I. October 1st, 2014 marks the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The flag-raising ceremony (which happens daily at 4:00 AM and always draws a crowd) this year on Oct. 1 drew about 80,000 people to Tiananmen Square as the Chinese marked their National Day. The journalist Louisa Lim writes about the ceremony two years ago when she stood in the crowd.
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My neighbors were exultant. "I'm so moved!" the school teacher enthused, beaming widely. Patriotism was beating in her heart, she said, for today she had finally achieved what she had been dreaming of for years.
I couldn't help myself. I asked her whether she ever thought about the students and their supporters who camped out on this very spot a quarter-century ago, with their demands for cleaner government and greater democracy; or whether she even knew about the tanks and guns used against the unarmed bystanders in the approach to the square. Her face fell. I had cast a pall over the moment, behaving in the stereotypical way of the doubting Western media.
"This problem is quite sensitive," she replied hesitantly, "Let's not talk about it now. Let's live in today's world and not dwell on the past." (Lim, The People's Republic of Amnesia, 3) |
Not dwelling on the past is ensconced in China, a seemingly incongruous reality in such a historicistic culture. The events of the spring in 1989 and especially what transpired early in the morning on June 4 were supposed to herald in the words of the astrophysicist Fang Lizhi, "the failure of the 'Technique of Forgetting History." Alas, "official history" as promulgated by the CCP has managed to cultivate a collective amnesia during the last quarter of a century. In the spring of 1999, a Chinese film professor noted,
| "A massive secret has become a massive vacuum ... this secret is like a poison that has contaminated the air we breathe and our whole life and spirit." She observed that if things did not change by 2009, "June 4th will no longer be a crime committed by a small group of people, but one in which we all participated." (Ibid, 6) |
II. Hong Kong: the Special Administrative Region held its own flag-raising ceremony to commemorate National Day. Note the absence of coverage of the protests for genuine electoral democracy taking place in Hong Kong, the result of changes in the electoral process for the 2017 election in Hong Kong laid out by Beijing and President Xi Jinping in late August of this year. The changes and the subsequent protests have limited Mr. Xi's options in response, though a likely outcome may well be the removal of Hong Kong's chief executive and Beijing ally, Leung Chun-Ying, who finds himself in a rather precarious situation.
Might one of the legacies of the Tiananmen Square protests 25 years ago be what we are witnessing today in Hong Kong? Historical analogies are always inexact, but once again we see students in the forefront as potential agents of change. While one larger question about Hong Kong's autonomy certainly exists, there also might be the potential for a global impact financially especially given Hong Kong's place as one of the preeminent business capitals of the world. If the demonstrations continue, could we looking at some form of "Tiananmen II?"
A recent NPR story provides some needed historical context of the present situation in Hong Kong. Victor Gao, former translator for Deng Xiaoping, offers what can be viewed as the Chinese government's perspective on the protests.
During the past week (Oct. 3-10), the protests have dwindled considerably even as the city government has not removed barricades on the streets. That said, the decision by the government to renege on talks with the protesters (perhaps the result of a growing frustration among the public with the demonstrators) has apparently fueled a new resolve among the students for further acts of civil disobedience.
During the past week (Oct. 10-17), there has been some violence towards the protesters as the authorities continue to remove barricades. On Oct. 16, the city government agreed to talks with the students but adamantly refused to consider concessions to Beijing's arrangement for the 2017 nomination process. Hong Kong's "culture of protest" is not a recent development, perhaps the product of its cosmopolitanism.
During the past week (Oct. 17-24), protests have continued as captured by Chinese National Television even as student leaders and government officials conducted negotiations. The outcome of the "talks" may have been that both sides agreed to disagree and no more. In addition, it would appear that the gap between the demonstrators and Hong Kong's business elite continues to widen. And, a number of Hong Kong pop culture celebrities who have supported the protests have begun to find themselves blacklisted on the mainland. That said, just yesterday (Oct. 23), the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged Hong Kong's city government (and by extension Beijing) not to impose any restrictions on who can run for office in 2017.
During the past week (Oct. 24-31), a number of revealing events transpired including:
During the past week (Oct. 31-Nov. 6):
During the past week (Nov. 7-14):
During the past week (Nov. 14-21):
III. CALL class ideas for exhibits:
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