#Kowtow #Censorship
Universities in Hong Kong Dismantle June 4th Tiananmen Commemorative Symbols: "A Christmas Present for Beijing"

On December 24, 2021, the Management of the Hong Kong Lingnan University (#LU) removed and destroyed a commemorative relief of the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Massacre that was installed on campus since 2010, without any notice and conscent from the students.

The action coincided with the dismantling of other commemorative statue and sculpture by two other universities in Hong Kong right before Christmas day.

According to the vice-chair of external affairs of the 43th Student Union of the Hong Kong Lingnan University, Tang Kin-Wah, the relief and the statue of the Goddess of Democracy arrived in Hong Kong in 2010. Under the coordination of the Federation of Students and the Alliance, the two commemorative structures had exhibition tour in all universities in Hong Kong, starting with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK) and ending in the Lingnan University.

Back in 2010, after discussing with the university management, the student union at Lingnan University handed in a plan stating that they hoped to preserve the relief permanently on campus. Later on, the Student Union was allowed to restore the relief and convened a permanent installation ceremony with the help of the university management. The ownership of the relief belongs to the Student Union.

After the University managemeng secretly and forcefully removed the relief on Christmas' eve on 2021, some alumni made a trip back and placed white flower on the now-empty site. They described the act as an "assignment" that the university president Cheng Kwok-hon "turned in" to Beijing. "It is his [Cheng's] Christmas present for the Central Government at the end of 2021," the alumni mocked.

Source: InMedia #Dec24
https://bit.ly/3J9LOzn

#University #Censorship #June4th #Memory #Brainwashing

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RELATED NEWS

The Pillar of Shame is being destroyed in these minutes : Jen Galschiot calls for public record
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31702

CUHK Removes Goddess of Democracy Statue Without Warning
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31710

Chinese Students Shocked Watching HKU's Removal of Pillar of Shame, Believes in Power of Witnesses
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31704

CUHK Removes Goddess of Democracy Statue Without Warning
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31710

City University of Hong Kong Demands Student Union to Remove Pro-democracy Monument
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31730

#June4th
New School for Democracy Announces Rebuilding #PillarofShame in #Taiwan: "One Pillar Falls, Thousands More Will Be Raised"

In December 2021, #TiananmenMassacre memorials in three universities across Hong Kong were taken down within 48 hours. They included the Pillar Of Shame in the University of Hong Kong (#HKU).

On December 24, 2021, Taiwan's New School for Democracy announced their plan to rebuild the pillar at the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. They will also invite the pillar's creator #JensGalschiøt to unveil it on the June 4 night vigil in 2022.

"HKU tore down one pillar, but thousands more are being raised across the world," said the School. A 3D scan of the original pillar at HKU has been made available online for download.

The New School for Democracy also held a press conference titled "Don't Trample Human Rights and Affections with 'National Security'", in which they voiced their solidarity with Chinese human rights activists Zhang Zhan, Guo Feixiong, and Tang Jitian. The group called on Beijing to release the the three detained activists and let them be reunited with their families.

President of the New School for Democracy Association Zeng Jianyuan decried HKU's actions as destroying the university's spirit of autonomy.

Destroying "the Pillar of Shame for June 4", as he called it, is equivalent to erecting an invisible pillar of shame for academic freedom. Zeng announced that the Pillar will be rebuilt in Taiwan, and it will carry the memories of the Tiananmen Massacre as well as Hong Kong's Anti-ELAB movement.

