Xian in China is known for the Terracotta Army of the Mausoleum of Qín Shǐhuángdì, an early Chinese tomb complex for the first Chinese emperor Qín Shǐhuángdì from 246 BC. Chr. But there is much more to see in Xian (as you can see). The recordings shown here date from 1988, when the two of us, packed with backpacks and unorganized, traveled through China for four weeks - an unforgettable and adventurous journey, during which we met many friendly and helpful Chinese people.
However, just one year later, on June 3 and 4, 1989, the Tiananmen Massacre took place, the violent crackdown on the student-led pro-democracy movement by the Chinese military. Again you saw the other side of China, a China in which human life is obviously not very important.
Today, more than thirty years later, this has not changed. On the website of Amnesty International’s Essen-Süd/Germany regional group, for example, one reads about the Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng:
"We are currently supporting the human rights lawyer to human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was taken from his home in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province on August 13, 2017 and has since disappeared. He is at risk of being tortured or otherwise, as in previous detentions abused or even killed. Police in Jia County, Yulin City, northern Shaanxi Province, denied that the human rights lawyer was in their custody shortly after the family filed a missing persons report. After not receiving any information for more than three weeks, family members were informed on September 5, 2017 that Gao Zhisheng had been taken to Beijing. However, the government officials who delivered this message to Gao Zhisheng's older brother refused to give him any further information about Gao Zhisheng's whereabouts, his health condition, or the reasons for his detention. Since then, his family members have not received any further information or confirmation of his detention. Gao Zhisheng has previously been held as a prisoner of conscience and a victim of enforced disappearance. He said he was repeatedly tortured at the time. Amnesty International therefore fears that he may be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment again." [Amnesty International | Essen-Süd]
If you also want to know what happened to Mr. Gao Zhisheng, Amnesty International has prepared a letter for you here. Letter
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