On May 12, as the government repeatedly put off the students' demands for dialog, big-character posters about hunger strikes began to appear at institutions of higher education. In fact, the first calls for hunger strikes had begun to sporadically appear in mid-April; but now were increasing in number. Feng Congde wrote in his memoirs, "Around May 9, there was a big-character poster signed 'Some doctoral students on the 25th floor', which mentioned that hunger strikes were the most drastic measures the students could take, but that we shouldn't take such measures lightly. The method suggested was for people to take turns hunger striking at Tian'anmen Square, keeping the number around 200 people at a time."

The afternoon of the 12th, a poster titled "Call for a Hunger Strike" was posted at the Peking University Triangle. The full text is as follows:
"In order to promote the government achieving sincere and equal dialog with the students as soon as possible, and to demand a re-evaluation of the 'April 26' editorial in 'People's Daily' on the student movement, some college students in this city are autonomously launching a hunger strike. We propose: Peking University students gather at the Peking University Triangle at 12:00pm on the 13th, and at the Beijing Normal University athletic field at 1:00pm. Students from each school who voluntarily go on hunger strike will gather together and collectively go on hunger strike in Tian'anmen Square. Students who are willing to participate in the hunger strike, please sign on the paper and gather tomorrow. The purpose of the hunger strike is to: (1) demand freedom of the press and lift the reporting bans; (2) promote dialog between the government and students; (3) promote the democratization process. The slogans are: It's not turmoil, there must be vindication! Dialog now, without delay! I love rice, but I love the truth more! I swear I will not eat again until our goals are achieved!"

The evening of the 12th, Wang Dan and Chai Ling gave speeches on the Peking U Broadcast Station. Wang Dan said, "I heard Deng Xiaoping said that their Communist Party has 300,000 soldiers. Well, I want to tell everyone, that we have 3 million people." Chai Ling excitedly said, "I hope to use life to face death; through the spirit of risking death, I will fight for life." As Wang Dan recorded in his memoirs, after their speeches, the number of signatories to the "Call" exceeded 300.

References: Zhang Wanshu, "The Big Bang of History: A Complete Record of the June 4th Incident"; Wang Dan, "The Memoirs of Wang Dan — From June 4th to Exile"; Feng Congde, "A Tiananmen Journal"; "The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries"; Jeremy Brown, "June Fourth: The Tiananmen Protests and Beijing Massacre of 1989"