Over a mound where a limestone pit once was, a rough-hewn stone stele lists the names of Zhou Qun’s husband and three children, and includes a couplet that reads:
Father and Children, Rest in Peace
Those in this World, a Life of Peace
Li Dongde, a school teacher, stands at the execution grounds where his father, Li Jingxi, was shot by militiamen in August 1967. “This is where he was killed and his body lined up with others,” he said quietly before standing for this portrait. “My father’s skull was smashed to a pulp by the fowling gun, and his clothes had been stripped off, leaving him naked except for his underpants. Some of the dead were dumped in the Yongming River because their families didn’t dare collect their bodies.
Martin Lavička is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Asian Studies at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic, teaching modern Chinese history, Taiwan history, and Chinese politics. His research focuses on the socio-legal aspects of China’s ethnic policies, religious freedoms, and the rule of law. He is currently a visiting research fellow at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University, Sweden, conducting a two-year project on the rule of law in China.
