(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Thirty-seven years have passed since the "June 4th" incident, and the "Tiananmen Mothers", a group of victims' family members, continue to suffer from the Chinese government's suppression and surveillance, and there are even signs of escalation this year.
Radio Free Asia reported on Tuesday (June 2) that for the first time in more than 30 years, the "Tiananmen Mothers" were prohibited from visiting the cemetery to pay homage to their victims' relatives on June 4th. Zhang Xianling, a member of this group and the mother of June Fourth victim Wang Nan, said that "previously routine actions such as going to the cemetery to read memorials and eulogies are not allowed." She also revealed that she started to notice the police appearing again on April 28 this year. “There are two security guards at the entrance of the community, two policemen downstairs, and two cars... The security is very tight, not to mention taking calls from foreign media reporters.”
Another family member of a June 4th victim who did not want to be named also told Taiwan Central News Agency that she first learned from other family members on the 1st that she was not allowed to worship at the cemetery this year. Later, she herself was notified by the police. She said: "Will we prevent (going to the cemetery) during the Qingming Festival and June 4th in the future? Isn't it okay to express even a small amount of grief?"
You Weijie, another member of the "Tiananmen Mothers" and the widow of June 4th victim Yang Minghu, was interviewed by RFI. She said that the government began to send people to stand guard at the door of family members at the end of April this year. In previous years, it was around mid-May. "The June 4th stability maintenance work was obviously deployed earlier." This may be related to this year's US President Trump's visit to China in mid-May. Youweijie also observed that although the members of the "Tiananmen Mothers" are getting older and their number is getting smaller and smaller, the government has increasingly strengthened surveillance.
According to an announcement released by the "Tiananmen Mothers" website earlier this year, the group held a New Year gathering every year, but it was banned by the government for the first time late last year. The announcement at the time read: "Not only have we not seen the government sincerely initiate a dialogue with us about the massacre of innocent people during the 1989 student movement, but we have seen the cold reality of the government police abusing their public power and obstructing citizens' legitimate social rights!"
Issued memorial to reiterate three major demands
In May 1995, a victim group composed of 27 relatives of the June 4th victims signed a joint letter to the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress for the first time, demanding an independent, fair and open investigation into the entire June 4th incident, a fair and reasonable solution to the "June 4th" issue, and those responsible to be held legally accountable in accordance with legal procedures.
Since the original core members were mainly composed of mothers who lost their children during the June Fourth Movement, such as the founder, Ding Zilin, a former associate professor at Renmin University of China, and Zhang Xianling, a former senior engineer at the Ministry of Aerospace Industry, the organization was nicknamed "Tiananmen Mothers." Its members also include other relatives of the June 4th victims and the disabled in the June 4th incident.
For more than 30 years, the "Tiananmen Mothers" have never stopped fighting. As the 37th anniversary of June 4th is approaching, the "Tiananmen Mothers" once again issued a memorial message, reiterating the three major demands of revealing the truth about the "June 4th" tragedy, providing reasonable compensation to the victims and their families, and holding those responsible accountable in accordance with the law.
The commemorative text states that the "June 4th" massacre that occurred in Beijing from June 3 to 4, 1989 was a bloody suppression of peaceful protesting students and citizens ordered by a small number of those in power with the participation of the military. "It was an incident caused by the government of that year that seriously violated the Chinese Constitution, violated human nature, and violated civil rights."
The memorial also pointed out that "the government still adopts an attitude of avoiding, not resolving, and comprehensively suppressing speech." People cannot openly discuss or mourn publicly, and even the memorial activities of relatives of the victims have been under strict surveillance for a long time. Many young people do not even know the tragic fact that the army shot at unarmed students and citizens in Beijing in June 1989.
The memorial denounced the Chinese official's narrative of the "June 4th Incident", no matter how it changes, in fact, it conceals the essence and fact that the government used the military to suppress the people and take away innocent lives. "The youngest victim we have recorded is only 9 years old."
The memorial text stated that Xu Qinxian, commander of the 38th Army who was sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to execute the order to fire, would not be forgotten, and mentioned the speech delivered by Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 20, 2025 in memory of Hu Yaobang. In his speech, Xi Jinping praised Hu Yaobang for "insisting on correcting mistakes and vigorously redressing unjust, false and wrongly convicted cases."
Calling on Xi Jinping to “correct any mistakes he makes”
The memorial text finally calls on "the current national leaders to uphold Hu Yaobang's selfless and fearless spirit of correcting mistakes, have the courage to shoulder historical responsibilities, and resolve this issue fairly through legislative and judicial procedures."
The student movement in 1989 evolved from the mourning activities triggered by the death of Hu Yaobang. Although Xi Jinping commemorated Hu Yaobang in a high-profile manner, he did not mention Hu Yaobang's liberalism in promoting the separation of party and government when he was in office. Instead, he emphasized his "unswerving loyalty to the party" and avoided the major connection between Hu Yaobang's death and the "1964 Incident".
The Tiananmen Mother's June Fourth memorial was published on overseas social media, with a total of 107 signatures. It also appended a list of 80 deceased victims among the previous signers, including Xiong Zhiming, who died of illness in the past year and was specifically mentioned in the memorial. His son, Xiong Hui, was only 20 years old when he was killed and was a student in the Department of Economics at Beijing Normal University.
The "June 4th Incident" is strictly filtered in textbooks and mainstream media in mainland China. Social media in China will immediately intercept and delete information related to the June 4th incident. Even discussions of the place name "Tiananmen" itself sometimes trigger censorship of sensitive words.
