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Alice Poon Hong Kong Current Events June 4th Is A Matter of Conscience
Alice Poon Hong Kong Current Events June 4th Is A Matter of Conscience | June 4th Is A Matter of Conscience |
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| Written by Alice Poon (潘慧嫻) | |
| Wednesday, 20 May 2009 | |
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How any decent Chinese adult, let alone a Hong Kong born and educated SAR leader, can find it in his heart to consider economic prosperity as a prize for which it is worth erasing the memory of the ruling regime’s cruel massacre of numerous young Chinese lives on June 4th 20 years ago totally confounds me. For Donald Tsang to utter cold blooded words to such effect in full public view (he was reading from a script and his words were hardly a slip-of-tongue) shows that he is a person completely devoid of conscience. For him to dare say that his view represents the views of all Hong Kong people shows how out of touch he is with reality, not to mention he is totally blind to the fact that he was not directly elected by Hong Kong people. Indeed, part of what Donald Tsang said was true – the ugly murders took place a long time ago, twenty years, to be exact. Hong Kongers would rather not be reminded of the atrocious event year after year on June 4th. After all, it is a painful memory of a tragedy that served to underline our fear of the horrors of autocratic rule in our motherland. I can still recall the scene in Toronto in which I broke down in tears when I watched TV news while in my brother-in-law’s house – I saw tanks rolling towards Tiananmen Square and the frightened students scrambling to get away, some carrying the wounded on carts. The first thought that came to mind was: “Why on earth are they using tanks to kill those helpless and unarmed young people? Why are the soldiers killing the peacefully demonstrating students?” Twenty years have passed. Those questions still remain unanswered as of today. Meanwhile, Hong Kong has been able to reap economic benefits from China’s open and reform policy. But most Hong Kongers would never conflate economic prosperity with a serious matter of right and wrong. Tsang could not have made a worse judgment on this issue. Even when the Mainland authorities have been trying to twist the truth around (like laying the blame on the students’ alleged intention to revolt against the CCP – an allegation that is refuted by Zhao Ziyang in his secret memoirs) and to forbid discussions of the subject in the Mainland, this has done nothing to obliterate the shameful deed from Hong Kongers’ memory. With the passage of time, people’s vehement disgust with the ignominious murderous act has indeed been diluted, as is evident from the declining attendance at the Victoria Park June 4th vigil over the years. Yet, as if to help reverse the trend, a couple of recent incidents have managed to re-ignite Hong Kongers’ feelings of revulsion. In 2007, pro-Beijing DAB legislator Ma Lik blurted out a preposterous “pigs-crushed-by-tanks” analogy which caused a public outcry and, last month, the HKU student union president surnamed Chan tried to defend and rationalize the Beijing government’s violent crackdown, which caused an outburst of anger in Hong Kong society and led to his being ousted from his post. Oblivious to Hong Kong people’s sentiment, now Donald Tsang has just given an inane answer to democratic legislator Margaret Ng’s pointed question of whether out of his conscience he would support vindication of June 4th, and his response brought about a walk-out by pan-democratic legislators as well as an outpour of vitriol from citizens. This incident has even prompted some to express their disgust through a song. Contrary to what Tsang believes, when it comes to a matter of conscience, many Hong Kongers are still disgusted with what happened 20 years ago at Tiananmen Square, and by extension, with people responsible for trampling on lives of fellow countrymen at will, and with their supporters. And for the record, Mr. Tsang, your view is your own, not mine, and you don’t represent me.
With the timely publication of Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs, “Prisoner of the State” just a few weeks before the June 4th anniversary, some long-hidden truths surrounding the military crackdown of the Tiananmen Square student movement finally see the light of day. Here are some extracts from the book, courtesy of The Telegraph. This book is going to be on my “to read” list. I sincerely hope that every Chinese on earth, especially the post-1989 generations, will get a chance to read this book and hopefully we shall all come away better informed and more enlightened by it.
