Hong Kong Remembers the Tiananmen Square Massacre

June 4th, 1989 - the government of the People's Republic of China begins a crackdown on protestors (mostly students) in Tiananmen Square. The protestors, who had lived through a decade of economic reform was demanding political reform and democracy. Instead of change, the PRC set the army to attack their own people. The death toll is still unknown and there are still families out there wondering what happened to their relatives who participated in the protest.

In the PRC, the government takes great lengths to wipe the event from the collective memory of the people. The June 4th massacre is also officially described as a "counter-revolutionary revolt." Nonetheless, there are many who still remember the horrors of June 4th and although public remembrances are not tolerated on the mainland, the biggest candlelight vigil for the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre is held every year at Victoria Park in Hong Kong. According to the organizers on the stage, there was a record-breaking number of people who came to the candlelight vigil this year and I was proud to be among the crowd.

I'd like to take up some space and a moment on this blog to remember those who decided to voice their opinions and stand up to authority in an attempt to make life better for themselves and their fellow citizens. The widespread support in your cause proved that you dared to voice the hopes and dreams of others. May your courage and spirit never be forgotten.

Here are pictures of the candlelight vigil. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture shots that would really represent the sea of candles you see in the news reports.

When you walked out of the MTR, there were tons of political parties doing fundraisers and advertising.

The sign reads: "The people will not forget."

My camera would not give me a decent shot of people with their candles. This blurry picture was the best I could get.

I won't forget.

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

This comes a bit late but I figure better late than never, I suppose. Life has been busy as usual and it does take a while before I get the motivation to write on this blog. Without further ado, here are a few things that I did for Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.

CNY came as a huge surprise because of how quiet it was. Suddenly, almost everything was closed and the streets were devoid of people - a first. One place that's usually quiet but full of people, however, were the temples.


The statues at Wong Tai Sin temple were decked out in bright red ribbons.


In Macau, the Amah Temple was setting off firecrackers.


A visiting friend and I also braved the HUGE crowds in the Chinese New Year fair/flower market in Victoria Park.



Such colourful plants and flowers!


The Che Kung Temple is a popular destination for CNY. A few Chief Executive candidates went the date before I did.



What to do when you're at the Che Kung Temple during CNY: spin the wheel of fortune and bang the drums to herald the New Year!


For some reason, buying whirligigs is very common around this time. I got a little one though there were big ones as well!


There was also tons of CNY paraphernalia! So cute!


The Mandarin Oriental also heralded the new year with this centrepiece in the cake shop!

Still in love with Causeway Bay

So today, a few friends and I went to Causeway Bay to explore. The area was a lot less overwhelming the second time around (here's the post about my first time there) and a lot more fun with other people.

First thing's first, I will be very proud to tell everyone that we found Victoria Park!


I was trying to find it last time I was there but failed miserably. It was a beautiful park with a statue of Queen Victoria. For some reason though, our entire group missed the statue as we were walking into the park.

(I apologize for the bad photo, the sun was super bright and I wasn't sure how I should've adjusted my camera.)

Afterwards, we went to Times Square. There was new art there: there were all these statues of fattened known personalities and characters with tons of corporate logos strewn about their costumes. (Even the characters from Journey to the West - a Buddhist story - were desecrated with logos of MacDonalds and Microsoft.) These statues were made with handbills or pamphlets with ads handed out on the streets. If my Marxist prof were here, I'd say that this was clearly art protesting the consumerist capitalist culture in Hong Kong. (And here, a Russian is headdesking herself.)

Although a lot of us are jetlagged, we managed to make one more stop before heading home. Since it was the evening, we ended up in TST (Tsim Sha Tsui) to watch the daily laser show. The show itself was pretty underwhelming but at least we can say that we saw it. We also got the postcard view of Hong Kong's skyline:


The real thing was obviously a lot prettier but my camera cannot handle the skyline's epicness. Or anything for that matter. I am in total need of a new camera. I should save up and get myself an LSR at one point... Oh well, I can dream. Speaking of dreams, going to bed sounds lovely right now.

Nighty night from HK!