The Monument of the Martyrs of Democracy (民主烈士紀念碑) in Victoria Park, Hong Kong bears some resemblance with the Monument to the People’s Heroes on Tian An Men Square in Beijing.
But it’s smaller – along with the Goddess of Liberty next to it, it only seems to stand at Victoria Park when the Tian An Men massacre is remembered, every year on June 4. Some fifty middle-school students laid down jasmine flowers there on Saturday morning, reports Radio Taiwan International. The Goddess had found a temporary home at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, after various controversies in 2010. The sculptor, overseas Chinese and foreign natinal Chen Weiming, had reportedly been denied entry to Hong Kong during the run-up to the 2010 memorial activities – “in accordance with the law”, said the immigration department.
June 4 is occasionally – and seemingly casually – mentioned by mainland China’s English-publication Global Times, but is otherwise mostly or completely taboo in the media. The Global Times conducts some fishy experiments with history once in a while, as it is mostly targeted at foreign readers. In May 2009, the paper mentioned the “incident” in an article on the evolution of Chinese intellectuals’ thought over two decades and tried to put it into an amiably remote historical perspective:
June 4 Incident broke out in 1989 and after that intellectuals in China “switched to silence”, according to Zhang Liping.
“Intellectuals no longer discussed ‘isms’ publicly, and shifted their focus to academic issues,” she said. “Some people worried that China might slip backward.”
Such worries were dispelled three years later in 1992 by Deng Xiaoping’s visit to South China. “Deng’s speech reignited people’s hope and restored their confidence,” said Zhang Liping. In his speech, Deng emphasized the importance of economic reform and open-mindedness.
The happy ending:
After 1989, intellectuals became “more moderate and rational,” Zhang Liping said. “People realized that China would not change overnight.”
In Hong Kong, the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, established in May 1989, organizes the annual Vindicate 4 June and Relay the Torch activities. Wikipedia provides statistics about how many people have attended the vigils in Victoria park since 1990 (numbers stated by the Alliance and police respectively).*)
Just as Beijing, the Alliance has a strong sense of history. From one of its latest releases:
To commeorate the 22nd aniversary of the Tiananmen massacre and the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, the HK Alliance has prepared a series of events, among them a Ching Ming wreath laying ceremony, a 22 km long distance run, a lecture series about Xinhai Revolution and 89′ Democracy Movement, a kite-flying outing activist-style, a demonstration, and of course, the annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park.
It’s the first candlelight vigil without Szeto Wah, once the organization’s chairman. He died on January 2 this year.
Hong Kong’s liberties are – informally – contested by Beijing. Many democrats have pointed that out before and after 1989. In 2008, Cao Erbao, then, or maybe still, head of the Chinese government’s Liaison Office’s research department, frankly stated that Hong Kong is governed by a duopoly of mainland Chinese cadres and local Hong Kong officials.
In that context, turnout on June 4 is a factor, too. The more civic awareness is shown, the less likely the authorities are to tighten their rule. In 2003, some 350,000 (police statistics) to 700,000 (protesters’ statistics) demonstrators opposed an anti-treason law, aka article 23. The bill was then withdrawn, with no timetable for a re-introduction.
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Update, June 9, 2011
*) No latest statistics on Wikipedia yet, but according to a Straits Times report of June 5,
As many as 150,000 people on Saturday turned up for the annual vigil to commemorate the crushing of student-led democracy protests in Beijing 22 years ago, according to organisers. Police put the crowd figure at 77,000.
Update / Related
» Debating the Massacre, ChinaGeeks, June 7, 2011
» (Tens of) Thousands mark June 4 Anniversary, RTHK, June 5, 2011
» Wen Jiabao’s Endgame: Neither Law, nor Order, April 21, 2011
