Testimony of Yang Darong, father of Yang Hanlei △ Yang Hanlei, male, born March 24, 1970, killed at age 19; before his death, Yang was a cook at the Beijing Liufang Guest House; before dawn on June 4, he was killed in the vicinity of the Beijing Hotel, at west Nanchizi. He was shot on the left side of his body in the lower stomach and spleen area.
Testimony of Yang Darong, father of Yang Hanlei:
On the afternoon of June 3, Hanlei said he had to renew his monthly bus pass. Our family repeatedly urged him to hurry up and return quickly, because it was complete chaos outside. Once he left, he never returned. We waited until evening, but he didn’t return. We waited until the next day, and still he didn’t return. We waited until the day after that, and still he didn’t come home. His mother and I searched everywhere, called everywhere, looked up every relative, friend and classmate of Hanlei, but every one said they hadn’t seen him. (Memoir Tiananmen-89)
Then, on the seventh day, June 9, Hanlei’s colleague came to our house and asked if "Little Lei" had returned. We asked him, "Have you seen Hanlei?" He said that on June 3, after Yang Hanlei bought his monthly pass he went to his colleague’s house and ate dinner there. After dinner, the two of them went out (Hanlei’s colleague lived in the area of Chaonei Nanxiaojie and Lumicang). It was already about 8:00 p.m. by then, there were no buses and there were a lot of people on the street. Everyone was walking in the direction of Dongdan, and they went along with the crowd to Dongsi and headed south. Without knowing it, they walked in front of the Beijing Hotel, where they were unable to turn back and unable to move. They were stuck this way for roughly four hours. Suddenly, the crowd became restless, and gunfire could be heard everywhere. Everyone made a mad dash toward the Beijing Hotel, and the two of them were split up. (64memo.com - 89)
We listened to Hanlei’s colleague’s narrative, and again went to all the associations and hospitals in search of Hanlei. Sure enough, we found him, but his clothes and complexion didn’t look right. The hospital doctor said, "Don’t you see that his clothes have been soaked with blood?" The gunshot wound was on his left side, in the area of his lower stomach and spleen. According to what the doctor said, if Hanlei had been promptly rescued, he wouldn’t have died, but he had been lying on the street from 1:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. until the next day, and had already been dead for a long time when he was finally taken to the hospital by people passing by. (64memo.com-2004)
After Hanlei died, his mother cried several times a day. I keep thinking that he hasn’t died, but had just taken a long trip. Whenever I see someone his age on the street I always think that Hanlei has returned. Now, Hanlei’s mother and I are already retired, and every month the two of us make 800 yuan retirement pay and do our best to get through the days. (64memo.com - 89)
Yang Darong
1999-01-31
Testimony of Yin Min, mother of Ye Weihang △ Ye Weihang, male, born in Beijing on February 10, 1970, killed when only 19 years and four months old; he was a junior in Beijing Senior High School No.57; he was killed on June 4, around 2:00 a.m., at Xinhua Park, in front of the dormitory some hundred yards east of the Muxudi bus stop; he was shot through his left arm and hit twice in the chest; his family keeps his ashes in the bedroom. (64memo祖國萬歲 / 89)
Testimony of Yin Min, mother of Ye Weihang:
On June 3, 1989, at 9:00 p.m., the Chinese People’s Liberation Army started a massive slaughter of unarmed Beijing citizens. The entire world was shocked by this cruel, bloody massacre!
