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Engraving of memories | Chan Kin-man

蘋果日報 2021/06/03 10:16


Award-winning Australian journalist Louisa Lim calls China “The People’s Republic of Amnesia.” In her book “The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited,” she analyzes how the Chinese government, through rigorous censorship, has prevented or deterred its people from recalling the tragedy of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre carried out by the military and police.
She once interviewed Chinese university students with a photo of Tank Man (as he is known in the Western media, and reportedly named Wang Weilin) and was largely told that they had never seen the photo. The iconic photo was named by Life magazine as one of “100 Photographs That Changed the World” and Tank Man was also named as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential of all time in the 20th century.
At one seminar, an audience suggested that the students may have been afraid to tell the truth to foreign journalists due to political pressure. Louisa Lim said, “I could tell who was lying. Those who took a quick glance and then said they had never seen it may have been afraid to respond out of fear. Others were genuinely mystified and scrutinized the photo thoroughly before saying they had never seen it. I can only believe that memories of the Tiananmen Square protests have already been lost among the younger generation in China.”
Those who condemned the crackdown then are now enjoying wealth and prosperity
Whatever happened to the memories of the generation that had witnessed the shooting of unarmed students and civilians by the military and police, and had shed tears and shouted curses for it? In Hong Kong, we still remember when Leung Chun-ying ran a newspaper ad to “Strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders for the bloody massacre of Chinese people;” Jackie Chan’s tearful voice when singing a hymn of democracy for the people of China; and when Chief Justice Andrew Cheung and Chief Justice of the High Court Jeremy Poon jointly signed a petition against suppression by military means. However, these people are now enjoying the glory and wealth with China, how can they justify themselves?
The answer may be found by watching “Hero,” a 2002 Chinese wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou. In the film, although the assassin manages to approach the King of Qin after a difficult and perilous arrangement, he resolutely withdraws his sword after a conversation with the King of Qin, realizing that only he has an opportunity to unify the world and establish peace. Today, many in the pro-establishment faction say that “without the repression back then, we wouldn’t enjoy the prosperity we do today,” “the Chinese need to be policed,” and “democracy and freedom will only bring chaos.” They attributed their lack of understanding of the complex political environment at that time to their renewed understanding that it was a war to defend the Republic!
After “Hero,” Zhang Yimou did not make any more films like “Ju Dou” or “Raise The Red Lantern” that criticized feudal dictatorship, but only glamorous yet soul-less pictures. Recently, Hong Kong’s education bureau wants to “improve” the history curriculum, including the glorification of Qin Shi Huang’s achievement in unifying China. It is not known how they will handle the “burning of books and burying of scholars,” and the suppression of freedom of speech, let alone giving students the opportunity to think: If the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States of the Eastern Zhou of ancient China had survived, would it have been beneficial or detrimental in the event the Central Plains of China had become like Europe with its numerous empires?
If the “Chinese Dream” is a “great nation dream” that does not question value orientation, then naturally, the ordinary people living in this dream should know how to deal with the memories of the June Fourth Incident. A friend’s relative from the Mainland has long been apprehensive about having taken to the streets to support the students back then. My friend pestered her repeatedly for her opinion today about the affair. After checking her surroundings to make sure no one was there, she leaned in close to my friend’s ear and whispered, “The government was right to crack down back then.”
To bury right and wrong in one’s heart, to burn a candle in one’s memory
This kind of hushed conversation reminded me of a friend in Beijing who said he had not set foot in Tiananmen Square since the massacre and had buried all the rights and wrongs in his heart. He came from afar to give me his blessing before I was sent to prison, but he merely chatted about old times in my office, and even though he was thousands of miles away from the imperial city, he still kept a watchful eye and lowered his voice to a minimum. Whether the political situation was commendable or derogatory, such a trembling voice has proved the importance of fighting for freedom back then.
The People’s Republic of Amnesia is a testament to the fragility of memories. The most brutal histories can be wiped clean at any time by people out of selfishness or cowardice. This is why in Germany there is the Stolpersteine project, where tens of thousands of concrete cubes with brass plates inscribed with the names and incidents of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution are laid on the pavement of their former homes. People bending over to read the inscriptions are also symbolically bowing to the victims. Recently, the Hungarian government published a list of people with their names and ages who died of COVID-19. People took the list and carved the names on tens of thousands of stones and placed them on the beautiful Margaret Island to commemorate the people who left without a word.
Our memories of the June 4 Incident are engraved on every candle, so let’s see if they can use the King of Qin to convince us to blow it out.
(Chan Kin-man is one of the founders of Occupy Central with Love and Peace Campaign.)
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