Two pro-democracy activists who were put on trial for organising an annual Tiananmen Square massacre vigil in Hong Kong have been sentenced to seven years in jail, in one of the city’s most significant national security cases. Chow Hang-tung, 41 and Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, were found guilty in August of incitement to subversion. The court found they had “incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power”. Chow and Lee were leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance,…
Tag: Tiananmen Square protests 1989
The Guardian view on the Tiananmen vigil convictions: Hong Kong too has been silenced. Others should speak out | Editorial
For decades, Hong Kong mourned when the mainland could not. Its huge annual Tiananmen vigil kept alive the memory of the 1989 pro-reform protests in Beijing, and of the massacre that suppressed them. Along with Macau, it was the only place in China where the anniversary could be publicly marked and the truth preserved. But the crackdown on the 2019 uprising in Hong Kong has crushed the freedoms that the region once enjoyed. That year’s vigil was the last. On Friday, two leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance, which organised the commemoration,…
‘She’s not afraid of anyone’: the prison writings of one of Hong Kong’s last outspoken democracy activists
In one essay written from prison, Chow Hang-tung worries about her hairstyle before court appearances because there are no combs or mirrors in her cell. “In a place like prison, where anything that is personal is stripped away, it’s even more important to hold on to every means by which you can express yourself,” she writes. “Don’t let uniform, depersonalised rules, dress codes, schedules, and behavioural requirements grind down your edges and mould you into a ‘model citizen’”. The vignette is everyday, almost mundane. It stands in contrast to Chow’s…
Chinese activist in UK told by X that abusive deepfakes do not breach rules
A high-profile Chinese activist in the UK who was inundated with deepfake posts on X portraying her as a sexually promiscuous drug addict was told that the abuse did not breach the rules of Elon Musk’s platform. Apple Peiqing Ni, the 27-year-old founder of the UK-based China Dissent Network, had been advised by UK police to complain to the US-headquartered platform after she was targeted by what she believes is a pro-regime bot. The abuse included 12 posts tagging Ni and containing fake photographs and videos of her. The captions…
Our efforts to record Tiananmen atrocity | Brief letters
Your article (‘Every year I get new pictures’: the fight to preserve the memory of Tiananmen, 4 June) did not mention the Tiananmen archive held in the British Library, which includes documents and photos, and was established in June 1989. On the evening of 3 June, before any shooting had started, a large group of concerned sinologists met in my house, very worried about what was going to happen. One of our decisions that evening was to collect everything we could about Tiananmen and events there.Frances WoodLondon In attempting to…
Hong Kong artist who tried to mark Tiananmen massacre with red thread intercepted by police
A performance artist in Hong Kong who tried on Wednesday to honour the victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown was quickly stopped by plainclothes police, the latest sign of the city’s shrinking freedom of expression. Sanmu Chen tried to tie a symbolic red thread to a street signpost in Causeway Bay, a shopping district close to a park that had for decades hosted an annual candlelight vigil on 4 June to commemorate those who died in the 1989 student-led protests. Hong Kong was for decades the only place in…
‘Every year I get new pictures’: the fight to preserve the memory of Tiananmen
Discussions about the bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters that took place around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 4 June, 1989 – and in cities across China – often dwell on the risk of forgetting the massacre. The passage of time, with the world’s eyes soon drawn elsewhere, and suppression by authorities at home mean that the pivotal moment in Chinese history is at risk of fading into grey. “Even when it was happening, people felt like the memory of it was going to be fragile,” says Jeffrey Wasserstrom, chancellor’s professor of…
Hong Kong national security trial of three pro-democracy activists to open
The national security trial of three pro-democracy activists who organised an annual memorial in Hong Kong to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre is to begin on Thursday. Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho are charged with inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law. Their trial is one of the most high-profile national security cases to be heard in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed the law in 2020. The defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted. The law has a near-100% conviction rate. The three…
Rare footage from trial of Chinese general who defied Tiananmen crackdown order leaked online
Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history. General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades. The six-hour video…
I’m a Chinese pro-democracy activist. Here’s how to find courage to oppose Trump | Yaqiu Wang
While acting on your moral convictions can be risky, it can also feel profoundly good In the eleven months since Donald Trump took office – during which he has unleashed unprecedented assaults on the checks and balances of American democracy – there has been a wave of warnings and advice from activists, writers and scholars who have either fought against authoritarian regimes or studied them closely. A common thread runs through much of their guidance: Americans, especially those in positions of power, must find the courage to stand up for…