HRIC June 4th Podcast Series

An Archive of Oral History

Seventeen years after the violent June 4th Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, the Chinese government has yet to respond to demands for a full investigation and official accountability, compensation for the victims and their families and a reassessment of the crackdown.

In the face of official Chinese propaganda and information control, Human Rights in China (HRIC) aims to preserve a historical record as well as to support Chinese efforts promoting greater democracy and openness.

The following interviews include oral histories of the June 4th Tiananmen Square crackdown never previously made public, and explore the role of the democracy and independent labor movements as China moves into the future.

Since 1989, HRIC has actively called for a full accounting and investigation of the June 4th crackdown, and supported the goals and tenets of the rights defender group, the Tiananmen Mothers. These podcasts, produced by HRIC, are a new media contribution in amplifying and disseminating voices from inside China today. The original interviews were conducted by Feng Congde, a participant of the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement and a current staff member at HRIC.

New podcasts will be posted when they are available. Subscribe to the HRIC June 4th Podcast series to hear the podcasts as they are released.

[Monday, April 23]

Wang Youcai (王有才)

An organizer at Peking University, Wang Youcai was imprisoned for four years, then sentenced to 11 years in 1998 for helping to organize the China Democracy Party. He was forced into exile in 2004 and is now studying in Chicago.

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[Monday, April 23]

Peng Rong (彭嵘)

An organizer at Peking University, Peng was imprisoned for two years after organizing a commemoration on the first anniversary of June 4th at Peking University.

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[Friday, April 6]

Zhou Fengsuo (周锋锁)

A physics student at Tsinghua University, and a member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation, Zhou was arrested in Xi'an on June 13, 1989, and was imprisoned for one year.

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[Wednesday, April 4]

Cheng Zhen (程真)

One of the organizers of the hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, Cheng provides a rare eyewitness account of two deaths in the Square during the early hours of June 4th.

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[Monday, March 26]

Chang Jing (常勁)

In 1989, Chang was vice-president of the Peking University independent student union. He conducted surveys of the wounded and dead in Beijing hospitals following the June 4th crackdown.

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[Friday, March 23]

Xiong Yan (熊焱)

A graduate student of law at Peking University and a leader of the Students' Dialogue Group, Xiong was arrested on June 15, 1989 and held for 18 months without due process.

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Li Hai (李海)

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[Wednesday, November 15, 2006]

Wang Lei (王磊)

A student at Northwest University in Xi'an, Wang participated in a Truth Committee investigating the violence that erupted in Xi'an on April 22, 1989, shortly after Hu Yaobang's death. Wang was arrested in Xi'an on March 23, 1990, and was imprisoned for twenty-one months.

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[Tuesday, July 25, 2006]

Meng Lang (孟浪)

Meng is the former editor of the Shenzhen University Journal. He is now a poet living overseas.

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[Monday, July 10, 2006]

Anonymous: Hong Kong student

A high school student in Hong Kong in 1989, this individual traveled to Beijing that summer to support the Tiananmen Square movement. Today, she is a researcher living in Hong Kong.

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[Wednesday, June 21, 2006]

Zhai Weimin (翟伟民)

A student at the Beijing Institute of Economics in 1989, Zhai was detained in May 1990 while preparing to mark the first anniversary of June 4th.

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[Tuesday, June 12, 2006]

Wang Zhixin (王志新)

A student organizer at the University of Political Science and Law in 1989, Wang was detained in December 1990 and held for more than two years.

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[Friday, June 2, 2006]

Introduction: Voices from June 4th

This English podcast gives a brief overview of the events surrounding June 4th, 1989 and provides translated clips from the full interviews of Cheng Zhen, Chang Jing, Wang Zhixin, Zhai Weimin, and Han Dongfang.

Transcript currently unavailable

Ding Zilin (丁子霖)

Spokesperson of the Tiananmen Mothers, a rights defenders group whose basic tenets of peaceful protest and demands, include an official reassessment of the incident, a process of truth and reconciliation, and lawful compensation to the victims. Her son was killed during the crackdown.

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Han Dongfang (韩东方)

A 1989 labor activist, Han is the founder and director of China Labour Bulletin in Hong Kong.

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Ma Shaofang (马少方)

A student at the Beijing Film Academy in 1989, Ma was one of the organizers of the hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. He was imprisoned for three years on charges of counterrevolutionary incitement.

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Lu Decheng (鲁德成)

One of the individuals who splattered paint on the portrait of Mao Zedong that hangs over Tiananmen Square, Lu was sentenced to 16 years on charges of counterrevolutionary incitement and sabotage. He was recently granted asylum in Canada.

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Zhang Bin (张斌)

Zhang participated in the 1989 protests while employed at a travel agency. He was wounded during June 4th.

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