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(20)
 written by alick , June 04, 2009
Dear Uninfected Chinese, I am sure you have preference on national unity and so do I. When the capital of China has been hostaged for 6 weeks, the order needed to be restored. But there is no need to kill the students but unfortunately ... However, the 3,000+ student were not scarficed. In fact they did one of the greatest democratic movement in recent history. June 27, 1989 Poland Iron Curtain Cut. Nov 7, 1989 Berlin wall came down. Dec 22, 1989 Romania revolution. Dec 8, 1991 Soviet Dissolve. The Bravery act of student on Tianman Square laid the foundation for the successful democractic movement in communist country. Like Thousands of Romania post card sending to China in 1989 quotes "we made it despite you didn't, thanks you for your courage which motivate us to do the same". There is many kind of patriot. I feel proud of China becoming strong and open but I don't condone any inhumane hostile discipline. Chinese value is more than economic growth, Beijing Olympics, $2 trillion reserve, sending chinese to the space. We need to do better in helping chinese to live healthier via better living, think wiser via better education and lead smarter with more political sense. We need the leader to talk world issue in Chinese context with rhetoric (with all things consider) and not just keep quiet. If western is being hypocrites, do offer alternate point of view, do say it out smartly and not just being quiet. We all learn by scandal. Talk like a big country, a world class leader. So Uninfected Chinese, we need to be consensus builder not just take side blindly as if there is only right or wrong. There is more spectrum to this.
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written by GeorgeC , May 28, 2009
so aside from semantics, you do agree, or i agree with you(whichever you prefer) in principle
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i think i get your message, and choice of words and tone, very insightful report abuse
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Weeping Christ on a stick! Just great! Another tedious, whiny nincompoop with reading and comprehension impediment. Pray tell where did I ever say that it was A-OK to kill someone for their peaceful protest? However, let me give you another grown-up revelation: there's no such thing as "free speech". There is only MANAGED free speech, whether by law, by personal volition and inhibition or by wider peer/social pressure in whether to choose to say something or not, but especially that which is contrary to the supposedly accepted oxymoron of "common wisdom", such as the notion that it was right to send in the troops.
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I neither know or care whether you're educted or not, however it is unsurprisingly and blatantly clear that you're devoid of any shred of rudimentary imagination, which in many ways is far, far worse. One can be imaginative without being educated, but being "educated" is no guarantee that one is also imaginative. And talking to such a person, like now, is akin to watching paint dry. As for who/what I am, why, I'm your uncle Bob with your favourite 10 inch strap-on cum spikes. Are you a happy boy now? report abuse
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written by GeorgeC , May 27, 2009  so you do agree that its was wrong to physically destroy someone for their protest? and you are for free speech? i'm sorry because my uneducated mine can't really comprehend your ramblings when your posts veer off into sodomy and poopoo i'm also not defending anyone's opinion but mine, i just saw your comment and felt i had to say something, which i believe is a common compulsion between us just curious, are you a university/college professor or student? report abuse
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@GeorgeC
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LOL, while I don't know who or what you are or whether you're a fan of "nanheyangrouchuan" or shares his outlook, you're obviously new to the concept of free speech, which you seem to espouse and place on a pedestal. Well here's a heads-up for ye and whether you like it or not, free speech, for better or for worse, includes the freedom to VERBALLY "run somebody over with a tank". Particularly when you disagree with them and especially with specimens such as "nanheyangrouchuan" who has a tendency to leaves his droppings everywhere and I for one occasionally takes certain je ne sais quo perverse and incomparable pleasure in VERBALLY sodomizing him over because he's such a cute little tyke when he throws his tantrums about all things even remotely related to China all over the internet. As for yourself, I think you need to grow up unless you want to go through life swaddle in diapers, otherwise there are always rooms where the walls are lined with padding just waiting for you for the day you finally go-a-poo-poo. Another pathetic example of a febrile mind. Jeeze, just what sort of "intellects" are the schools turning out these days. report abuse
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written by GeorgeC , May 27, 2009
whats with the guy starting off the comments with personal attacks like "your momma...etc."
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going off at people with different opinions like a rabid dog isn't the best way to defend your views or win an argument... politicians should be representatives of the people, serve said people, and should also acknowledge the fact that in a city packed with so many people, there has to be at least one person with a different opinion Tsang made a dumb comment and he should know better I'm very happy to see some of the people here arguing in a rational manner if you think its ok to run someone over with a tank to shut them up, all because you don't like what they are saying you need some psychoanalysis don't take the opportunity to debate for granted, it is not a freedom enjoyed by everyone in the world report abuse
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Sigh, what a limited perspective and imagination you have, but unsurprising really. The world is very large, yet also very small and I am all of that and none of that, now have fun guessing which and which. And you REALLY should move out of your moma's house and get out more, meet some new and interesting people. Despite people's initial impression of you, they'll know that deep down you really just want to be so loooved, because you are that bloody transparent and so hollow at that. Who knows, you might, just might even become less constipated, both physiologically and emotionally. You might become a happier person and kiddie net users can be spared your verbal diarrhea. So l'haim to the cutting of the umbilical cord, boy do you need it.
