Two mothers whose sons were shot to death in the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 1989, speak to CLIFFORD COONANin Beijing
IT WAS 20 years ago this week, but grief at the loss of her 17-year-old son during the crushing of the pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square is still very raw for Ding Zilin, and her voice is heavy with emotion when she describes how he died.
Jiang Jielian was one of the first to be killed when the tanks rolled in to halt the student-led demonstrations.
Eyewitnesses told her that her son was shot and was left to bleed to death on the night of June 3rd, 1989, when the People’s Liberation Army killed hundreds and possibly thousands of people. China has never given a full account of what happened during the crackdown and who died.
“I have now been alive for 20 years more than my son. In my eyes, my son did not die accidentally. He died in a massacre. Its inhuman atrocity, its violence will not change, not ever. By any international standards, a nation’s army killing peacefully demonstrating students is a massacre,” she said.
“I’m sorry, I can’t talk about what happened on June 4th, 1989. This is the topic I’m most reluctant to talk about. I cannot bring my son’s death back. It is so painful,” said the 70-year-old retired professor, who taught philosophy at Renmin University in Beijing.
Despite the curfew, Jielian left the family home, then was shot through the heart by soldiers on the way to Tiananmen Square. He was rushed to Beijing Children’s Hospital, but was dead on arrival.
After her son’s death, Ding Zilin drifted between life and death, attempting suicide on many occasions. Her life had become a living hell.
Then, she became inspired by her own suffering and anger. Three months after the massacre, she came across a family that has suffered a similar loss. Ms Ding founded the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of 128 relatives that represents people who lost their sons and daughters in the massacre, also wants answers.
Every year the group calls on the government to count and name the dead. This year the mothers have also asked for a statement on the event.
“We hereby earnestly appeal to all those who have information about the tragedy: please provide us with clues about the victims, even if they be just the slightest traces of clues. Do not let a temporary oversight result in a lifetime of regret,” it ran.
Ms Ding was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts, and in 2006, Time magazine selected her as one of their 60 Asian heroes.
“Our loved ones have gone. This is a fact that we must accept. Nothing will change that. But as victims’ families, we are asking for justice. As a Chinese mother, I hope this tragedy can never happen again in China, and that the powers-that-be cannot slaughter civilians in future. We want them to know that killers will be punished by laws. Deng Xiaoping ordered the army to shoot people, and that will remain in history forever,” she said.
Over the years she has faced regular difficulties with the authorities for her activism. She has been effectively under house arrest for years, her Communist Party membership has been revoked, she has been under surveillance, ordered to leave Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.
But people who have lost the most important things in their lives don’t care what happens to themselves.
Xu Jue works as a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.
On May 21st, 1989 her son Wu Xiangdong went out with his girlfriend, and never came home. They found a note saying he wanted to make a sacrifice for democracy and freedom.
“We are really proud of him as he could sacrifice his love for his parents and girlfriend for our country. And he also had support of the students’ movement for a while,” she said.
The next time Ms Xu saw her son was in the hospital. He had been shot at Muxidi in the city, at about 11pm on June 3rd.
“But he was not dead. He was sent to hospital. But the doctor told me he was forbidden to save my son. They just let him bleed to death for two hours on the early morning of June 4th. Sorry . . .” she says, her voice unsteady.
“We are fighting to find justice for the right cause. Those students did not do anything wrong. They were fighting for democracy and freedom. I know I must live, be strong and brave,” she said.
Ms Xu describes the last 20 years as a period of “ceaseless torment” during which her health has suffered and she became suicidal. She was also worried about further consequences for the rest of her family during the crackdown following the massacre.
“I had already lost one son. I was quite scared that they would take another son from me. For 49 days after my son’s death, every Sunday I wore all white, took my son’s cat with me, and walked west to east along Chang’an Avenue. Few people walked in the street because of martial law.
“But I did because the soldiers were there, and I wanted them to shoot me.” China’s remarkable economic rise is cold comfort for the Tiananmen Mothers, and they want answers.
“Even though the Communist Party has tried to cover it for 20 years, it is indeed a crime, and no power can change this. This crime demands justice,” said Ms Ding.
Tomorrow, Clifford Coonan speaks to the student leaders who led the demonstrations calling for democracy in the spring of 1989 and finds out how they are coping with life in exile.