I am a doctor, and at that time I was just visiting a child with a high fever. From that family’s apartment on the sixth floor I could see my son, reviewing his lessons under a lamp in our apartment. Because he had already entered the stage of intensive review for the college entrance examinations, I felt a boundless comfort and confidence when I saw my son studying with such concentration. How in the world could I have known that this glimpse from the building across was to be our last farewell! But that senseless gunfire shook his young spirit. At a quarter past midnight my son put down the review lesson for his language class-[Lu Xun’s] "In Memoriam Ms. Liu Hezhen (1904-1926)" - and went to Muxudi on his bicycle (my colleague later told me the time). After my son was shot at around 2:00 a.m. on June 4, four young people took turns carrying him on their backs to the surgical ward of the Navy General Hospital (a surgeon told me this the next day), trying to save him. My son was shot three times: one bullet cleared through his left arm, one bullet lodged in the right-hand side of his chest, and one in the back of his chest. The doctors did everything they could to save him, but he died anyway. He was only 19 years old! (64memo.com-2004)
Given the circumstances at the time, we had no way of finding out exactly where our son had died. But several months after it happened I dreamt about the place where my son was killed. To make sure, I went to look for the place the next morning, and the situation did resemble what I had seen in my dream: a place in Xinhua Park, in front of a dormitory, 100 yards east of the Muxudi bus stop (it doesn’t exist anymore; they have built an overpass there). And so I decided that that was the place where my son was killed. (64檔案´89)
After my son was killed, I did not want to put him in some bleak, desolate spot. So after the cremation I put my son’s ashes in my bedroom, so that we could console each other’s lonely spirits. Now I can just chat with my son about my depression and my grief, and tell him what is happening around me...
In school my son received good marks both for his work and for his character. He gained the confidence of students and teachers alike. He was one of the best students in his class, and a good cadre. He was our hope and our future. His sudden departure was like a bolt from the blue. Our hearts bled. The family suffered endless misery and pain. It is hard to recover from such a heavy blow. We have been shot through our heart and soul, and these wounds won’t heal. For ten years we have fought a bitter struggle searching for justice for our child. We call upon all conscientious people to use the law for the protection of human justice, to reveal history in its true colors, and to punish the killers to the limit of the law, so as to comfort the souls of our murdered loved ones in Heaven! (64memo.com-89)
Yin Min
1999-01-31
Testimony of You Weijie, widow of Yang Minghu △
Yang Minghu, male, born February 1, 1947, killed at age 42; before his death, he was a staff member of the legal department of the patent section of the China Trade Promotion Commission; before dawn, at about 2:00am on June 4, 1989, he received a gunshot wound at Nanchizi that split his bladder into pieces and shattered his pelvis; he died at 8:00 a.m. on June 6 at Beijing Tongren Hospital, when efforts to save his life were to no avail; his ashes rest at Wanan Cemetery in the western suburbs. (六四檔案-2004)
Testimony of You Weijie, widow of Yang Minghu:
In the early morning of June 4, at 1:00 a.m., Yang Minghu left the house. We had heard gunfire and gone downstairs together, where we heard our neighbors coming back from Xidan say that something was happening on the streets. Yang Minghu was worried about the students remaining in Tiananmen Square and decided to go out and have a look. He didn’t believe that the people’s army could use machine guns and tanks against unarmed civilians. He left the house by bicycle and went to Nanchizi on the western side of Tiananmen and stood on the side of east Chang’an Boulevard with the rest of the crowd. (六四檔案 / 89)
Around 2:30 a.m., the martial law troops burst forth from the public security bureau compound and fired into the crowd. Yang Minghu was struck by a bullet, and after 3:00 a.m. the people took him by flatbed tricycle to Tongren Hospital. He was wounded in his bladder, which was shot to pieces, and his pelvis was shattered. The hospital sewed up his bladder. But because his pelvis was so shattered and some capillaries were destroyed, the doctors had no way of operating on him. Yang Minghu’s spirit struggled with death for two days and two nights in the hospital. During this time, he bled away the blood transfusions that were given to him. Finally, on June 6, at 8 o’clock, he died of an infection in his abdominal cavity and heart failure. Immediately before his death, in a feeble voice from deep within his chest, he apologized to me, saying "Forgive me! Forgive me!" He didn’t have the strength to say more. (64memo.com´89)
