to arrest student and labor leaders, people became cautious. If I did not reveal my identity as a reporter, Peking residents were willing to tell me their grievances about what had happened. But when I told them I was a reporter, they became frightened.
For example, when I called some professors and staff members for their opinions, they dared not to tell me anything. Even the reporters and intellectuals who had behaved bravely before June 6 refused to say anything. Two days before I came back, extensive arrests began. I saw soldiers with guns appear in many alleys. Road blocks were everywhere. Soldiers were checking passengers' handbags or luggage. They were rude as they grabbed the hair of people under questioning.
FCR: During your stay in Peking, did anyone ever disturb you or other reporters in the hotel?
Huang: On June 5, some people entered our hotel rooms to check our credentials and search for photos we had taken. Some of the reporters were even followed. Then we heard that journalists would be arrested. Therefore, on June 5, many reporters from Taiwan and Hong Kong left Peking on a charter flight. From late June 5 to early the next morning, plainclothesmen again searched our hotel rooms. On June 6, no reporters from Hong Kong and Taiwan remained at the Beijing Hotel.
FCR: What was in your mind while you were leaving Peking for Taipei?
Huang: The whole movement had several abrupt turns and sometimes we thought it would quiet down. It never occurred to me, or to other reporters, that the student demonstrations would end like this.