Rachel Cheung Profile picture
Jun 4, 2021 16 tweets 7 min read Read on X
#JuneFourth: an elderly man was surrounded by over two dozen police officers outside Victoria Park just for holding banners that said conscience.
Last year, hundreds showed up at the Victoria Park, defying a ban to commemorate the #TiananmenSquareMassacre. This year, police sealed off the park, blocked cross harbour tunnels and reportedly deploy up to 7,000 officers across the city, to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.
“It’s a pity we cannot participate in the vigil this year,” said Lit Ming-wai, producer of May 35th, an award winning drama on June Fourth. She is bringing the flowers to attend the mass. “This will only make us remember this better.”
Lit was led away by police for a search.
Another woman holding a bouquet of flowers was stopped and searched. An officer told they have reasonable suspicion because of the flowers.
A woman stopped and searched outside the park for holding a tiny candlelight.
A man with a shirt that says “we are getting closer to vindicating June Fourth” and a stack of newspapers was asked by police officers to mind which page and headline he is displaying.
Police’s loudspeakers are blasting social distancing rules, but the booth for League of Social Democrats continues to play songs commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Firefighters arrived and opened the hydrant for reason unknown. The booth was forced to move.
Police unfurled banners, warning people they are violating the law by gathering. People chanted protest slogans in response as they scattered. Unable to light candles, many people walk around with the torchlight on their phone.
“It’s a tradition. Police can say whatever they want. It’s not illegal to light candles.”
Walk around Victoria Park and you will find signs everywhere that tell you people have not forgotten: a placard that says “nothing happened on June Fourth”; graffiti and digital display of candles; torchlight on phones.
Dressed in white uniform meant for mourning and yellow hats to symbolise the candlelight, three visual arts students wanted to present a performance art, but were scattered by police before they could. They also brought scrolls for ppl to paint on.
Officers surrounded a plastic candle left on a pole, but eventually left it alone
Activist Alexandra Wong remains defiant
Police back to their old tactics of cordoning off a stretch of the street to stop and search people, particularly youngsters dressed in black.

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More from @rachel_cheung1

Feb 26
In my latest for @thewirechina:
For years, Sixth Tone succeeded in carving out a precarious, but unique space in China’s media ecosystem. But conversations with 15 former and current employees reveal how the publication has been neutered over the past year. Image
Founded in 2016, Sixth Tone had long fought a battle on two fronts: foreign readers greeted it with skepticism due to its state affiliation, while nationalists in the country attacked its content for liberal leanings.
But for many, both inside and outside of China, it offered something invaluable amid growing constraints: a rare space for on-the-ground perspectives in China.
Read 13 tweets
Apr 3, 2023
For years, Program Think #編程隨想, an anonymous blogger pushed back against CCP's rule one post at a time. Some compared him to the mysterious vigilante in V for Vendetta. Others called him “the tank man of the digital age,” a lone figure facing down China’s security apparatus.
He achieved legendary status among Chinese bloggers for his persistence. Most remarkably, unlike most critics, he wrote from within China, where he took care to hide his digital footprint and eluded authorities for over a decade.
Among his ~700 posts was a guide on how to bypass China's firewall. But when readers, concerned for his safety, urged him to 人肉翻牆/leave the country. He cited a line from V for Vendetta: “If all those who dare to resist run away, they would win.”
Read 8 tweets
Nov 28, 2022
I spoke to four young Chinese residents, who joined various protests in #Shanghai, Zhuhai and Chengdu over the weekend. Few are under the illusion the protests would lead to meaningful changes, but here's their experience and what they have to say: vice.com/en/article/qjk…
One said most just want to resume a normal life, but she yearns for much more: freedom of speech, an end to the crackdown on Xinjiang, release of activists, feminists, lawyers who have been arrested in recent years. “But just having a normal life feels like a distant hope.”
“I want to stand with those who are courageous and do what I can to help them,” said another protester in Shanghai, who narrowly avoided escape on the first night and returned to the same site the next day to find even more people gathered.
Read 6 tweets
Aug 18, 2022
The Chinese city of Xiamen is conducting COVID tests on fresh fish. After photos and videos of health workers swabbing fish sparked ridicule online, the local outlet that covered its enforcement blurred the report on its ePaper.
It now looks like this online, LOL.
The official notice announcing the measure blamed the import of coronavirus on “illegal trade” with foreign boats, which caused “great danger to society.” It encouraged people to report violations to authorities and offered up to half a million yuan.
vice.com/en/article/wxn…
Read 5 tweets
Jun 8, 2022
In a public letter published tdy, 37 leading scholars of China’s policies in Xinjiang said they're “deeply disturbed” by @mbachelet's statement, which “ignored and even contradicted” academic findings provided to her office. See our story and full letter:
vice.com/en/article/pkg…
“High Commissioner Bachelet’s words echo the Chinese state’s claim that their atrocities in Xinjiang are all are part of a ‘counter-terrorism’ effort, a claim that our research and the Chinese state’s own documents show to be false,” they wrote.
The signatories include two scholars who were consulted by Bachelet’s office prior to her trip. But their findings were not reflected in Bachelet’s remarks in a press conference in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou when she concluded her official visit on May 28.
Read 6 tweets
Jun 4, 2022
Heavy police presence in Causeway Bay on #June4, the anniversary of #TiananmenSquareMassacre. A man near Victoria Park has been surrounded by police officers for 25 mins. They have meticulously gone through everything in his bag, including every card pocket of his wallet.
Chan in his sixties was told by police that he could be deemed as part of unauthorised assembly because of a plastic candlelight, which he has used for years. In return, he advised them to quit their jobs.
A man was stopped and searched by police for holding a Lego tank set. “In just three years, everything changed,” he said.
Read 8 tweets

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