SECOND TAKE
THE GUARDIAN: Memory of Tiananmen Square killings must be kept alive
When forgetting is compulsory, remembering can be a lonely business. Zhang Xianling’s 19-year-old son was shot in the head as Chinese troops bloodily suppressed the student-led protests that began in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in 1989. In the 32 years since, she and other Tiananmen mothers have campaigned in vain for an honest reckoning of the events of June 4, while the Communist Party’s imposed amnesia has made the subject utterly taboo on the mainland.
“So there is hope after all!” she exclaimed, when the scale and passion of Hong Kong’s annual vigil was described to her a few years ago. The event, attended by up to 180,000 at its peak, was the largest in the world and kept the memory of the killings alive on Chinese soil. But there was no mass vigil on Friday, and perhaps it will never happen again. The authorities have banned it for a second year running, purportedly due to coronavirus concerns though other mass events continue, and authorities warned that anyone who trie...
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