True Patriots of the P.R.O.C.?

June 4 is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square "incident" -- "turmoil" I believe the Chinese government called it -- the crackdown on the so-called "pro-democracy movement" that took place in Beijing in 1989. I think it's safe to assume that for many HK people it is one of the defining moments of the last 20 years, and it loomed particularly large in their minds in those years leading up to the handover of HK from Britain to Beijing (which occurred in 1997). 

But I learned from a very well-educated friend the other day that some HK people don't realize Americans even know about it!! He started to tell me about it and was almost whispering, like he wanted to tell me about this "big thing" that happened but he wasn't sure how to "explain" it... I was like, "Geez, are you SERIOUS?!?" (I was totally beside myself, I couldn't believe what I was hearing)... "Of course we know about it!!" I cried, and I tried to explain the American viewpoint as best I could (all the time asking, "You REALLY thought I wouldn't know about that?!?").

Well, so now "to get rich is glorious" in China, and sometimes it seems like no one (except the people still exiled or in jail as a consequence of those events) even remembers it. 

But have they really forgotten? 

The following article is an editorial from the South China Morning Post. While no one in HK fears tanks rolling down the streets just yet, it still demonstrates a certain type of courage to print an article that is so openly and directly "critical" of what happened on June 4. At least that's what I think...

True Patriots
Thursday 5 June 2002

That was only 3,000 less than last year.

Time will tell if the dip has any long-term significance.

But any event that pulls a crowd of 45,000 in Hong Kong is something to be reckoned with.

The University of Hong Kong has been tracking the public's attitude towards June 4.

This year's poll found that the number of respondents who felt the Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, organiser of the annual vigil, should be disbanded has risen by four percentage points, to 18 per cent.

But the increase was attributed to a drop in the number of people who expressed no opinion, not because more people had given up on the alliance.

The proportion of people who maintained that the alliance should carry on has remained unchanged at about 40 per cent.

By coincidence, yesterday was also the day the Chinese national team made its debut at the World Cup finals. The match against Costa Rica in the early afternoon was said to have drawn up to 350 million viewers across China.

While last night's solemn ceremony at Victoria Park drew a much smaller crowd, the participants' outpouring of grief over the tragic events of 13 years ago was a no less significant expression of patriotism than cheering for the national team.

In fact, it required a lot more moral courage to set foot in the park last night to show one's distaste at a Government that has refused to face up to its crime of firing at its own citizens, whose only fault was to stage a peaceful demonstration to demand democratic reforms. By contrast, flying to South Korea, let alone sitting in front of a television, to cheer for the national team is risk-free.

As the years go by, fewer people may feel passionate enough to show up at the annual vigil. But this should not be taken as a sign that people have forgotten the scenes of soldiers firing their way into Tiananmen Square. Those scenes will linger forever - particularly for those whose loved ones failed to return after that fateful night.

The SCMP is THE English language newspaper in HK. I do not buy the SCMP, but I do subscribe to their online edition and refer to it often. I am copying the article here from the SCMP with no permission whatsoever, but I'm telling you where it came from out of some weird (and baseless) sense that "it's cool to copy if I tell you where it came from"...

This article was first posted: 7 June 2002

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