On May 23rd, the fourth day after the martial law was imposed in Beijing, there was still no sign of troops entering the city. At 1:00pm, more than a million people from all walks of life took to the streets in defiance of martial law. It was the largest march since martial law had been declared.

The march participants included not only teachers and students from Beijing higher education institutions, but also people from the intellectual, cultural, financial, scientific, technological, and journalistic sectors, as well as cadres of state agencies and members of democratic parties. At the same time, more than 10,000 students from Henan, Anhui, Shaanxi, and Yunnan entered Beijing to show their support. They marched through torrential rains and wind with banners with slogans such as "Military Control Causes Chaos, Martial Law Causes Paralysis" and "Don't Allow Guns to Direct the Party". They shouted slogans such as "Li Peng, Step Down"; "Oppose Military Control"; and "Lift Martial Law".

At that time, a group of students staged a sit-in at the Square and issued a "Proposal", stating: "We solemnly advocate that martial law be lifted, the troops be withdrawn, the students clear away, and order be restored… We call for immediately convening a meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Plenary Session to discuss and accept the just demands of the patriotic students and the whole nation, in accordance with the procedures of democracy and the rule of law… Our withdrawal is not a retreat, but a move to a new stage of the democracy movement… We see no reason why our reasonable demands should not be met, and if they are not realized, neither we nor the people will accept it."

References: "The Big Bang of History: A Complete Record of the June 4th Incident"; "A Tiananmen Journal"; "The Tiananmen Papers"