On April 16, after the news of Hu Yaobang's death spread, mourning wreaths were laid under the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tian'anmen Square. A wreath signed "Beijing Teachers and Students" reads: "Though you are no longer with us, your demeanor will last forever. We mourn Comrade Yaobang." A wreath signed "Several Young People" wrote: "When will the sad wind and bitter rain stop as we mourn the death of Yaobang, after traveling through thousands of rivers and thousands of mountains, there is more effort than success" The horizontal line read: "The people’s hearts are like a mirror." Young people also presented white flowers, with the words "Comrade Yaobang, confidant to the youth."

The next day, the "People's Daily" newspaper published a photo on the front page with the caption: "On April 16, in Beijing, people came to the Monument to the People's Heroes to lay wreaths and mourn Comrade Hu Yaobang. (Photo by Zhang Junrong.)" The Beijing Municipal Party Committee was deeply dissatisfied with this, and considered it to constitute inciting the masses to mourn at the site. In "The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries", Li Peng also wrote: "Why should our party newspaper guide us in this way? Doing so is equivalent to inciting more students to go to Tian'anmen Square. The consequences will be chaos in the social order. This incident caused me to think deeply and be more vigilant."

On the afternoon of the 17th, 600 students from China University of Political Science and Law marched to lay a wreath in front of the monument. They shouted in front of the Great Hall of the People: "Long Live Freedom!", "Long Live Democracy!", "Long Live the Rule of Law!", "Comrade Hu Yaobang shall live forever!", and "Down with corrupt officials, eliminate corruption!". They also sang "The Internationale", attracting a large number of onlookers. Afterwards, Wang Dan (then a member of Peking University's Democracy Salon) and others also led the crowd to lay wreaths and elegiac couplets at Hu Yaobang's home and in Tian'anmen Square.

References: "The Tiananmen Papers"; "The Big Bang of History: The Whole Record of the June 4th Incident"; "Political Struggles During the Age of Reform in China"; "The Memoirs of Wang Dan — From June 4th to Exile"; "The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries"