ed of straightforward coverage with the use of pictures portraying the unbelievable scenes (Yi & Thompson, 1989, 29).
Equally if not more significant as the May 4th demonstrations was the speech made that same evening by Party Secretary Zhao Ziyang at the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The Xinhua News Agency's story citing Zhao Ziyang saying that the recent demonstrations did not indicate political instability was a clear sign to even the less informed reader. Zhao Ziyang wanted to distance himself from the April 26th editorial which had accused the students of instigating turmoil. He wanted to make public his split with the conservatives in the Party. In a speech on May 24th, China's President, General Yang Shangkun, suggested that everyone go back and read very carefully Zhao Ziyang's speech at the ADB meeting. "Comrade Zhao Ziyang's speech was a turning point," Yang Shangkun admitted, "it revealed all the differences of members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo i
...