Wu Renhua

After Wu's exile to the United States, he started his June Fourth research.[6] Based on his personal experience and witness, Wu published his first book The Bloody Clearing of Tiananmen Square in 2007. In the chronological book, Wu recorded the entire cleanup procedure of the Tiananmen Square from noon on June 3, 1989, to 10 a.m. on June 4. To make the book more exhaustive, Wu included detailed descriptions of major events and leaders of the protests by citing other litigants’ memories and other related documents.[1] Wu also demonstrated his thoughts on some controversial questions of the protests from his point of view.[1] Wu was facing difficulties in publishing his book at first because the publishers he contacted denied his request. In order to publish the first book, Wu set up his own company called “Truth Publishing” and published the book by himself.[6] He said that the book was the first book that includes a complete account of the clearing of Tiananmen Square.[1]

In Wu's second book, The Martial Law Troops of June Fourth published in 2009, he focused on the military units that carried out tasks in the crackdown against the Tiananmen protests of 1989.[2] As Wu stated in an interview by Cao Yaxue, after the student protests in 1989, the Chinese government increased censorship across the country, and he was struggling to continue the research because of the limited documents. Wu's personal experiences were significant to his research. In the prologue of his book, he credits his seven-year professional study of classic philology in Peking University and his experience of being a soldier in People's Armed Police border defence forces before studying in Beijing.[2] This provided him with a background in Chinese military that helped him uncover the detailed information of the martial law troops. Talking about the research method, Wu stated that he spent a lot of time surfing the veteran message boards and keeping notes, such as hometown association sites, or alumni groups. He also posted messages like “seeking Old Comrades” on veteran websites, and joined group chats of army groups.[6] Wu also listed the martial law troop members who followed commands and received promotion after the event.[2][9] In addition, he revealed a list of approximately two thousand members of martial law troops who took part in the event. He wrote that even if they are not responsible for the bloodshed, they are still witnesses, and it is their responsibility and duty to speak out on what they did and what they saw.[2][9]

In 2010, Wu became an American citizen.[8] On November 28, 2012, Wu avoided the Chinese prohibition of entry list and entered mainland China from Shanghai using his U.S. passport.[10] The purpose for his trip was not related to politics. He wanted to visit his mother and relatives in China. Wu explains his successful entry to mainland China was because he held a U.S. passport and if the Chinese government did not allow him entry, they might get into diplomatic trouble.[10] He also emphasizes that this entry to mainland China does not mean that Chinese government has a different view on the Tiananmen protests of 1989, and it has nothing to do with the changing of the CCP leaders either.[10]