(Above – Chinese students protesting in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.)
I remember watching the students in Beijing protesting for days in China. I was so hopeful that the Chinese leaders would create a new and freer China.
Reports from behind the scenes were that Du Ping was behind the protests but he was soon out numbered and the hardliners took over. The protesters were cleaned out one night and the next day Tiananmen Square was empty. The number of Chinese who died that night is unknown. The army came in and all was lost.
This effort for freedom in China was not forgotten in free Hong Kong. The people in Hong Kong remembered this day every year. But the hardliners in China still control the country and they are now removing books about the massacre in Tiananmen Square from existence in Hong Kong.
As Chinese communities around the world mark the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on Sunday, many overseas Chinese, including those from Hong Kong, are expected to attend one of the numerous vigils set to take place in different parts of the globe.
However, in Hong Kong itself, where the tradition originated more than three decades ago, there will be no public event commemorating those who lost their lives in 1989. Meanwhile, authorities in the former British colony are also removing references to the bloody crackdown on the student-led protest.In recent weeks, Hong Kong journalists found that dozens of books and documentaries related to the Tiananmen Square Massacre were missing from the city’s public library database. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee defended the decision to remove certain books from public libraries, arguing that the books amounted to recommendations by the authorities.
“We must not recommend any books that are unlawful, that violate copyrights, that contain unhealthy ideas, [and] the government is obliged not to recommend books with unhealthy ideas,” he said at a press conference last month.
In addition to the removal of books, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong announced last month that for the second year in a row, it will not be organizing a commemorative Mass. Last year, some members of the Catholic Church expressed concerns about violating the controversial National Security Law (NSL) by organizing a Mass dedicated to Tiananmen Square victims.