Tiananmen Commemoration Controversy Continues in Hong Kong and Beyond

Hong Kong's Victoria Park, once the site of a somber candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, is now hosting a pro-China carnival celebrating the city's handover to Beijing. The festivities come amid increasing efforts to silence historical research into China's past, including the recent dissolution of Hong Kong's second-largest pro-democracy political party and the removal of most books about the Tiananmen Square crackdown from public libraries. The national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 has made public dissent near impossible, leaving activists and journalists fearful to speak out. Despite the erasure of space for memorials, Hong Kongers still consider keeping the memory of Tiananmen alive a "moral duty."