Yang Minghu died with many regrets, because he was in the prime of life, because there was so much he needed to do and especially because his death struck such a huge blow to his family. At that time, we had a young child, and together we planned to raise and educate him. Now that burden falls on me alone. Our child early on lost his father’s love, early on had to deal with the kind of emotional wounds no child should have to bear. At the time of Minghu’s death, my child was not quite five years old, just at the stage of becoming aware, yet he would never be able to be educated by his father. At the factory where I work, business is bad, the factory is changing and from my perspective, the difficulty of shouldering the burden of a child’s education by myself is beyond words. The bloody reality of June Fourth shocks me, and I am appalled that the government would employ such brutal and cruel methods against its own people. (64memo祖國萬歲/89)
You Weijie
January 28, 1999
1999-01-31
Testimony of Youxiang, husband of Liu Jinhua △ Liu Jinhua, female, was born February 26, 1955, and died aged 34. She worked in the general administration office of the PLA. On the evening of June 3, 1989, she died behind the Yanjing Hotel from a bullet wound to the head. Her cremated ashes were first kept at the Laoshan Memorial Hall, then later moved to Tianjin cemetery, her final resting ground. (六四檔案/2004)
Testimony of Feng Youxiang, widower of Liu Jinhua:
On the evening of June 3, 1989, my wife Jinhua and I went to fetch some medicine from my sister’s, in central Beijing. The city traffic was chaotic. On our way back, we heard gunshots and could not continue on our way, so we hid behind the west building of the Yanjing Hotel. We thought that since we hadn’t participated in the student rallies, we would not be targeted, but to our shock, government troops stopped at the hotel. We were sprayed with gunshot and fell in a pool of blood. A bullet went through my thigh, and another into my wife’s head, felling her instantly. I cried for help, and soon after, I was taken to the Children’s Hospital. I did not know at the time where my wife had been taken or what her condition was. A week later, when I was transferred to room No.306, I learned that my wife had been taken to the morgue of the Air Veteran’s Hospital-she had died. Her body had been identified by the director of her work unit. Eight days later, her body was cremated at Babaoshan, where her unit held a memorial service. I attended in my wounded state. Her ashes remained at Laoshan Memorial Hall for three years. Then, on the advice of my mother-in-law, I transferred them to Tianjin. (64memo祖國萬歲-1989)
My family life was destroyed by the June Fourth Incident. From that point on, my child and I have been living a lonely existence, and up to now, I have not created a new family. These past ten years, I have faced many obstacles. First, the question of work. After the tragedy - as it had been of a political nature - I couldn’t bear to work for the government any longer. Also, there was obviously no future for me there. In anger, I decided to take a risk and try my luck at private enterprise. During this time, my friends and relatives, who were concerned about my life situation, were worried about me. The most troubling questions were the raising and education of my child. I did not want to transfer cruelty to the next generation or cultivate hate in my child. But what to do? It was a very difficult matter. After much reflection during these ten years, I think that the government should deal with the issue of June Fourth in order to relieve the anguish suffered by the victims and our society as a whole. This anniversary of June Fourth I miss my wife tremendously. I express profound sorrow for my wife and all who perished. To those who have helped me over the years, I extend my heartfelt gratitude. (六四檔案 / 89)
Feng Youxiang
1999-01-31
Testimony of Yuan Kezhi, Yuan Li’s father △ Yuan Li, male, born July 7, 1960, graduated with a Master’s Degree from Northern University of Transportation. He worked in a research department for automation at the Ministry of Electrical Engineering. Before his death he had been accepted as a graduate student at Stevens Institute of Technology in the United States. He had received his passport and was planning to leave for the United States before September. (64memo.com / 2004)