Source: RFA; Citizen News #Dec25
http://bit.ly/3ql3TSt

====
Related News:
Activists Preserve HK's Tiananmen Memorial Pillar in Digital 3D Model: "They Can't Silence Us All" [Oct 30, 2021]
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31330

The Pillar of Shame is being destroyed in these minutes : Jen Galschiot calls for public record on Twitter [Dec 22, 2021]
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31702

#Monument #Memory

#June4th #Tienanmen
June 4 Slogan Outside HKU Swire Hall Barricaded; University Cites Maintenance Reasons

Source: WhatsNews Media, Undergrad; #Jan29

Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/32035

#June4th #Tienanmen
June 4 Slogan Outside HKU Swire Hall Barricaded; University Cites Maintenance Reasons

Since the end of 2021, numerous June Fourth artefacts have been removed from the grounds of various universities, including the Pillar of Shame in the University of Hong Kong (#HKU), the Goddess of Democracy in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (#CUHK), and the June Fourth Commemorative Relief and “Goddess of Democracy” spray art in Lingnan University (#LingU).

Since around 0930 on #Jan29, the June Fourth slogan outside of HKU’s Swire Hall has been barricaded by the university, with personnel at the site stating that they were there on behalf of “beautification works”.

Undergrad, one of HKU’s campus media, have enquired HKU’s Communications and Public Affairs Office, who stated that the site was barricaded due to a “scheduled maintenance” of the site.

Jason Wong Ching Hin, elected full-time undergraduate student of the University Council, arrived at the site in the afternoon, and stated to the press that he did not know about the incident prior, questioning the University's self-censorship and expressed confusion why the University would “attract attention with this unnecessary move”.

In 1989, then chairperson of Swire Hall Students' Association Cheung Yui Fai and his fellow schoolmates, angered at the Chinese Government's massacre at Tiananmen Square, wrote a banner on a piece of black cloth that reads:-

Cold-blooded Massacre, Martyrs’ Souls Enduring; Eliminate Evil, Undying Democracy Flames.
冷血屠城 烈士英魂不朽 誓殲豺狼 民主星火不滅

The paint seeped through the black banner and remained on the bridge. After this, HKU students and Swire Hall residents would repaint the slogan every year as a way to keep the June Fourth Spirit going.

Source: WhatsNews Media (https://www.whatsnewsmedia.com/6831/15/03/02/), Undergrad (https://www.instagram.com/p/CZTuKgxBOAX/); #Jan29

#Censorship #June4th
Pro-democracy artists and activists arranged shipment of banned books in Hong Kong to US

Following the imposition of the National Security Law (#NSL) in Hong Kong in 2020, the local government launched a series of attempts to erase citizens' memories of the June 4th massacre in Beijing in 1989.

Yet, in mid-February this year, around 100 boxes of books and collaterals concerning the June 4th massacre, weighed over 8,000 pounds, had been successfully shipped out of Hong Kong to the Liberty Sculpture Park in California, USA.

The collection of books and historical archives will be kept at the "Victims of Communism Memorial" of Liberty Sculpture Park for public viewing in the future.

Chen Wai-ming, a representative of the Park, told reporters that these precious contemporary literatures and biographies, covering the truth of the June 4th massacre and crimes of the Communist Party, have been banned in Hong Kong.

Possessing these materials could bring troubles and even criminal risks to their owners.

Source: Epochin Times
https://hk.epochtimes.com/news/2022-02-22/5178352

#TienanmenMassacre #CCP #Suppression #Beijing

#Restrospective #2021HongKong
Committee Members Imprisoned: The Dilemma of #HongKongAlliance and Beginning of the #June4th Debate

Source: Stand News #2021Sept24

Read more
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#Restrospective
Committee Members Imprisoned: The Dilemma of #HongKongAlliance and Beginning of the #June4th Debate

[The following article was originally published by #StandNews on September 24, 2021. The news outlet was forced to close down in December that year.]

Part 1:

On 10 September 2021 at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts Division 2, after the court clerk read out the charges, #TonyeeChow Hang-tung, who was in the defendant's column, responded with a sonorous voice: "Understood, this is a ridiculous charge." And the court filled with applause from the public gallery.

In this unsolved case, chairman and vice-chairman Li Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho Chun-yan and Tonyee Chow Hang-Tung of the Hong Kong Alliance, who have been rooted in Hong Kong for 32 years, are charged with the crime of “Inciting Subversion of State Power”. And this is the first case of the count in Hong Kong.

