Tiananmen Mothers
톈안먼 어머니회
A movement growing from the network of Ding Zilin and other families bereaved in the 1989 crackdown. It documents victims’ names and circumstances and calls for independent investigation, accountability, compensation and dialogue. An identified-victim list is a different kind of evidence from an estimate of the overall death toll.
In depth
A network of families
After her son Jiang Jielian was killed, Ding Zilin sought out other bereaved relatives and recorded their experiences. Despite its name, the network also included fathers and other family members. It transformed private mourning into public documentation and demands for truth.
Individual identification
Families documented students, workers and other residents, recording names, ages, locations and circumstances. Individual records do not lose value because they are fewer than estimated totals, and the list cannot be treated as a complete death toll.
Accountability
Under surveillance and restrictions, relatives demanded independent investigation, accountability, compensation and dialogue. The movement preserves the gap between official retrospective accounts and citizens’ memories.