He was shot by martial law troops at about 11:45 p.m. on June 3, 1989, in Muxudi. Just after midnight, early on June 4, he was taken to the Naval Hospital. Because he had no ID with him, he was listed as Unidentified Corpse No.2. There was a bruise on his left hand beneath the thumb; the bullet had entered his throat and exited at the base of the spine. His ashes are buried at Wanan Public Cemetery in the western suburbs. (六四檔案´89)
Testimony of Yuan Kezhi, Yuan Li’s father:
At the time of the 1989 student movement, all of Beijing turned out to support the students. Because Yuan Li was working, he didn’t participate intensively in the demonstrations, but he followed the development of the movement closely. His parents had had experiences of political movements, and due to their own lingering fears they exhorted him not to get involved. But he answered, "Every man has a share of the responsibility for his country," and he added worriedly, "What will happen if the student movement fails?" For two weeks before the events of June 4, he went almost every evening to People’s University to hear the news over the students’ loudspeaker system. (64memo.com-1989)
On May 20, Yuan Li had a long talk with Li XX, a student from the Science and Engineering University who was taking part in the hunger strike. Yuan Li begged the student to speak to the student leaders at Tiananmen and persuade them to call an end to the hunger strike. He felt that the masses were already aroused, so that there was no longer any need for them to continue actions which would damage their health. When Yuan Li heard Chai Ling’s announcement calling off the strike, he was very excited. On June 2, Yuan Li heard a rumor in the office that the martial law forces at Liuliqiao had been blocked by citizens. A colleague said he thought that the troops might open fire, but Yuan Li thought that it was impossible, that Chinese soldiers would never fire on the people. He believed without any hesitation the old propaganda slogan that "The army is to the people as fish are to water." (64memo.com - 89)
On the morning of June 3, Yuan Li went to Qinghua University to look for a graduate student he knew. The student had just gone to Tiananmen, and Yuan Li went to look for him. The students had blocked a commandeered army vehicle full of firearms, ammunition, helmets and other military goods near Fushi Street. A few people were still demonstrating, carrying around helmets stuck on bayonets. Yuan Li felt that the students’ action in stopping the commandeering and plundering of this truck was one of the best things they had done, and he was very proud of them. Just then, troops who were stationed in the Great Hall of the People tried to attack the people to retake the stolen weapons. Yuan Li and the Qinghua student tried to stop the soldiers, entreating them to go back to the Great Hall of the People. They were there until 8:00pm and only then returned to their homes to shower and eat dinner. (64memo.com´89)
At 11:00 p.m. on the same night, Yuan Li heard gunfire from the direction of the Military Museum and Muxudi. He took his bike to set out for Muxudi, but his mother pulled at his bike, saying, "It’s dangerous! People are being killed, don’t go!" Yuan Li answered, "If even you old people can go out on the streets to hear the news, then how could an unmarried young man like me not dare to go?" He was wearing a vest, jeans and a kerchief around his neck, which he said he would use to cover his mouth and nose if he encountered tear-gas. He determinedly got on his bike and gave a powerful kick to set it in motion. Who would have thought that would be our farewell? All night his mother and I couldn’t close our eyes. By the early morning of June 4 he had not returned, and we knew something had happened. We asked our neighbors to help us contact Yuan Li’s cousin and her husband, and we all went to Muxudi to look for him. We went to the Public Security Bureau for the western part of the city, as well as to the local police station, to make inquiries. Many people suggested we go to look in the hospitals. For half a month after June 4, Yuan Li’s friends and relatives, including his cousin and her husband, and Yuan Li’s older brother and older sister, who had rushed home from Changsha, searched in Beijing’s 44 hospitals without success, without finding even a corpse. Had he been arrested by the martial law troops? We were anxious, uncertain, terrified...The days passed in this painful manner, until, on June 19, as we were looking through the hospitals a second time, we found his body in the morgue of the Naval Hospital. He had not been carrying any identifying documents, so that was why it had been impossible for them to contact any relatives. In that period of time, Yuan Li’s body had been mistakenly claimed by the Beijing Municipal Spring Factory, but was returned two days later. Fortunately, an old worker at the Naval Hospital had found a unique way to preserve corpses, so it had been well-preserved and had not yet begun to decompose. (64memo.com - 89)
