The Tiananmen Square protests were popular student-led demonstrations in Beijing in 1989. They were forcibly put down by China’s hardline leaders who used martial law to crack down upon protesters on June 3rd and 4th. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed.
LATEST NEWS & VIEWS
In Pictures: Hong Kong’s June 4 Museum will continue to preserve ‘historical truth’, says veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan
Hong Kong’s museum commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre has reopened after a two-month shutdown owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan has told HKFP that it will continue to preserve “historical truth” despite shifting red lines under the Beijing-enacted national security law. Operated by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic […]
‘Even with handcuffs, I feel at peace’: Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai says Apple Daily won’t change, but no more protest activism
Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai says he is prepared to sacrifice anything for Hong Kong and his embattled newspaper Apple Daily will keep speaking out under the Beijing-imposed national security law, but it will steer clear of protest activism. The paper, he said, would keep going until the day its operation is no longer possible, […]
COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS ON 1989
Tiananmen commemorations and national security: Beijing’s emergency plan for the September elections?
Hong Kong’s protest marching tradition is commonly dated from July 1, 2003. That was the day an estimated half-million people turned out to protest at the imminent passage of a national security bill by the local legislature. The bill aimed to criminalise acts of treason, secession, sedition, subversion, and theft of state secrets, as well […]
Something is wrong when Macau bars mention of Tiananmen Square massacre
First, they banned a photographic exhibition, then they banned a June 4 vigil about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Neither had ever been forbidden since 1990. Last Friday was the Macau Court of Final Appeal’s (CFA) opportunity to show that the police decision may have been politicised, but the court applied the law: that separation […]
As Macau bans annual Tiananmen Massacre exhibition, Hong Kong should be wary of China exporting censorship
China’s Communist Party is continuing to export its repression of free speech. After more than 20 years of photographic exhibitions and vigils recounting the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in Macau – displayed every year with no exception – the Macau authorities have shamelessly changed course. José Tavares, the head of the Macau SAR’s Municipal […]
Never bend, never waver: Hong Kong officials celebrate 30 years of post-colonial order
Anyone who might have toyed with the idea that clear verdicts in popular elections could give Beijing pause for thought must now be sorely disappointed. Two such elections were Hong Kong’s district council poll last November and Taiwan’s presidential contest in January. Both verdicts were as clear as could possibly be, and they derived from […]
PHOTOGRAPHY
HKFP Lens: Thousands remember Tiananmen victims and chant pro-democracy slogans across Hong Kong
Thousands in Hong Kong gathered across various districts to remember the Tiananmen Massacre victims on Thursday – the 31st anniversary of the bloody crackdown. Despite the coronavirus-related police ban of the annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park, the football pitches were filled as crowds observed a moment’s silence and sang commemorative songs. HKFP’s May James […]
HKFP Lens: Hong Kong students clean Tiananmen Massacre Pillar of Shame
The eight-metre tall Pillar of Shame statue which sits on the University of Hong Kong campus connects a Danish artist, China and Hong Kong with the commemoration of 1989 Tiananmen Massacre victims. Each year, on June 4, students wash the statue – HKFP’s May James photographed the tradition. “The old cannot kill the young forever,” […]
HKFP Lens: ‘The students will prevail’ – Rare shots of Tiananmen Square, before and after the 1989 massacre
The Tiananmen massacre occurred on June 4, 1989 ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. Hundreds, perhaps over a thousand, people died as the military suppressed protesters in Beijing. HKFP has obtained rare images from Human Rights in China (HRIC)‘s archive, before and after the crackdown, courtesy of Gail Butler and Libby Schmalz. The collection […]
FEATURES
Exclusive: Cartoonist Badiucao says satire is the ‘temporary aspirin’ that can heal Hong Kong’s protest trauma
Chinese-Australian artist Badiucao has told HKFP that the power of political satire comes from deconstructing authority and it can act as a “temporary painkiller” for Hongkongers traumatised by the ongoing pro-democracy protests. In an exclusive live-streamed interview, the cartoonist shared his thoughts on the role of art in social movements and spoke of how humour […]
Video: Over 180,000 attend Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Massacre vigil, organisers say
Huge crowds turned out for a mass candlelight vigil in Hong Kong on Tuesday evening marking 30 years since China’s bloody Tiananmen crackdown, a gathering tinged with symbolism as the city struggles to preserve its own cherished freedoms. The eye-catching spectacle — in which tens of thousands of Hong Kongers clutched candles, sang defiant songs and […]
Badiucao revealed: Chinese artist-provocateur unmasks in upcoming film on cancelled Hong Kong exhibition
For the past six months, Chinese dissident cartoonist Badiucao has kept unusually quiet. The artist-provocateur, armed with a keyboard and digital pen, is rarely one to mince his words, often relayed to his sizeable Twitter following. Vibrant and jocular, his drawings resemble desk scribbles, only with familiar political faces and references. See also: Event: Hong Kong premiere […]
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