It was the first June 4 since the National Security Law. The breaking news I heard on the radio in the morning was the arrest of Hong Kong Alliance’s vice-chairperson Chow Hang-tung and another person. Chow had earlier stated that she would light a candle by herself in Victoria Park at night.

On the same day, Apple Daily’s A1 spread was a collage of all 32 years of Victoria Park candlelight vigil. Of those photos, 25 had been the headline photos on June 5 since the year 1996. Apple Daily was founded on June 20, 1995, and has since insisted almost every single year to put the June 4 sea of candlelight in Victoria Park on the front page the following day. If to be given a title, this series of 31 photos would be “Hongkongers’ persistence.”

In 2021, the regime has officially banned the candlelight vigil hosted by the Hong Kong Alliance. Last year on June 4, the police cited epidemic prevention as an excuse to ban the gathering, yet the members of Hong Kong Alliance and many citizens pushed open the fences surrounding the soccer fields, entered Victoria Park, lit candles and recited the eulogy. That night, a participant who sat on the ground recalled being worried about the banning of the gathering around the time of the Handover. He participated every year, and could not believe that within 30 some years, that worry had become a reality. I remembered him being on the verge of tears, “I’ll come out again next year.” I wonder where he was last night. However, today’s Apple Daily still used Hongkongers’ commemoration of the June 4 Massacre on the front page.

History is wondrous.

The regime is blabbering on “patriots ruling Hong Kong” these days. Yet 32 years ago, at the founding of the Hong Kong Alliance, its full name was The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Twelve years ago, I interviewed Szeto Wah on the eve of June 4. He clearly remembered the gathering 20 years ago. “The most memorable were the two banners that read ‘Today’s Beijing, Tomorrow’s Hong Kong,’ ‘Your bodies return to the soil today, tomorrow it will be my body.’” “June 4, for Hongkongers, was a baptism of democracy and patriotism.” His patriotism was based on the suffering of the country. The day following the 20th anniversary of the June 4 Massacre, the headline of Apple Daily’s front page was: “The backbone of China, a record of history: 200,000 people mourned June 4.” Once upon a time, Hong Kong took huge pride in being the only place on Chinese soil where the June 4 Massacre could be commemorated.

Yet as time passes by, there were voices of criticism and skepticism toward Hong Kong Alliance’s “etiquette routine”. The younger generation was eager to cut ties with the mainland, and that even launched the discussion of “What has June 4 to do with me”. I once believed that even without the suppression of the regime, Hongkongers’ younger generations would only become more and more indifferent toward the commemoration of the June 4 Massacre, and that Hong Kong Alliance would become nothing but an outdated, frail synonym for Greater China leftards.

History is wondrous in that when Hongkongers personally experienced the suppression of the regime toward the social movements, the imprisonment of those who oppose the regime, the exile, and the existing enveloping white terror in which even those who commemorate June 4 would be arrested, charged, locked up, and sentenced, many Hongkongers are still turning to different ways to remember this day. When June 4 becomes taboo in Hong Kong, it is precisely that the message of June 4 has finally been delivered in completion in Hong Kong. June 4 has now become Hong Kong’s June 4.

Every year, Beijing’s police strictly guard the Tiananmen Square and Muxidi areas. This year, several thousand Hong Kong’s police were also deployed throughout Hong Kong on standby, and even cordoned off Victoria Park. The two places are finally on the same page and successfully merged. In 32 years, June 4 has been a measure of things. In an era when elections still existed, the candidates were asked to elaborate on their stance on the June 4 Massacre as a means to gauge their political stance and moral conscience; whether Hong Kong would commemorate June 4 was to gauge whether one country, two systems still remained, and whether Hong Kong still had freedom. This year, June 4′s Victoria Park gave an illuminated answer to the world.

(Chan Pui-man’s identity on planet earth is a journalist.)

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