In the half-month that we searched for Yuan Li, of all the hospitals we went to, Fuxing Hospital had the most unidentified corpses - it had become a mountain of bodies. We ourselves saw over 400 - if you count those which must have been recognized and taken away, it must have been even more! As news of Yuan Li’s disappearance spread, many friends and relatives came to our home to express concern and sympathy. Three young men who didn’t know one another came, to relate the cruel events they had seen from the night of June 3 to the early morning of June 4, at Muxudi Bridge, at the base of a high-rise building there: at about 11:00 p.m. on June 3, the martial law troops sent an infantry division from west to east over Muxudi Bridge. An order was given and all the soldiers lay down, except for one who, kneeling like an old woman, used his assault rifle to spray the street with bullets. Many people threw themselves down at the sound. After the soldiers left, the people used three-wheeled carts or their own bicycles to transport the dead and wounded to nearby hospitals. Barely half an hour later, the first armored division swept over Muxudi Bridge from west to east, and people saw one youth raise his left arm and cry, "I am a Qinghua University graduate student..." These words were barely out when that young man lay down in darkness... (64memo祖國萬歲 - 2004)
From looking over Yuan Li’s body we found that there was a bruise under his left thumb; the bullet had entered his throat and exited at the base of his spine. Blood had stained his vest and jeans (we kept the blood-covered clothes and still have them.) We concluded that his thumb had been injured by a rifle-butt. The bullet had been fired upwards from a military vehicle and had hit Yuan Li descending; the path of the bullet was almost directly up and down. Yuan Li’s eyes and mouth were wide open, so that he looked alive. It was only just before his cremation that we were able to close his eyes and mouth. (64memo.com´89)
On June 24, 1989, we held a memorial service for Yuan Li in Farewell Chamber No. 3 at Babaoshan, in which 300 people participated. Just before the service, we saw with our own eyes men carrying two bulging black plastic bags, each the size of a human being, into the crematorium; even from a distance, we all noticed an unpleasant odor. It seems there is no way to find out anything definitive about the fate of June Fourth victims like those two. So many souls of those unjustly killed will receive no earthly justice except to be remembered each year on June Fourth, a day of national shame, by those they left behind. (Memoir Tiananmen / 2004)
On July 29, 1989, we had a burial ceremony in the western suburbs, at Wanan Cemetery, where Yuan Li’s ashes were interred. The epitaph on Yuan Li’s tablet was as follows: We mourn for our son who died before he reached adulthood. He departed the world too suddenly. Our family’s star of hope bid us farewell and fell to earth. The will of Heaven is unfair: it called away a youth full of promise and ambition. Our son left behind him two old and withered parents. Our son was born July 7 and ascended to Heaven on June 3. The shortness of his life was most unfortunate. Our hearts are broken entirely and our gladness and laughter are finished forever. In grief we erect this tablet. (64檔案 - 89)
Ten years later, Yuan Li’s death has left a wound in the hearts of his family which cannot be healed. The murderers hope that the tragedy of June Fourth will fade from public memory, but this will only bury more deeply in the hearts of the people their rage against the killers and their painful memories of the innocent victims. Since the unexpected blow occurred, the spiritual shock has made Yuan Li’s mother’s high blood pressure even worse, and her heart disease has recently become acute rather than chronic, especially since she had a fainting spell at Yuan Li’s farewell ceremony. In the years since 1989, Yuan Li’s mother has been in the hospital once a year for high blood pressure and heart disease. In addition, each year on the Qing Ming Festival, when people hold memorial ceremonies for June 4 victims buried at Wanan Cemetery, we are under surveillance by the military and plainclothes police, and this kind of psychological trauma doubles the effect of the wounds caused by our losses. We have lost hope of finding peace in our old age. (64檔案-1989)
Yuan Kezhi
1999-01-31
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