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Official Documents
Declassified Files of the Canadian Government on the June Fourth Incident
This document, declassified in January 2015, contains a 1989 diplomatic memorandum from the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. It describes the circumstances surrounding the June 4 massacre as they were known to officials at the Canadian embassy.
The documents, declassified by the National Library and Archives of Canada, show the Canadian government's concern about the invasion of the embassy by Chinese troops. The documents also describe the crackdown in Beijing and how the troops killed citizens.
Article
Facts of the 1958-1962 Disaster in Fengyang County, Anhui Province
The author of this book, Luo Pinghan, is a native of Anhua County, Hunan Province. He graduated from the Party History Department of Renmin University of China and served as director and professor of the Party History Teaching and Research Department of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. This book was published by Fujian People's Publishing House in 2003.
With Mao Zedong's affirmation, the system of people's communes was rapidly promoted across the country in 1958. At that time, the people's commune was both a production organization and a grassroots political power. Its rise and fanatical development are closely related to the subsequent Great Famine.
As a scholar within the system, the author’s view of history also belongs to orthodox ideology. Although this book is narrated from the official ideology of the CCP, it uses rich and detailed historical materials to comprehensively and systematically introduce the history of the People's Communes, giving it a reference value for a comprehensive understanding of this movement.
Article
Memorandum on "Three Years of Natural Disasters"
The years 1959-1961 were very unusual in the history of disasters in China and the world in the 20th century. Anyone who has experienced it will recall the starvation years and the days when people starved to death everywhere. However, due to official concealment and denial, the number of people who died in this disaster has never been officially announced.
The purpose of Jin Hui's article is to estimate the number of unnatural deaths during the three years of the 1959-1961 disaster in China. Based on public data released by the authoritative National Bureau of Statistics in China Jin concludes that about 40 million people died, which roughly matches studies by foreign scholars, who have estimated up to 45 million.
Film and Video
Petition
The domestically-released version of "Petition" consists of three parts: “The Masses,” “Mother and Daughter” and “Beijing South Railway Station.” Part one, “The Masses,” brings together the stories of petitioners of various backgrounds, who all for different reasons, ended up walking the same path. “The Masses” gives a comprehensive account of what is petitioning and and follows the process.
Part two, "Mother and Daughter," follows the story of Huaying, who brought her daughter Xiaojuan alongside her from the countryside of Jiangsu to Beijing to petition when Xiaojuan was only four years old. Over the next twelve years, they lived a wandering life. "Mother and Daughter" spans the longest period among all the parts of Petition, from 1996 to 2008. It witnesses the growth of Xiaojuan over ten years of petitioning, not only describing the sorrow of Chinese petitioners, but also revealing how long-lasting petitions cases affect the fate of the next generation. In official reports, petitioners lack a voice and appear to be even more marginalized under the media’s tactics. It also raises the issue of forced psychiatric confinement of individuals the Chinese government deems difficult.
“Beijing South Railway Station" surveys the "petitioner village," a residential area near the station that was once home to tens of thousands of people from all over the country. It was eventually demolished by authorities in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. The film captures bungalows being knocked down, shacks being flattened, and security police chasing after residents, the latter not given the time to grab any necessities.
Zhao Liang recalls dressing like the interceptors when filming interceptors, and dressing like a petitioner while filming petitioners. “I had several outfits, and tried to stay low key, using the smallest cameras possible.” The film went on to win the Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Documentary Film at the 29th Hawaii International Film Festival, and a Humanitarian Award for Documentaries at the 34th Hong Kong Film Awards.