Male, 21, student in the Economics Department of the Central Institute for Nationalities (now Minzu University of China). From: Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Chongqing City.
After Hu Yaobang’s death in April 1989, Chen became an active participant in the 1989 Democracy Movement. In the early morning of June 4, he was shot dead in Tiananmen Square. Upon receiving the notice of Chen’s death from his university, Chen’s father traveled to Beijing to handle the funeral. After cremation, his ashes were brought back to his hometown and buried on top of a nearby mountain. A journalist, after serving a June Fourth-related prison sentence, spent three years tracking down Chen’s family. He provided financial help to the struggling family and helped to set up Chen’s grave stone, with the inscription “A son of the earth.”
Chen belonged to the Tujia ethnic minority. He was one of four sons in a family from a small village deep in the mountains outside of Chongqing. His father made a living by making wooden pails for storing grains and his mother farmed. Chen developed a love of reading books as a child and his grades were outstanding. In elementary school, Chen had to walk a long distance through the mountains every day to get to and from school. When Chen entered the Central Institute for Nationalities in 1986, he was the first person in his village to go to university.
After Chen’s death, his mother could not stop crying. She developed severe cataracts and lost her eyesight when she was in her early 60s. She died from illness in 2004, unable to afford to see doctors. She left behind no photos of herself as she had not wanted to spend money to have a picture taken. His father died in early 2008 from an illness that had caused him to cough up blood.
Chen’s older brother, Chen Yongchao (陈永朝), was a member of the Tiananmen Mothers before he passed away. One of his younger brothers, Chen Yongbang (陈永邦), is still a member.
Chen Yongting’s Renmin University student ID
Chen Yongting’s photo in his high school diploma
One of two telegrams sent to the education bureau of Chen Yongting’s hometown Youyang
After Chen Yongting’s death, the Central Institute for Nationalities sent two telegrams to the education bureau of Youyang, Chen home town, to inform his family.
The first one read: “Beijing, Chen Degao of Group 4, Yangliu Village, Tushixiang, Chen Yongting had an unfortunate death. Could you come to Beijing? Please telegraph to the Economics Department of the Central Institute for Nationalities.”
The second telegram read: “Youyang Education Bureau: Chen Yongting, son of Chen Degao of Group 4, Yangliu Village, Tushixiang, had an unfortunate death. This department telegraphed his family on June 6. We decided that you should notify his family again. His family’s travel expenses will be paid for by this institute. Department of Economics, Central Institute for Nationalities.”
In a 2013 interview, a family member said: “The night before we received the telegrams, we didn’t know why but it felt as if his spirit had already come back. No one could sleep.”
The Chen family home in Sichuan, 2013
The Chen family home in Sichuan, 2013
Chen Yongting’s father made a living by making wooden pails
Chen Degao (陈德高), father of Chen Yongting
It is the greatest mockery. . . . Chen Yongting’s father never thought that the new government he trusted so much would send soldiers to kill his innocent 20-year-old son in Tiananmen Square.
Chen Yongting’s grave. The inscription in the middle reads: “Grave of Chen Yongting, Son of the Earth.” The couplet down the sides of the tombstone reads: “Contempt is the passport of the contemptible; nobleness is the epitaph of the noble.”
