It’s been 28 years, yet nothing has changed.
Thousands, or perhaps hundreds according to the government, were killed during the military repression of the student protest in Tiananmen square on 4th June, 1989.
The government had never admitted or apologize for the incident, while history, textbooks and related articles are censored. Citizen in mainland China could barely access further information and details about the incident with the full control of the media as well as the internet within China, the incident is a taboo in China, except its special administrative region, Hong Kong.
The Tiananmen square student protests led to fears that the Chinese government would renege on its commitments under one country, two systems following the impending handover back of Hong Kong in 1997 from the British.
For Hong Kong people, Tiananmen served as a turning point for when they lost trust in the Chinese government. The incident had generated uncertainty over the status of the society, that a huge amount of Hong Kong people had immigrated to Western countries such as Canada and Australia prior to 1997.
Despite the transfer of power to the Chinese in 1997, there have been large candlelight vigils attended by tens of thousands in Victoria Park Hong Kong every year since 1989. Many Hong Kongers see the continued protests as a symbol of the territory's autonomy and freedom from the interference from Beijing on political issues.
To understand Hong Kong people’s perspective towards the incident, The University of Hong Kong has been conducting opinion survey on behalf of the June 4incident in the last 20 years. While the statistics in this year show that newer generation of Hong Kong doesn’t seem to feel as linked to the
According to the survey, 30 per cent of the Hong Kong people do now support the reversion of the official stand on the June 4 Incident, which is the highest among the recent ten years.
Besides, over on third of the candidates answered in the survey, that Hong Kong doesn’t have the responsibility to instigate the democratic development of mainland China, which had jumped from 6 per cent in 1993 to 30 per cent this year.
Chairman of the University of Hong Kong student union, Wong Chingtak said that the new generation in Hong Kong doesn’t have connection with the Beijing students in the 1989 democratic movement.
The student union of HKU will not attend the annual candlelight vigil hosted by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in the evening on June 4, but will instead host their own forum in the afternoon that day.
Wong said that in the past when Hong Kong teenagers look at the June 4 incident, they have a strong feeling of being patriotic or being Chinese, yet with the decrease in recognitions of identifying themselves as Chinese, the new generation of Hong Kong people find it less relatable towards the incident.
“The feeling of being Chinese has disappeared. As identity and emotional ties have changed a lot, I believe we have a very different understanding of the Tiananmen massacre than the older generation” he added.
Time flies and memories lapse, will the incident remain to be a taboo.
Reference
1 Wong Chi Tak - +852 9109 3633
2 Public opinion programme, The University of Hong Kong https://www.hkupop.hku.hk/english/features/june4/datatables.html#q1
3 http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/04/world/the-persistent-mystery-how-many-died-in-1989.html