Daily Lessons from Life 04 June 2013 - Hong Kong to mark Tiananmen anniversary with huge vigil

"Hong Kong to mark Tiananmen anniversary with huge vigil - AFP Jun 04, 2013 Hong Kong - More than 100,000 people are expected to attend a candlelight vigil on Tuesday in Hong Kong, the only Chinese city to openly mark the 24th anniversary of the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square. Residents of the former British colony gather each year at the city's Victoria Park to commemorate the victims, thought to number at least hundreds, of the brutal military intervention in Beijing that ended weeks of nationwide democracy protests in 1989. An official Chinese Communist Party verdict after the Tiananmen protests branded the movement a "counter-revolutionary rebellion", and the events of 1989 have largely been expunged from Chinese official history. A survey conducted by the Hong Kong University last month found around 68 per cent of the people interviewed thought the Chinese government acted wrongly in 1989. The survey, which carried out more than 1,000 interviews also found that around 68 per cent of Hong Kongers believe that the city should incite the development of democracy in China. In China, more than 100 people whose relatives were killed in the Tiananmen Square crackdown hit out at the country's new president Xi Jinping in an open letter, days ahead of the anniversary of the deaths. Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 as a semi-autonomous territory with its own mini-constitution that guarantees basic rights and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including freedom of speech and assembly." A momentous historical event in modern China indeed. What would have become of China had that bloody, no doubt about this, action being taken by the government of the day then? I think it is any body's guess and none the wiser! Lessons for me are: 1. what was the motivation behind that particular incident? were there real grassroot support across China or just some, a very small minority of students if you put it against the 1.1 billion Chinese then, disillusioned people frustrated about something that the peasants and many of the non-urban folks could hardly connected to?; 2. what of the roles of 'foreign' instigators? Some of the 'student leaders' did make it overseas. What have become of them? I read about some who are still trying to bring the practice of 'democracy' to China. While some have moved on to do whatever they want. And some simply died with broken hearts and unfulfilled wishes. What could have become of China then if 'democracy' was embraced by the communist regime? Would we have a kinder China who is prospering at measured pace and better at distributing the new wealth created more evenly throughout the diverse and vast country? I am not sure. I am not sure the Chinese are ready then just as they are not ready today for 'pure democracy! Even Singapore government is comprehensive about 'pure democracy'!!; 3. a paradox for Hong Kong people. They are the most feverish about reminding the Chinese and the world about this bloody suppression of democracy. The truth is: what is Hong Kong SAR? How do they handle the decline of economic dominance over the mainland Chinese 20 years ago to today's state of 'riding on the economic development coattails of China'? Can Hong Kong accept another 10 million mainland Chinese who want to live the Hong Kong's dream? (whatever that dream maybe - democracy? or just 'give me a stable, peaceful and prosperous life'?) The rate China is going. It can spin out of control. As long as the majority of the people find living conditions are still tolerable, nothing significant will change. However, when the people find that the water they they drink, they air that they breath, and the land that they live in are poisoned, toxic, and killing them, they will fight to survive. At that stage, anything goes. So it is in the best interests of the elite and ruling class to manage the change instead of letting change overtake them. Will democracy do it? Probably not unless the PEOPLE are aware enough of what are good for them long term.