On May 21, 1989, the Hong Kong Alliance called on millions of Hong Kong people to take on to the streets to support pro-democracy students in Beijing, and announced the establishment of the organization on the same day. Wen Wei Po called this day “An Important Sign of the Awakening of Hong Kong People”.

After the massacre happened on June 4, all walks of life regardless of party affiliation, published condemnation and joint signatures. Since then, the Hong Kong Alliance has emphasized doing legal things under one country two systems, as in holding candlelight rallies to mourn June 4th, finding out who should be held responsible for the massacre, and guarding the truth of what happened on June 4th.

Continue reading Part 2:

Source: Stand News #2021Sept24

https://bit.ly/3vYrjRw

#Restrospective #2021HongKong
Committee Members Imprisoned: The Dilemma of #HongKongAlliance and Beginning of the #June4th Debate

Source: Stand News #2021Sept24

Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️

#Restrospective
Committee Members Imprisoned: The Dilemma of #HongKongAlliance and Beginning of the #June4th Debate

[The following article was originally published by #StandNews on September 24, 2021. The news outlet was forced to close down in December that year.]

Part 1:

Part 2:

Today, the Hong Kong Alliance faces a reversal of destiny. In addition to facing interrogation, their venue has also been seized, funds have been frozen, and social media accounts have been asked to be deleted (except for the website "8964Museum" which is independently operated by the curatorial team).

In the past 32 years, whenever the Hong Kong Alliance faced difficulties, they would refer to the contingency plan drawn up in the early years by the deceased chairman Szeto Wah, who once estimated that after the change in sovereignty in 1997, the Hong Kong Alliance would “Bear the Brunt of the Blow, become the target of repression and persecution". Therefore, as early as 1996, the organization had come up with ten contingency measures regarding situations such as deregistration and members being arrested, and listed in detail in the general declaration of the Victoria Park Candlelight Gathering, one of which is as follows:

"The Hong Kong Alliance has been characterized as a ‘Subversive Organization', what should we do? […] We firmly do not accept the characterization of a ‘Subversive Organization', and Hong Kong citizens will not accept it ... If a bad law is to be enacted after 1997 and unreasonable prosecutions are to be proposed, the Hong Kong Alliance would only be the first to bear the brunt of the prosecution, followed by other organizations and individuals, who would also be characterized as “Subversive Organizations" and “Subversives”. This will be marked as a dark age of human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong…”

"The storm that Uncle Wah predicted has finally arrived, just twenty years late." Tsang Kin-Shing, the former standing committee said.

At present, all the current standing members of the Hong Kong Alliance are imprisoned. In the future, the company registration may be removed, and the group members will vote on whether to pass the dissolution at the general meeting on September 25th. The chairman and vice-chairman Li Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho Chun-yan, who are in prison recently, issued a joint open letter pointing out that the best solution for the Hong Kong Alliance is to dissolve voluntarily; another vice-chairman, Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, later sent a letter to member groups calling for their opposition to the dissolution, "I trust their experience and judgment, but I still can't convince myself that voluntary dissolution is a "good option”, let alone a "best solution.”

Source: Stand News #2021Sept24

https://web.archive.org/web/20211229140614/https://www.thestandnews.com/politics/%E6%94%AF%E8%81%AF%E6%9C%83%E7%9A%84%E6%88%B0%E5%BD%B94-%E5%B8%B8%E5%A7%94%E5%85%A8%E9%99%B7%E5%9B%B9%E5%9C%84-%E6%94%AF%E8%81%AF%E6%9C%83%E7%9A%84%E5%AD%98%E6%95%A3%E5%85%A9%E9%9B%A3-%E4%B8%80%E5%A0%B4%E5%85%AD%E5%9B%9B%E8%BE%AF%E8%AB%96%E4%B9%8B%E5%A7%8B

Mourning a Painful History – Respect For Human Rights Has No Geopolitical Borders

