TRANSCRIPT
Hong Kong police have been arresting people over social media posts commemorating the Chinese government's Tiananmen Square crackdown on the 4th of June, 35 years ago.
One of those was performance artist Sanmu Chen, who silently performed the actions of pouring and drinking an air-toast, and then gestured the numbers "8964", representing the date of the Tiananmen crackdown, before being arrested.
He was later released unconditionally, his lawyer says.
These arrests are the first under Hong Kong's new national security law, which can impose a life sentence for endangering national security.
Increasing restrictions have stifled Tiananmen commemoration vigils in Hong Kong, leaving cities like London and Taipei to keep the memory alive.
Meanwhile, at the offices of Amnesty International in London, a group of actors rehearse a scene from a play about the Tiananmen Square massacre.
They walk into the centre of the room slowly, before pushing back against an unseen force as a low-pitched whooshing sound can be heard.
It’s a scene that depicts the 1989 4th of June Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, during which troops opened fire on pro-democracy protesters resulting in hundreds, if not thousands, dead.
The play "May 35th" is supported by Amnesty International U-K and the UK-based Hong Kong theatre company Stage June Fourth.
It tells the story of an elderly couple who wish to properly mourn their son who died during the 1989 massacre.
"May 35th"’s London production was produced by Lit Ming-wai, part of the Hong Kong diaspora who moved to the U.K. after the enactment of the 2020 security law.
The play’s central cast were kept anonymous for security reasons, along with some of a secondary chorus of actors who appear in the play’s final scene.
During rehearsals, Ming-wai sat with director Kim Pearce as they closely observed the final scene.
Director Kim Pearce says working on the project deepened her connection with the events of that fateful day.
" Ming-wai (the producer) wants this international version of the play to happen as an act of transmission. She wants more people to experience these stories and connect with them on a deeply emotional level because that’s the only way that the generation that experienced it or the generation where the parents of those that died, the Tiananmen mothers, grow older and reach the end of their lives. We have to find a way of transmitting this care, this love, these memories, on to the next generation."
For prominent Tiananmen scholar Rowena He, the production had a profound effect on her when she watched it last week.
"'May 35th', that’s where the name is coming from, right? You cannot even talk about June 4th because it’s a banned word and that’s why we use ‘May 35th’. And I myself as a scholar of Tiananmen being banned from that land as well, so of course it makes it even more important. I was sitting there last night. I had thought that nothing could make me react the way that I reacted emotionally, physically, psychologically. I couldn’t sleep the whole night. I thought I was re-living every single detail.”
Ms He was 17 at the time of the massacre and is spending the period around the anniversary travelling between the United States, Britain and Canada, giving a series of talks.
Last year Ms He lost her academic position in Hong Kong after authorities rejected her visa renewal.
"I’m grieving for a lot of losses myself and maybe the last thing I should do is continue to talk about Tiananmen, to re-traumatise myself. But I think that is important, we continue to give voices to those who cannot speak for themselves anymore, the young people of my generation who were so violently silenced near Tiananmen Square in 1989."
Activities such as "May 35th" foster hope among many and counteract the aggressive efforts to erase reminders of the crackdown, particularly those seen in Hong Kong.
One of the chorus actors is Isaac Cheng, the former vice chairperson of Hong Kong pro-democracy group Demosisto.
Now living in London, he says the message of May 35th remains as relevant as ever.
"I think we have to remind everyone, although the 4th of June massacre have been 35 years, but it never comes to an end. It is not a period (full stop), it is only a comma. There’s so much things that keep on happening, including the suppression to us, the mothers (of Tiananmen victims) and the freedom fighters and the people who support democracy."
Audience member Sue Thomas says she was moved to tears.
"I thought it was an incredibly moving portrayal of the human side of the tragedy and from the perspective of a couple who only had one child because of the one-child policy and losing their child in that way and being unable to mourn them at all, I thought it was an extremely moving piece."
