HONG KONG (AP) — Even though the Tiananmen Square protests from 25 years ago are a taboo subject in mainland China, that’s not the case in Hong Kong. There’s even a museum — the only one in the world that is dedicated to chronicling what happened during the brutal crackdown.
The museum preserves the memory of one of the darkest periods in China’s recent past, through photographs, artifacts, videos and written histories of the events. A steady stream of visitors — many from mainland China — has been coming in since the museum was opened in April.
In Beijing, authorities have deleted the events from China’s official record. But Hong Kong still has Western-style civil liberties that aren’t seen in the rest of China. The museum is a reminder of how the city’s differences with China continue to widen, 17 years after it ceased to be a British colony. Hong Kong also holds a candlelight vigil each year to remember the victims of the crackdown.
It was 25 years ago tomorrow that hundreds of unarmed protesters and onlookers were killed when Chinese soldiers, with tanks and armored personnel carriers, fought their way into the heart of Beijing. The Chinese government has never given a complete accounting of the crackdown and the number of casualties.
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150-a-11-(Lee Cheuk-yan (lee chuhk yahn), head of the Hong Kong Alliance In Support of Democratic Patriotic Movements in China, the pro-democracy group that operates the June 4th Museum, in AP interview)-“the Tinanamen Square”-Lee Cheuk-yan, head of the pro-democracy group that operates the world’s only museum dedicated to the 1989 Tiananmen protests, says despite Chinese crackdowns, he hopes the museum will one day have a presence in China’s capital. (3 Jun 2014)
< 149-a-14-(Lee Cheuk-yan (lee chuhk yahn), head of the Hong Kong Alliance In Support of Democratic Patriotic Movements in China, the pro-democracy group that operates the June 4th Museum, in AP interview)-“to have freedom”-Lee Cheuk-yan, head of the pro-democracy group that operates the world’s only museum dedicated to the 1989 Tiananmen protests, says today’s Chinese leaders keep even tighter control over people than those of 25 years ago. (3 Jun 2014) < APPHOTO XKC101: A university student stands in front of a mock tank to symbolize the man blocking a line of tanks during the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing on a downtown bridge in Hong Kong Tuesday, June 3, 2014, to mark the 25th anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square on June 4. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) (3 Jun 2014) < Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
