Two more Hong Kong universities yesterday removed public monuments to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, following on the heels of the dismantling of a sculpture marking victims of the crackdown at another university earlier this week.
The 6.4m bronze statue Goddess of Democracy, which holds aloft a flame at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), had been removed from a public piazza just before dawn.
The university said in a statement that the “unauthorized statue” had been taken away.
Photo: Reuters
“Following an internal assessment, and as the manager of the university campus, CUHK has removed the statue,” it said.
The Hong Kong sculpture was modelld on a 10m white plaster and foam statue erected by students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 as a symbol of their resolve in pursuing liberty and democracy.
“I feel heartbroken and shocked,” said Felix Chow, a former student at the university and district councilor. “This statue represents the school environment is open. It’s a symbol of academic freedom... It makes people doubt whether the school can still ensure the space is free and people can speak freely.”
Unlike mainland China, where authorities ban any memorials or public commemoration of the crackdown on June 4, 1989, Hong Kong had previously remained the only place in China where such commemorations were permissible.
Lingnan University also took down a Tiananmen wall relief sculpture, which also included a depiction of the Goddess of Democracy.
The bas-relief includes images of a line of tanks halting before a lone protester known as “tank man” and victims shot by Chinese troops being carried away.
Pictures of the Lingnan site after the removal showed a bare wall and rubble on the ground.
The artist who created both works, Chen Weiming (陳維明), told Reuters that he would sue the universities if there was any damage to his works.
A towering red picture of the Goddess of Democracy in the Lingnan University student union main hall had also been painted over in grey paint. Students responded by pasting a sheet of paper with the word “shameful” on the effaced image, which was quickly ripped off by security guards.
Lingnan University said in a e-mailed statement that items that might pose “legal and safety risks” had been “cleared, or removed and stored appropriately.”
Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 and was promised wide ranging autonomy and freedoms by Beijing under the “one country, two systems” arrangement.
Authorities have since last year been clamping down in Hong Kong under a China-imposed National Security Law that human rights advocates say is being used to suppress civil society, jail democracy campaigners and curb basic freedoms.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the security laws have restored order and stability after mass protests in 2019, and that fundamental rights and freedoms are still respected.
Earlier this week, the University of Hong Kong dismantled and removed the 8m Pillar of Shame statue from its campus, after the piece has for more than two decades commemorated pro-democracy protesters killed during the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The disappearances of these symbolic monuments at three universities in quick succession mean there are now hardly any remaining public Tiananmen memorials in the territory.
“Since the Chinese communists implemented the National Security Law in Hong Kong, they have eradicated the freedom of press, of assembly and the freedom of expression,” Chen said. “They want to remove the real history of the brutal crackdown ... they wouldn’t allow any different viewpoints to continue to exist in Hong Kong.”
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