Where thousands once assembled with candles, there are now vendor booths
Each year on June 4, the question of how a society remembers its wounds becomes a political act in itself. In Hong Kong's Victoria Park — once the site of Asia's largest Tiananmen candlelight vigil — the thirty-seventh anniversary of the 1989 crackdown is marked not by mourning but by a government-endorsed carnival of regional snacks and crafts, now in its fourth consecutive year. The organizers of the old vigil face trial under national security law, their act of remembrance recast as subversion. What endures is the tension between the human need to grieve collectively and the state's power to determine what grief is permitted.
- Thirty-seven years after the Tiananmen crackdown, the space where Hong Kong once lit candles for the dead is now lined with 370 vendor booths and secured by checkpoints.
- The vigil's organizers — once protected by Hong Kong's distinct freedoms — now face up to ten years in prison for what courts are calling incitement to subversion.
- Even subtle acts of remembrance are being intercepted: police surrounded two performance artists attempting quiet commemorative gestures near the park on the anniversary's eve.
- Senior officials and more than fifty lawmakers toured the carnival in a choreographed show of endorsement, framing vendor stalls as a celebration of Chinese culture and economic vitality.
- Foot traffic at the carnival fell 30 percent from the prior year, a quiet signal that the replacement has not yet filled the space — physical or emotional — left by what was erased.
Victoria Park in Causeway Bay is unrecognizable on June 4. For three decades, tens of thousands gathered there each year with candles and flowers to remember those killed when the People's Liberation Army crushed student-led demonstrations in Beijing in 1989. This Wednesday, the park opened instead as a five-day Hometown Market Carnival — 370 booths of regional Chinese snacks and crafts, organized by 30 provincial associations, entered through security checkpoints.
The vigil's end came in stages. Police banned the 2020 gathering citing Covid-19, then banned it again in 2021 as Beijing's national security law took hold. The Hong Kong Alliance, which had organized the vigils for thirty years, disbanded that September after arrests. Its leaders — Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Albert Ho, who pleaded guilty when the trial opened — now face charges of inciting subversion, with sentences of up to ten years.
On the anniversary's eve, police moved to surround two performance artists attempting understated acts of commemoration near the park. Hours later, Chief Secretary Eric Chan praised the carnival for nurturing hometown affection, while legislature chair Starry Lee led more than fifty lawmakers through the stalls, posting that the event strengthened bonds between Hong Kong and the mainland.
The carnival drew 30 percent fewer visitors than the year before — a drop exhibitors attributed to the heat. Whether the cause is weather or waning enthusiasm, the numbers suggest the replacement has not yet become a tradition people feel compelled to attend. The legal machinery, however, moves with more certainty: public commemoration of Tiananmen is now not merely discouraged but criminalized, enforced in courtrooms where the organizers of the old vigils await their verdicts.
Victoria Park in Causeway Bay has become a different kind of gathering place. Where thousands once assembled each June 4 with candles and flowers to remember the dead from Beijing, there are now 370 vendor booths selling regional Chinese snacks and crafts. The transformation is deliberate, official, and now in its fourth year.
The Hometown Market Carnival opened on Wednesday for a five-day run, organized jointly by 30 provincial hometown associations across Hong Kong. Visitors pass through security checkpoints before entering. The event celebrates Chinese regional specialties and culture—a patriotic alternative to what used to happen on this date. Thursday marks 37 years since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, when the People's Liberation Army ended months of student-led demonstrations in Beijing. Hundreds, possibly thousands, died in that operation.
For three decades before 2020, Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement held a large candlelit vigil at Victoria Park on June 4. People gathered to remember the dead and to call for democracy in China and justice for the victims. It was a ritual of remembrance and political witness. In June 2020, police banned the gathering, citing Covid-19 restrictions. They imposed the same ban the following year, by which time the national security law imposed by Beijing had taken effect. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organized the vigils, disbanded in September 2021 after several members were arrested.
On Wednesday, the eve of the anniversary, police surrounded two performance artists attempting subtle commemorative acts in Causeway Bay near the park. The same day, Hong Kong's top officials and lawmakers visited to endorse the carnival. Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan attended the opening ceremony, praising the event for boosting love of hometowns and local consumption. Starry Lee, chair of the legislature, led more than 50 lawmakers through the carnival on Wednesday afternoon, posting on Facebook that it showcased Chinese culture while strengthening the local economy and ties between Hong Kong and mainland China.
The carnival's foot traffic, however, dropped 30 percent compared to the previous year, according to some exhibitors who blamed the heat. The numbers suggest something less than overwhelming enthusiasm for the replacement event.
Meanwhile, the legal reckoning for those who organized the old vigils continues. The Hong Kong Alliance and two vigil leaders—Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan—are on trial for inciting subversion under the national security law, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Another vigil leader, Albert Ho, pleaded guilty when the trial opened in January. The criminalization of public commemoration is now embedded in law and enforced in court. What was once a protected form of political expression has become an offense.
Citações Notáveis
The event boosted love for hometowns and local consumption— Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan
The carnival showcased Chinese specialities, boosted the local economy, and enhanced exchanges between Hong Kong and mainland China— Starry Lee, chair of the legislature
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does the government feel the need to replace the vigil with a carnival? Why not just let both happen?
The national security law gives authorities the power to suppress what they see as subversive speech. A gathering to remember Tiananmen and call for democracy in China is exactly what that law targets. A carnival celebrating regional culture poses no such threat.
But 30 percent fewer people showed up this year. That suggests people aren't buying the replacement.
True. The carnival is official, sanctioned, safe. The vigil was something people chose to do, something that meant something to them. You can't manufacture that kind of participation.
What happens to the people on trial—the vigil organizers?
They face up to 10 years in prison for inciting subversion. One has already pleaded guilty. The trials are a way of making clear that organizing public commemoration of Tiananmen carries real legal consequences.
So the vigil is gone, replaced by a carnival, and the people who organized it are being prosecuted.
That's the shape of it. The space is still there. The date is still there. But what you can do in that space on that date has fundamentally changed.