By Translated by Guardians of Hong Kong October 17, 2021 • 1 February 2022

The year 2021 marked the 32nd anniversary of the June 4th crackdown in Tiananmen Square. However commemorative activities in Hong Kong were unprecedentedly suppressed. Not only the candlelight vigil was banned for the second consecutive year, but also 26 pan-democrats attending the vigil the year before despite the ban were charged [added in translation: for inciting others to take part in unauthorized assembly] and even jailed. Looking back in history, be it war crimes or state violence, in many instances to hold those accountable for human rights infringements and to bring justice to the victims will take years or even generations.

Source: The Stand News #Oct11

#June4th #HumanRights #ChunDooHwan

Full Story：

https://telegra.ph/Mourning-a-Painful-History--Respect-For-Human-Rights-Has-No-Geopolitical-Borders-02-01

#FirstHand #June3
Hongkongers Insist on Remembering #June4th

In the past, #CandleVigil was held annually in Hong Kong on June 4 to commemorate the victims of 1989 #TiananmenMassacre in Beijing.

Starting from 11pm on June 3, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (#LCSD) of the Hong Kong SAR Government ordered to close the football pitches and the lawn area in #VictoriaPark, to "curb unauthorised assembly".

Over 100 police officers patrolled at all the entrances of the Park since 10:30pm. Some areas in the park were blocked by crowd control barriers.

Mr Sung, an artist who wore a black face mask, arrived at Victoria Park at 9:30pm. He sat on the ground with an umbrella and two e-candles, reading "The History of Modern Mime". The police stopped and searched him and asked him his purpose at the venue. He only answered "no comment".

Despite the heavy rain , Mr Sung didn't back down. He held up his umbrella and continued to sit-in until 11pm, the deadline given by the LCSD.

#Remembrance #PoliceState

Never Forget 1989 June 4th

#NeverForget #June4th #GoHKgraphics

"Politically corrected" textbooks in the New Hong Kong Era

6 publishing companies amended their #LiberalStudies textbooks after "inquiring" the #EducationBureau for comments in August 2020. Journalists discovered that some contents are removed, including #June4th, #CulturalRevolution, #MongKokCivilUnrest, #LocalConsciousness and #HongKongIndependenceClaims.

In November 2020, then-Secretary of Education, Kevin Yeung, announced to reform the Senior Secondary Liberal Studies (LS) syllabus. Course content was re-organised, and some were removed in order to grow students’ national identity with a mainland visit opportunity.

Less than a year later, the new subject “Citizenship and Social Development” replaced LS in school curricula. However, its textbooks were only approved in June 2022. Journalists discovered that the new books did not only modify a few photos or comics, but completely overthrew statements made in past textbooks. Notable changes include stating that Hong Kong was “not a #colony”, and the #AntiELAB movement was “an illegal incident that is violent and endangers national security”.

In the new era of Hong Kong, are the textbooks becoming "politically correct"? InMedia found #LiberalStudies textbooks published between 2014 and 2020, and compared them to the new #CitizenshipandSocialDevelopment textbooks.

Under the new syllabus, concepts including "#CivilDisobedience", "Separation of Powers", "4 levels of the Rule of Law" and "Multiple identities" are removed. Topics that took their place are #NationalSecurity, #NationalIdentity, and #NationalAchievement. The topic of Rule of Law no longer covered #RestrictionofLaw, #HumanRightProtection without affecting others’ rights, social order and national security.

Additional materials are taken mainly from official government sources, such as Information Service Department and blogs of government officials. Students are no longer required to discuss topics with controversial views. They only need to answer questions such as “Why does the National People's Congress interpreting the law not affect judiciary independence?”

Source: InMedia #Sep04

https://bit.ly/3wUtMww

See also:
Hong Kong Schools Schedule National Security Education Activities, Mainland Exchange Tours
https://t.me/BeWaterHK/1006

#NationalSecurityLaw #NationalEducation #RewritingHistory