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
Auction house Fellows defends sale of Tiananmen Massacre watch, but withdraws it citing online ‘threats’
UK auction house Fellows has defended its decision to sell a watch that was given to troops who took part in the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing. However, it removed it from sale on Friday citing threats posted on social media aimed at the item’s owner. The watch face was inscribed with the Chinese phrase […]
UK auction house Fellows selling ‘luxury 89.6’ watch gifted to China’s Tiananmen Massacre troops
A watch awarded to members of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen massacre is up for sale at the UK luxury auction house, Fellows. The watch face is inscribed with the Chinese phrase “89.6. In Commemoration of Quelling the Rebellion” and features an image of a PLA soldier, according to […]
COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS ON 1989
Hong Kong’s 50-year curse takes effect early… but this is just the beginning
In the 1980s, Hong Kong – often described as a borrowed city on borrowed time – was put on a 50-year countdown by China and the UK. As soon as the curse was placed, a mass exodus took place, with few trusting the Communist Party’s poor track record. But, as two decades passed, the curse […]
Progress and radical hope: reflecting on a year of Hong Kong’s anti-authoritarian struggle
June 12 this year marks the one-year anniversary of Hong Kong’s anti-extradition law movement. A year ago that day, thousands of protesters surrounded the Legislative Council Complex to oppose the extradition bill. Later that evening, a group of young activists stormed the building. They were met with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray. Since […]
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 […]
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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