Читать книгу A Forest of Names - Ian Boyden - Страница 8

Prologue

AT 2:28 ON MAY 12, 2008, an 8.0 earthquake leveled western Sichuan province in China, displacing millions of people and killing tens of thousands of others. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in human history. It became clear that a disproportionate number of schoolchildren were killed when their government-built schools collapsed on them. To conceal the corruption behind the faulty construction, the government prevented parents and citizens from finding out who died, how many, and why—often using brutal tactics. Despite this, artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei created a team called Citizens’ Investigation, which gathered and published the names of the children. In total, this list includes 5,196 names, their age, gender, date of birth, and which school they attended.