Cyclists joined the ranks of the Tiananmen Square remembrance rally today at Nathan Phillips Square to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the massacre.

A group of two dozen met this morning outside Urbane Cyclist and biked to the noon-hour event. Eugene Yao, who co-founded the cycling co-operative that runs the store, helped organize the bike-in, while his daughter, Yaya Yao, organized the rally at City Hall. Together, the cyclists and the protesters staged a collective “die-in” to symbolically re-enact the killing of democracy protesters 20 years ago in Beijing.

This anniversary marks the coming-of-age for an entire generation born after the event. They are students who have no direct connection to the hundreds who died on June 4, 1989, many of whom were also students.

Ben Shulman was born in 1991, two years after his mother, Jan Wong, covered the Tiananmen massacre from the balcony of a hotel across the street from the square as a correspondent for the Globe and Mail. He’s never read that story, though his parents have instilled in him a respect for the date.

“Remembering the tragedy was very important to my parents, who were there,” he said.

Since he was five years old the Tiananmen rally has been an annual family event. Shulman’s parents would take him and his brother to a protest outside the Chinese Consulate, and then to a vigil at the University of Toronto.

Growing up has made his emotional distance more apparent. “I felt more connected to it back then,” he said. Now, Shulman says, he’s become “frustrated with familial obligation and with events that your parents want you to do.

“I know it sounds like I’m not connected to it,” he said. “I know there are people who are more involved than I am. I’m just not one of them.”

Winnie Ng, wife of Eugene Yao and mother to Yaya Yao, watched the massacre happen on TV. She emigrated from China in 1966 to Montreal, and moved to Toronto in 1975. Ng also sees a disconnect among Chinese-Canadian youths.

“We made a vow 20 years ago to never forget,” she said. “It is our goal, through this type of event, to reactivate, to rekindle that memory.”

Shulman is trying to help. He volunteered this year to lead cyclists to City Hall as one of the events’ marshals. He’s hoping the event’s change from a vigil to a die-in will be more engaging for a younger generation.

“It’s always been a march and slogans and pickets,” he said. “Maybe this will do better to bring in more people.”