Ding Zilin

Ding Zilin, 2014

Ding Zilin ( Chinese  丁子霖 , Pinyin Dīng Zǐlín ; born December 20, 1936 in Shanghai ) is a Chinese civil rights activist and former professor of the Chinese People's University of Philosophy . She is the mother of one of those killed in the Tian'anmen massacre (June 3 and 4, 1989) and has been leading the Tian'anmen Mothers activist group since then .

Live and act

Details from the life of Ding Zilin and her family are only known in the context of their involvement in the Tian'anmen massacre.

Ding Zilin's son, Jiang Jielin, participated in the democracy movement protests on the night of June 4th at the age of 17 , despite being warned by his mother about the threat of eviction, which was announced on state television. Ding Zilin only got information about Jiang's direct death from statements from classmates who also attended the rally: They said he was fatally wounded by a bullet in the chest. He died on the way to the hospital.

In the direct result Zilin tried several times, six times, suicide to commit, but they considered their lives since August 1989 again stand as an attempt:

"In August of 1989, I found a family that had suffered the same loss as me, a family that had lost a son like me. After that I found a second, a third and a fourth family. We got together and comforted and cared for each other. Afterwards, we began to search for other families with the same fate. In the process of searching, I realized it wasn't only myself, that it wasn't only my husband and me, my family, that had encountered loss. In the space of one month we found so many families who had lost a relative. In the last ten years, we have found more than 150 families like our own. "

“In August 1989, I found a family who had suffered the same loss as me. A family that had lost their son like me. After that I found a second, a third, and a fourth family. We came together and took care of each other. As a result, we started looking for other families with the same fate. During the search I realized that I am not alone; it wasn't just my husband and I, my family, who had suffered loss. In this way, over a period of one month, we found many families who had lost loved ones. In the last ten years we have found more than 150 families like ours. "

- Ding Zilin, 1999

Their personal demands to the government of the People's Republic of China are similar to those of the Tian'anmen mothers:

1. An independent investigation into the events of June 4, 1989,
2. an explanation to the relatives of the dead as to how they died; legal proceedings for the Tian anmen massacre and legal compensation for all affected families,
3. Trial of those responsible for the Tian'anmen massacre.

Together with her fellow campaigners, Ding Zilin sent six petitions to the National People's Congress between 1995 and 1998 , most recently also to the President .

After donations to Zilin were confiscated , she sent a protest letter to the local office of the Ministry of Public Security , which was later followed by protests at the state level.

She says of her son:

"Some [...] people have consoled me by saying," You are the mother of a hero. " I don't think he's a hero. He was just trying to get a taste of involvement. He was just a normal, young, Chinese person. But history is fair. I think that in the long run history will bring justice. "

“Some people have given me their condolences by saying“ Your son is a hero ”. I don't think he's a hero. He was just trying to achieve the taste of participation. He was a normal, young Chinese. But the story is fair. I think in the long run history will do justice. "

Repression

Their involvement in the form of the Tian'anmen Mothers attracted attention from the international press, which in turn led to state repression :

"After the interview the government used a number of different measures to put pressure on my husband and me - they wouldn't let me go to class, wouldn't let me take on any research students, wouldn't let us publish anything domestically , expelled me from the party, and confiscated my husband's research. This developed to the point where they secretely detained us. I was detained for more than 40 days. Even after we were released, I was still forced to retire early. "

“After the interview [with ABC ], the government took a variety of different measures to put pressure on my husband and me. They prevented me from teaching, prevented me from doing research with students, and prevented me from publishing anything locally , expelled me from the Chinese Communist Party ], and confiscated my husband's research. A secret detention followed. I was detained for more than 40 days. When we were released, I was forced to retire. "

- Ding Zilin, 1999

In the course of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo in 2010, Zilin, along with several other supporters and advocates for the cause of Charter 08 - Political Reform and Democratization in China, was kidnapped by the local police and arrested as a political prisoner .

Before the 24th anniversary of the Tian'anmen massacre, Zilin again denounced the observation that had been ongoing since 1991 :

“The situation of the“ Tian'anmen Mothers ”has not changed much. No matter where I go, landlines, mobile phones and the Internet are always monitored, wiretapped and often turned off. (...) During the memorial day, some members of the "Tian'anmen mothers" who want to visit the graves of their deceased (during the massacre) are forced to be driven by the police or followed at every turn. "

- Ding Zilin, 2013

After Zilin and several intellectuals and activists from different nations published an appeal for the 25th anniversary of the june4commemoration.org project , she was placed under house arrest - along with 19 other activists ; 18 other people were arrested, 10 people disappeared for several days, 10 people were forced to leave the country for distant cities by the police.

Web links

Commons : Ding Zilin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Kristin Kupfer : 20 years of Tiananmen: "We have to break the silence about Tiananmen" , Die Zeit website, June 3, 2009.
• Rebecca MacKinnon : Ding Zilin: an advocate for the dead , CNN website, June 1999.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Rebecca MacKinnon : Ding Zilin: an advocate for the dead , CNN website, June 1999. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
2. ↑ Cara Anna: China Targets Nobel Peace Prize Winner's Friends ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Huffington Post website, October 15, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2015. 
3. ↑ Yong Yang: Never Forget - 24th Anniversary of the Tian'anmen Tragedy , stimmen-aus-china.de, June 4, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
4. ↑ China: Persecution of Tiananmen activists exposes President Xi's reform lies , Amnesty International website, May 27, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2015.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Ding is the family name here, Zilin is the first name.