Jiang Jielian, 17, had been a keen participant in the seven weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing in the spring of 1989 and, ignoring a curfew imposed by Ding on the evening of June 3, he sneaked out of the flat.

That night, tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square and through nearby streets after the Chinese government ordered the army to quash the protests.

By morning, hundreds and possibly thousands were dead -- including Jiang.

Sitting in her modern Beijing flat, Ding, a petite, frail 72-year-old woman, started to cry as she described a pain still vivid after two decades.

"Upstairs, a woman just gave birth to a baby, a boy, and every day I pass them I think of my son when he was young," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"If he was alive today, he would be 37, married with his own family, so how can I forget him every day I live through these things?"

Ding was once a philosophy professor at Beijing's Renmin University, but was forced into early retirement after she spoke to foreign press in the early 1990s, demanding that the government give a full account of the crackdown.

"Before I broke my silence, I was in between life and death," she said.

"My son had suddenly gone and for me, ending my own life was quite easy so for a long time, I thought about following him."

But Ding -- who reportedly attempted suicide six times after Jiang, her only child, was killed -- found some solace in August 1989 when she met another woman who had lost her son in the Tiananmen bloodshed.

She then came across a second bereaved relative, and a third.

Now, Ding leads an activist group of 128 people called the Tiananmen Mothers, who have called on the government to acknowledge the crackdown and punish those responsible.

For years, the group has delivered petitions to lawmakers at China's annual parliamentary session in Beijing, but their efforts have been met with a resounding silence.

Ding's relentless campaigning has seen her at times detained and put under house arrest, and although guests -- including foreign journalists -- are now allowed to visit her flat, they still have to register at the main gate.

The government has labelled the 1989 protests a "counter-revolutionary uprising", jailed hundreds of suspects and has never given a full explanation of what happened.

But after conducting her own investigations, Ding has been able to independently confirm the identities of 195 victims, starting with her own son.

"You know, other parents envy me because I know the exact time and place my child was killed -- 11:00 pm, June 3," she said.

After checking on her husband, who recently suffered a blood clot to the brain, Ding walked over to a corner of the living room where a shrine to her son has been erected, with his ashes kept in a tall, wooden structure.

There, she pointed to the last photo that was taken of Jiang -- a tall, handsome boy sporting a red band around his head at a protest march on May 17, 1989.

"How could they know that half a month later, they would meet with a fatal disaster?" she said, pausing to regain her balance after a dizzy spell brought on by high blood pressure.

"I would go to the dormitories of my students every day, telling them not to go. I told them they wouldn't have good results, that the Communist Party would hit back.

"I didn't let my son go either, but his father... he encouraged him."

For the grieving mother who was too old to even consider having another child when Jiang died, life now revolves entirely around her quest for justice.

"In the daytime my life is June 4, June 4, June 4, and except for taking care of my family, buying food, cooking, all is about June 4. And then at night I always have dreams," she said.

"I don't think that in my lifetime I will see justice, and I don't think this June 4 issue will see a fair resolution in the near future.

"But I will not stop, I will not give up."

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