Summary

Li Xiaoming was a Chinese soldier who witnessed the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989. He subsequently left the army and formally migrated to Australia in 2002. He has been been an advocate for the acknowledgement of those events ever since.

Li Xiaoming (Thomas) was born in January, 1964. He was 19 year old when he was enrolled in military college. Thomas was a soldier in the army when the Chinese Government declared martial law in Beijing in the lead up and aftermath of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, 4 June 1989. His unit arrived at the Square on 5 June and witnessed the evidence of the violence that occurred there. Thomas was 25 years old at that time.

He left the army around 1993 and came to Australia in 2000 as an international student. Thomas was invited to speak about the 4 June 1989 events by the Human Rights in China organisation in New York in 2002. After he made a speech about the Tiananmen Square massacre, Thomas' 'circumstances changed', and the Australian government granted him asylum. He applied for permanent residency in Australia under the Humanitarian Scheme. He is an Australian citizen, and his wife, son and parents all followed him to Australia. He has another son who was born in Australia.

Thomas story and his collection provides a unique opportunity to document the events of the Tiananmen Square Massacre through the eyes of a former soldier who was present at that time. This event resulted in over 40,000 Chinese students in Australia at the time being granted permanent residency visas by the Australian Government. This story also demonstrates the unwillingness of some soldiers to participate in the events that occurred, and the resulting migration of a former soldier as a result of speaking out about the events - a risky act of subversion in the eyes of the Chinese Government. For Thomas, the act of donating his material was part of his determination to raise awareness about the atrocities committed on 4 June 1989.

In an article written by Max Walden and published by Al Jazeera News on 3 June 2019, Thomas reflects: 'I think only in Australia I can get better life for my family and I am free to talk about the massacre...I just like all the other Chinese students want to have a better life, especially for my son I don't want my son to be killed when he grows up to peacefully protest. And most importantly I want the whole world to know exactly what really happened in Beijing, 1989.'

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