A candlelight vigil for the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre was held on Tuesday in Oxford. The vigil was attended by more than half of Hong Kong Oxonians and was the first memorial of its kind held in Oxford in recent years.
The student-led memorial attracted more than 60 undergraduates and postgraduates, more than attend the annual Chinese New Year gathering in Oxford. There are about 100 Hong Kong students at Oxford.
Dressed in dark colours and holding battery-operated candles, students mimicked the routines of a similar memorial held in Hong Kong every year since 1990. They observed a minute’s silence for the victims and sang songs of condolence.
On June 4th 1989 thousands of Beijing students and civilians were killed by the army following a peaceful demonstration for democracy in China. No one has been held responsible for the deaths, nor has there been an official death count. 23 years on, Hong Kong remains the only place on Chinese soil where people can mourn the victims without political intervention.
Oxford students had organised memorials for the victims in the early 1990s, but efforts subsided after. Franz Mang, one of the organisers, said, “We would like to continue the tradition here in Oxford. Last year we wanted to attend memorials in London, but found out that they were mostly linked with dubious organisations. We want to organise a politically independent memorial, solely for Oxford students.”
Timothy Chan said, “Since 1989 I spent most of my time in England. There had never been memorials of any kind, until this year.”
Dr Xu Zerong, a visiting fellow at St Antony’s College who had been jailed by the Chinese government for political reasons, was the guest speaker.
The organisers said they were encouraged by the enthusiastic turnout, and would like to involve mainland Chinese and students of other nationalities next year. Samson Yuen, one of the organisers, said, “Authoritarian regimes always want people to forget history. Remembering is our last defence.”
