‘Every year I get new pictures’: the fight to preserve the memory of Tiananmen

Amid growing censorship at home under the rule of Xi Jinping, efforts to document the massacre of 4 June, 1989, are intensifying abroad

Discussions about the bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters that took place around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 4 June, 1989 – and in cities across China – often dwell on the risk of forgetting the massacre.

The passage of time, with the world’s eyes soon drawn elsewhere, and suppression by authorities at home mean that the pivotal moment in Chinese history is at risk of fading into grey.