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written by nanheyangrouchuan , May 26, 2009
So not Chinese and not even a China expat. Well, I guess that explains your uninformed opinions, please at least tell us you are an east asian studies major who at least has an ivory tower grasp of China. Otherwise, you've got nothing intellectual to contribute.
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Btw, are you so devoid of imaginationand creativity that you can't think of anything with more gusto that mimic maternal references? So who's a very dull boy then eh? Dude, I'm so sorry, I now understand why you are the way you. My most heartfelt and sincerest condolences to people who know you and of course musn't forget your moma too.
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Heh??? Sorry, ain't no expat either and boy are you keen to pigeonhole people. I suppose that comes with the territory of being an ignoramus with absolutely no perspective at all, nevermind the analytical ability to see beyond your pathetic self. But seriously dude, who poop in your porridge while you were growing up for you to be so full of excrement that you now feel the need to regularly regurgitate it all out and over the internet at that?
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Was it your daddy or was it your uncle Bob with their nightly "visits" while your momma was asleep? Is that how you account for that highly "flexible" orifice you call a mouth with which you hurl all your pent-up frustration, unsatisfied ambition and impotence. Or are you just a masochist who gets his kicks from receiving abuse online? Would you be a happy boy then if I told you I was a Tibetan sadist who'll happyily bring along his cat-o-nine tails and 10 inch strap-on if you give me your address? LOL! What a pitiful crud of a moron. report abuse
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written by nanheyangrouchuan , May 23, 2009
Oh, so you are just a panda licking expat who has drunk the CCP kool aid. Yo mama is not very proud of her chump son that would sell people down the river for potential profits.
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Heh? Sorry I'm not "Chinese" depending on which definition you like to use to suit your own Weltanshaung. So in which case am I a "feng qing" too or does it depends more on what I say? I guess its always more convenient to slap a label on people when they say things that challenges your perspective, being the hallmark of the typical child-like ignoramus without a shred of ability to think or argue critically. And I just bet that you were the class bully in scholl aren't ye? Your moma would be sooo proud, LOL!
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Thanks Alice. It seems odd that we often hear variations on Donald Tsang's remark (we must forget June 4th and move on for prosperity) but then, if the Nanking Massacre is mentioned, suddenly we must remember the past and use it as a stick to beat the Japanese with.
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written by nanheyangrouchuan , May 21, 2009
Seems I really pushed a button with a certain ($*t youth who holds tightly to his copies of Youth Daily while memorizing Mao Thought, Deng Theory and wearing three watches while feasting on river crab.
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Just watch out for those grass mud horses young boy! Not all Chinese people are brainwashed btw: http://twitpic.com/5gy4a Chinese people have been conditioned to be bullied over millenia, first by emporers, then by the commie baby killers, who also steal all of Asia's water, ruin the skies with pollution, export dangerous, low quality products and try to blame it all on the West. I feel sorry for the rest of Asia, having to live so close to China. report abuse
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LOL, so is your problem with the Chinese people or with the Chinese government? You seem to have trouble deciding which. Well guess what, they as well as Overseas Chinese and non-Chinese foreigners all participated in earthquake relief work. And you've obviously never visited Mainland Chinese companies that employ disabled people to see first hand how they operate.
