June 4 Remembrances Wiped Out at HKU

Workers board up the bridge where a slogan is on the pavement

Following the dismantling of the Pillar of Shame just over a month ago, the University of Hong Kong continues to dismantle all remembrances of Tiananmen Square from the campus, as workers blocked off part of a bridge where students paint calligraphic commemorations of the 1989 crackdown every year.

On Swire Bridge the slogan says: "Souls of martyrs shall forever linger despite the brutal massacre; Spark of democracy shall forever glow for the demise of evils".

Students used to repaint the characters annually

But today nine construction workers wearing helmets and masks (to make them less identifiable) erected a metal partition in the morning to cordon off the part of the pavement on Swire Bridge where the commemorative messages were written.

The bridge is located off its namesake Swire Hall, a student dormitory.

Every year up until last June 11, 2021, representatives from HKU's student union have painted messages on the bridge's pavement to mark the anniversary of June 4, 1989.

In response to media inquiries about blocking off the bridge, a university spokesman said HKU "regularly conducts maintenance works at various locations and facilities", including the bridge.

Not like this before...

The slogan was a reminder of June 4, 1989

Jason Wong Ching-hin, an elected council representative for undergraduates at HKU, said the move was regrettable, saying that students and teachers have been repainting the pavement for the past 20 years to remind people about the history.

"The move by the university is incompatible with its role to uphold freedom of speech," he said, adding that he feared the university might no longer allow discussions on the crackdown and other sensitive topics in the future.

Along with repainting the pavement, students would annually clean the Pillar of Shame sculpture. 

As university officials in Hong Kong drag the institutions closer to Beijing's preferences, the further they move from freedoms of speech, expression, information and press. 

What would Sun say about HK?

Every time I walk past Dr Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park and see his statue in the middle of the grassy area, I wonder what he would think of Hong Kong now.

In 1887 he had studied at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese -- the forerunner of HKU -- and wondered what he would think about his alma mater's latest actions...