On 36th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Hong Kong’s silence shows extent of China’s suppression of memory

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

June 5, 2025

HRRC calls for Hong Kong and Chinese authorities to permit peaceful assembly in remembrance of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Hong Kong, and to cease harassment and arrests of organizers and activists affiliated with the annual candlelight vigil. 

Hong Kong had held a vigil every year on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Thousands gathered for it in 2019. [Image credit: Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times]

Every year since the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre – in which Chinese soldiers fired on protesting students, killing between hundreds and thousands – citizens in Hong Kong held a candlelight vigil to commemorate those killed, call for justice for the victims, and support democracy in Hong Kong and mainland China. 

The vigils routinely drew thousands to remember those killed, reaching a height of over 180,000 people marching simultaneously, and continued even after Hong Kong was transferred from the U.K. to China in 1997. 

For years, Hong Kong was the only place in China where the massacre was allowed to be commemorated, as memories of the event were suppressed in mainland China. But in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, China implemented the controversial 2020 National Security Law in response to mass pro-democracy protests in the country. Ever since, the annual vigil has been banned from taking place, and those tied with organizing the vigils have been arrested or prevented from entering Hong Kong. 

Five years on, and the erosion of the special region’s autonomy under the National Security Law, arrests of pro-democracy activists, and attacks on Hong Kong’s once free press has produced a chilling effect: where once tens of thousands marched to remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre, police said that only 10 people were detained and questioned this year on "suspicion of breaching public peace.” 

Chinese suppression and revising of memories of the massacre reflects a pattern shared by authoritarians worldwide to undermine criticisms of government violence. For example, in Egypt, where 900 people were killed in the 2013 Rabaa and al-Nahda square massacres – the largest mass killing of protesters in Egypt’s history – the government blamed the protesters. In Russia, schoolbooks have whitewashed crimes committed by Josef Stalin, including the manmade famine of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine, which the European Union recently recognized as a genocide. 

In Greater China today, only Taiwan continues to commemorate the massacre. On June 4, around 3,000 Taiwanese and Hong Kongers living in Taiwan came out in the rain to remember the events of June 4, 1989. 

“Authoritarian governments often choose to silence and forget history, while democratic societies choose to preserve the truth and refuse to forget those who gave their lives — and their dreams — to the idea of human rights,” said Taiwan’s President, Lai Ching-te, in a Facebook post on Wednesday. 

---

Glossary 

• Authoritarian - a government system in which the government uses its power to suppress or destroy alternate political parties, movements, and dissent to its rule.

• Autonomy - a political situation where a part of a country is allowed to run its own internal affairs with little interference from the government. 

• Chilling effect: a result of repressive actions that causes people to stop activities for fear of harassment, arrest or violence. 

• Commemorate – to respectfully remember or recognize.

• Famine – a situation where majorities of the population do not have enough food, resulting in mass starvation. 

• Genocide - the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, or religious group. 

• Greater China – all of historical China, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and mainland China. 

• Mainland China – China minus the “special administrative regions” of Macau and Hong Kong and independently governed Taiwan. 

• Revising: Rewriting history or events to deny that they happened or arguing that they happened differently than what the facts say. 

• Simultaneously - at the same time. 

• Suppress: intentionally attempt to stop, often using force or threats.

• Undermine – lessen the effectiveness of. 

• Vigil - A demonstration, usually silent and taking place at night.

• Whitewash – to minimize crimes, wrongdoings, or abuses.