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Oh and does being a foreigner nationality-wise or living overseas automatically excludes one from also being Chinese? What limited pathetic troll logic. By that definition nobody would refer to themselves as Irish-, Italian-, Chinese or African-Americans, no British Asians, British Chinese or British Poles. And you can say bye-bye to international travel and trade. In your mind we should probably all heel-click and Adolf would be your sugar-daddy. Sorry, while I don't know what happened to you in China or whether you were jilted by a Chinese girl or boy, depending on your persuasion, the world, in what must obviously be to your eternal frustration, doesn't work that way and no amount of your pitiful trolling all over the place on anything remotely related to China will change that. Your frustration is also showing and I suggest you talk to sombody before you are involuntarily committed. So who's not a happy boy then? Now run along and I'm sure you'll find your very own personal cesspit that you'll find comfort in. LOL what a sad, pathetic moron in search of any itsy-bitsy bit of attention, must have seriously been lacking in maternal love while growing up. report abuse
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written by nanheyangrouchuan , May 21, 2009
Pretty much all of the charity work for the Sichuan earthquake was organized by China and non China based foreign NGOs, even the US military brought in supplies, with food and tents supplied by THE JAPANESE MILITARY.
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And how do those disabled people in China get to their token, unskilled jobs when none of the buildings have brail or wheelchair access? As for any activity overseas, those programs are funded by Beijing to spread its warped and filthy version of Chinese language and culture to promote the CCP view of the world. And there is no "overseas Chinese", they are foreigners. report abuse
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Conscience + Charity in China?
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How about: Post Szechuan Earthquake relief work? Privately funded charity schools set up by Overseas Chinese and Mainlanders? Ditto similarly privately funded old people's home and disability centres and companies that specifically employ disable people. Animals/environmental and other social/health care activists, etc. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean they are not there, rather it only demonstrates the narrowness of your perspective and experience. report abuse
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written by nanheyangrouchuan , May 20, 2009
The mainland view of 6-4 can be equated by the willingness of 99.999% of mainland people to not give to charity or help out any in need. In fact any traffic accident is more entertainment, street cops have to fight their way through the crowd. China's wealthy donate nothing, they would just as soon put a cow catcher on the front of their limos to push away beggars and pedestrians.
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What is not mentioned by the CCP, or its supporters is what happened in the hutongs prior to the attack in the square itself. The Beijing garrison commander of the PLA refused to send in troops when ordered, so units from the provinces were brought in and told that the NPC was in physical danger. Those units tried sneaking up on the students by snaking through the hutongs on the way to the square. The middle aged and elderly residents, still very familiar with the civil war and cultural revolution, knew what was going to happen and they attacked, using oil bombs on troop carriers, jamming pipes, etc into tank treads and erecting barriers in the hutongs. This forced the PLA to retreat back to the outskirts of the city. It was only then that they decided to come up the main roads into the square where the standoff began. And it wasn't just students, plenty of workers, active and retired PLA soldiers, teachers, intellectuals and even some party members were in the crowd. By the time the attack order was given it was a general populist gathering and not a student uprising. Those keeping the flame lit for 6-4 should be pointing out the heroic battle in the hutongs and not just what happened in the square. Those middle aged and elderly people knew all about the true nature of the CCP, PLA and Chinese rule in general, they lived through the worst of it. report abuse
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written by Western Educated but Uninfected Chinese , May 20, 2009
The author is a typical Western-inspired liberal, too well fed on Western propaganda, comfortable in life especially when one holds a foreign passport but yet unwilling to live off the comfort of a Canadian 1st-world life style......the list goes on. These prerequisites typically qualify one as a convenient & useful agent for change in favour of the West in HK. And, sadly speaking, they may be the firm base to construct for HK independence if the conditions are ripe. Strange! China, a supposedly staunch communist nation, can be so liberal to accept ex HK'ers with suspicious loyalty to continue to hang around in her territories, seeking & depriving jobs for those who may have nowhere else to go. To most of the Chinese diaspora, some of these HKers may appear a little hypocritical if not shameful!
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What would have happened if history would have it that these so-called naive democracy-activist students somehow got their way back in Jun 4 1989? China would have had gone exactly the same way as the former Soviet Union, there would have been more than 7 little 'Chinas' (as Lee Teng Hui said) permanently at war with each other, HK, Macao, Taiwan would have people like the sort like this author in charge prescribing all the pro West agenda & most of all, the so-called rejuvination of the Chinese civilisation, the rise of China etc will just be piped dreams! These would have been exactly what the West & all the other China detractors wished for! Some HKers seem to possess the brains like a size of a pea! For heaven sake, put the race's interest over your pathetic self! report abuse
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written by Bill Rich , May 19, 2009
What is the price of conscience in China ? How much a kilo ? Where can one get some ? I have never seen any on sale in China.
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That's the answer you will get if you ask about conscience in China. report abuse
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