Thirty-five years after the Tiananmen Square massacre took place, the commemorative torch appears to be passing to a younger generation of activists in cities around the world, including in democratic Taiwan.
Aside from the “old guard” of exiled democracy activists who have long been prominent figures in memorial events marking June 4,1989, the anniversaries are also increasingly attended by Hong Kongers in exile, as well as a younger generation of campaigners who took part in, or were inspired by, more recent protests across China.
A younger Chinese activist who spoke to RFA Mandarin at a memorial event in London said many Gen Z activists now take part in the massacre memorial activities, but also have their own sources of inspiration.
They included the “Bridge Man” one-man banner protest in Beijing and the “white paper” movement of November 2022, when hundreds of people gathered in the streets of cities around China, many holding up white sheets of paper, amid pent-up frustration over harsh COVID restrictions that came to a head after an apartment building fire in Xinjiang left several dead.
“I hope more young Chinese people will stand up with more demands for democracy in future, and also understand the struggle of Hong Kongers,” said the activist, who gave only the nickname Aaron for fear of reprisals.
“If there are voices from mainland China, it could encourage more young people from there to take part in overseas movements,” he said.
U.S.-based activist Sulaiman Gu, a director of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars said the Tiananmen massacre was an “atrocity by the tyrannical Chinese Communist Party that has been allowed to stand for many years already.”
But Gu, who became politically active while in college in 2015, said activists are prepared to bide their time to achieve democratic change in China.
“Maybe we won’t see the collapse of this regime in our lifetimes, but life keeps going,” Gu said. “The main advantage we have over them is time.”
The organizer of a candlelight vigil in Australia who hails from Hong Kong and who gave only the nickname Jude for fear of reprisals, said Hong Kongers will continue to play an important role in such activities long after fleeing the ongoing crackdown in their home city.
“Hong Kong used to be of huge significance as a place in China where people could publicly commemorate June 4 … but now it’s no longer possible to do that.”
“But we need to take that same sense of outrage and use it to tell people here about Hong Kong and about June 4, 1989,” she said.
Taiwanese mark anniversary
Taiwan, which split from mainland China amid civil war in 1949 and has never been part of the People’s Republic of China, marked the anniversary on Tuesday with a series of events including a silent prayer, art exhibitions, and a candlelight display.
The day, known simply as “June 4th” to Chinese speakers, inspires memorial activities around the world in honor of those who died.
But the island’s capital, Taipei, has taken on the added significance of being the only place in the Chinese-speaking world where a memorial is openly held.
The event was hosted on the grounds of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, named after Taiwan’s previous authoritarian leader. Since the island’s democratic transition, the venue has served as a staging ground for protests and human rights rallies.
“People’s attention to the June 4th event is gradually picking up momentum in Taiwan,” said Kasey Wong, an exhibition artist who participated in the Tuesday event.
“The event has become a platform that plants a seed in people in terms of citizen’s responsibility for freedom and democracy,” Wong said. “Taiwan is a beacon of democracy in Asia, so [the island] has the responsibility of upholding this event since Hong Kong is no longer able to do it.”
While the vigil was primarily about remembering the Tiananmen Square massacre, it featured artwork representing other political causes, ranging from Tibet to Hong Kong and Taiwanese civil society organizations.
‘Respond with freedom’
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said in a post on Facebook that it was important to respond to authoritarianism with freedom and that the memory of June 4 would not disappear.
“This reminds us that democracy and freedom do not come easily and that we must build consensus with democracy and respond to authoritarianism with freedom,” Lai wrote.
“The memory of June 4th will not disappear in the torrent of history. We will continue to work hard to make this historical memory last forever and move everyone who cares about Chinese democracy.”
Taipei takes over from Hong Kong, a former British colony that for 30 years hosted the world’s largest annual Tiananmen Square vigil until pro-democracy protests in 2019 sparked a citywide political crackdown.
At its peak in 2019, the Hong Kong vigil drew a record 180,000 people as the city simmered with political frustration, but no formal remembrance has been permitted since, with the authorities initially citing COVID-19 limits on gatherings and, later, stringent national security laws.
Now, much of the energy that went into marking the anniversary in Victoria Park has scattered around the world, with younger activists also getting involved in commemorative events in a number of major cities this year.
‘Peaceful, color revolution’
In Washington, Li Yingzhi, one of the last students to evacuate Tiananmen Square on the night of the massacre, said the anniversary is a milestone in what he terms an ongoing bid to bring a “color revolution” – peaceful protests that would lead to the establishment of a democratic government – to China.
“I was just talking about the new democratic revolution,” he told RFA Mandarin at a protest on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. “This is a peaceful, color revolution, such as we have seen in a lot of countries already, involving huge street protests.”
“That new democratic revolution started on the night of June 4, 1989,” he said.
In Washington, protesters on June 2 led by the U.S.-based China Democracy Party unfurled a banner depicting the “Pillar of Shame” sculpture for the Tiananmen Square massacre victims that has been removed from public view by authorities in Hong Kong, and sang an anti-fascist anthem titled “Requiem” outside the Chinese Embassy.
“Down with the Chinese Communist Party!” they chanted. “Down with Xi Jinping!”
Similar slogans were heard in Flushing, New York, where dozens of protesters marched calling for a reappraisal of the official verdict of “counterrevolutionary rebellion” on the massacre, displaying a large banner showing photos of some of the known victims.
Protesters turned out at commemorative events in Washington, London, Manchester, Leeds, San Francisco, Vancouver and Amsterdam.
Veteran democracy activist Wei Jingsheng, who has served 18 years in Chinese prisons for kickstarting the Democracy Wall movement in 1978, said the overseas democracy movement has two main tasks.
“One is to convince the international communist to pay attention to human rights issues in China, and [the other is] to use the internet to spread new ways of thinking to China,” Wei said.
“People need new ideas if they’re to take new forms of action,” he said.
