When I’m 64
Better say “I’m approaching 65”, just to avoid putting the numbers 6 and 4 together.
When a newspaper celebrates its anniversary, it’s a common practice that some advertisers place a paid ad as a congratulation. Ming Pao, one of the renowned media in Hong Kong, is celebrating their 64th anniversary this year, and things became awkward this time. You see, to some, the number 64 is very sensitive*, they’ll try everything to work around it.
*64, refer to June 4th, 1989, aka Tiananmen Square massacre. If you live in a free country, you can easily find out the details. That is, if you don’t already know.
The diagram above (made by Photomedia) shows the obvious. While the first three panels show pretty much the same ad from 2020 to 2022, to congratulate Ming Pao for their 61st, 62nd, and 63rd anniversary respectively. However, this year (2023), instead of the usual 64th (if you can count like a normal person), they altered the wording to read “approaching 65th”. How ridiculous! Yet, it’s happening and written in black and white (in this case, in red and yellow.)
As stupid as it looks, this is what’s going on in Hong Kong right now. Better safe than sorry. Self-censorship is on everything. If you are so naive or care less about this kind of thing, it will still hit you when you least expected it.
There was a private screening of a documentary movie “To Be Continued” today (Sunday, June 4th, 2023) at a small cinema in Kennedy Town. It sold out long ago. Just few days before the screening, a “friendly reminder” suggested the cinema not to host any event on such a sensitive date. They feared some attendees might hijack the event and turn it into a memorial ritual for June4! The organizers eventually canceled and postponed the screening to a later date. Yes, they didn’t ban the movie from being shown to the public, just not on this date. Yet, they are are OKed with other movies showing that very same day, even some to a full house (it’s a Sunday after all).
Hong Kong was the only city in China that had memorial rituals held every year since 1989. Even the SAR government used that as an indication that the “One country, two systems” is still intact, and Hong Kong citizens still enjoy the freedom and rights to protest and assemble. Things took a dive since the 2019 social movement, the police cracked down on any sort of protests and assembly hard. They simply don’t allow any form of assembly, and the civil society once we knew and associated with, no longer existed in Hong Kong.
Victoria Park is the venue for the past June4 memorial ritual, it was left totally empty for the last two years, but not without heavy police patrolling in the surrounding areas. This year, some post-government organizations set up a fun fair for the weekend, just to whitewash things a bit. However, they still fear some individuals might sneak in and cause trouble, they set up a tight security check at the entrance, with metal detectors, you know, the whole nine yards. They also announced they’d mobilized at least 5,000 police patrolling the area. These are not your regular neighborhood patrols, these police all wear bullet-proof vests, and some even carry long rifles. All this is happening outside a park where a fun fair is taking place! Again, better safe than sorry!
A handful of brave souls did try doing their own thing, like standing up and holding a moment of silence, all by oneself, perhaps with another person. They were quickly be surrounded by at least 20 police, with orange tape to seal off the area. These individuals didn’t say a word, did nothing, some put red tape over their mouths, indicating that they are being silenced. They were eventually arrested and sent to a police station.
This is what really happening in Hong Kong right now. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” They are trying to alter history, but when you over-doing it, it draws more attention, and it will remind people again and again. They can ban, subtract, eliminate, and even destroy, but they can’t touch our memories.
I just wonder, what if I go around singing this Beatles song on June 4th, will I get arrested? Will they ban the song? Don’t bet against it.
