Six Chinese artists have disappeared a few days before the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

According to a tweet put out by Cao Yaxue, founder and editor of ChinaChang.org, artist Zhui Hun (追魂), as well as five artists from Beijing Songzhuang art colony (宋庄艺术区), Yuan Guolei (原国镭), Jia Qiong (贾穹), Pang Yong (庞勇), Zhao Jinhe (赵金鹤), and Cheng Yan’an (程延安), went missing in Nanjing on May 28.

“Redress June 4 – End one-party rule, build a democratic China” – banner during Tiananmen anniversary commemoration in Hong Kong

The six artists were on tour showing an art exhibition titled “Conscience Movement in China.”

As the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre approaches, the Communist authorities have detained, placed under house arrest or threatened dozens of activists and relatives of individuals killed during the crackdown.

On 17 May 1989 around a million people marched in the capital Beijing demanding political reform. Three days later the government declared martial law at 10. a.m.

Between June 3 and 4, thousands of troops were deployed in Beijing. Soldiers fired on civilians, and tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square.

Chinese reports claimed that 241 people were killed, but the real figure, which some claims to be much higher, is debated to this day.

Protests against government violence erupted in other Chinese cities.

In the morning of June 5 photographer Jeff Widener took the iconic picture of the tank man from a balcony on the sixth-floor of the Beijing Hotel.

On June 9 Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping addressed the nation for the first time since the crackdown, and announced that the government had suppressed a “counterrevolutionary rebellion.”

The Chinese Communist Party views the 1989 crackdown as a taboo topic and has sought to erase its memory through censorship, detentions and intimidation.

You may like