| Turmoil cuts short businessman's WEST VANCO‘JVER’S Robert Gayton ;cturned home Thursday frou the eye of the Chinese military ‘storm after being faurced to cut short a two-week business trig to Beijing fol- lowing the June 3 massacre of students. in that Chinese - city. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW . .. News Reporter The 49-year-old ‘chief financial officer for Vancouver’s Prime Resources Corp. had arrived in China's capital city on the Sztur- day (June 3) that Chinese’ soldiers marched into Tiananmen Square and opened fire on the thousands of assembled student pro- democracy demonstrators. He had gone to instruct faculty and business graduates from Chinese universities in the art of North American accounting and how pubjic companies file annual financial statements and disseminate information to the public; he left without even having met the peopl: whom he had come to instruct. Gayton said he escaped rela- tively unscathed from the turmoil that is now threatening to push China into civil war. “I didn’t feel that my life was threatened,’ he said. But Gayton said he was glad he was able to leave when he did: “You just didn’t know if the situa- tion was going to explode.”’ Initially staying at the Kunlun Kotel, approximately 10 miles from Tiananmen Square and the main confrontation between soldiers and students, Gayton moved, on the advice of Canadian Embassy officials, to the Beijing Holiday Inn where he would be close to the Beijing airport with other Canadian nationals after the violence broke out. He moved with the help of brib- ed Beijing taxi drivers, who feared for their lives in the steadily 3 - Sunday, June 11, 1989 - North Shore News CHINESE PAPERS TELL DIFFERENT TALE OF BEIJING EVENTS trip NEWS photo Cindy Goodman WEST VANCOUVER resident Robert Gayton holds a copy of the China Daily newspaper as a souvenir of his recent visit to Beijing, China. The chartered accountant was in the China’s capital city when Chinese troops opened fire on pro-democracy student demonstrators. deteriorating situation. Though he said he could have visited Tiananmen Square, ‘‘if I'd been young and foolish,’’ Gayton stayec away from central Beijing and si! little of the violence first hand, But western news information within ‘Thina about the crisis in the city's central square was freely availabie in the hotels, Gayton said, from such American cable television stations as Ted Turner’s CNN network. Gayton said the video footage being aired in the hotels from the cable networks was in dramatic contrast to reports cf relative calm contained in official Chinese newspapers and on state-controlled Chinese television. **We could see as much as any- CHINESE INSTRUCTORS ANXIOUS TO RETURN HOME Military’s violence shocks MEMBERS OF a group of 10 Chinese instructors who have been studying Western business theory at Capilano College since July expressed shock this week at the britality of army action in Beijing last week against Chinese citizens calling for democratic reform in China. Said a 25-year-old instructor from the China Enterprise Management Training Centre in Chengdu, Sichuan, who asked to remain nameless for fear of gov- ernment reprisal against her fami- ly, ‘I'm shocked about these things happening in China. It seems when we icft China that the economic situation was a little bit unstable. “China began economic reform in 1978. Before then planning of the economic system was copied China visit of what the future holds.’’ He added that the arrival of the next group of Chinese instructors to the college has been postponed. Canadians working at the centre in Chengdu were all to have left by Monday in accordance with the federal government’s call for Ca- nadians to leave China. A planned visit to the centre this summer by Jessiman and several other college instructors has been called off. **Because we can’t guarantee the safety of the people in and out we've suspended things,’’ Jessiman By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter from the Soviet Union. But now it’s more and more like the free market. Economics is linked with the political and the daily life. In- flation directly affected daily life. Only a few people run China. China is so big. A few people can- not think about every aspect. Sometimes of course they will cause some problem. The people realize and think they want more cailed off said. Rioting had spilled over into Chengdu Monday. But said Jessiman, ‘‘As we learned from telex Thursday, things have quieted down con- siderably from the disruptions they had on Monday night. The lootings and the demonstrations have quieted down. Those who left from Chengdu Wednesday drove in 2 normal way out to the airport without incident.’” CIDA suspended development aid to China as of Monday and has struck a task force to review its projects in the country. people involved in this, they want democracy. This doesn’t mean that the people don’t want the Com- munist’ party. They want more people involved. Sometimes the feadership only wants to listen to the peopie who agree with them.’ Economic reform began after the mayhem of the 1966-76 Cul- tural Revolution. In 1978 the Chinese rural area people’s com- munes were dissolved. By 1982 land was distributed to individual peasants. But the successful free- market rural agricultural sector has contributed to a 30 per cent infla- tion rate in the country as well as raised expectations. Said 25-year-old Li Hongyun, “The Communist government wants the people to live better than before, But since the system has Business . Classified Editorial Page Entertainment . . Fashion .... body else what was going on,’’ he said, Photographs taken by tourists, he said, also captured ‘‘some pret- ty ugly scenes.”” Gayton said it was difficult from his observations to say whether the country was on the brink of civil war, ‘‘but you had to wonder how long the fabric of the country would hoid together...when society s = t a not made more changes, that’s why the students came out now, pushing the government to make change.”’ Neither believes the government version of the killings in Tiananmen Square. Said Li, ‘‘The Chinese people have been told by the government propaganda machine for many years. Now they still do that. The students want to tell the truth, to praise freedom of speech and freedom cf organizing. This is in- cluded in the Chinese canstitution. But congress is run by the Com- munist party commission and doesn’t have power.”’ The prospect of civil war in their home country remains very real according to the Chengdu instruc- tors. Horoscopes ........... Bob Hunter. . Lifestyles Mailbox . . Travel What's Going On Second Class Registration Number 3885 would just fold in on itself."’ Military presence in Beijing in- creased markedly on Monday and Tuesday, he said, when city tours began running into roadblocks. Those tours subsequently col- lapsed and the exodus began. Gayton was flown out of Beijing to Tokyo Wednesday with a planeload of Canadians and other westerners. teachers Said Li's fellow instructor, "It seems there is a possibility for civil war because we didn’t realize the government would send so many tanks and soldiers into the capitol of China. “*For me I think that during the cultural revolution the people had a lesson. So many suffered. We don’t want that to happen. For me, especially my family, we suf- fered a lot. My uncle died, because before he had come from overseas and he was called a spy. They forced him, with different kinds of physical things, they forced him to say he was a spy. He was not. And also my parents were sent into the countryside. I don’t want that again. I know we should do some- thing, but first we have to sur- vive,’’ she said. Sunday through Tuesday, sunny. Highs sear 29°C, lows 11°C.