33 yr anniversary of T-Square massacre

[MuggsyB]

Interesting that no major USA newspaper covered anything about it today other than the WSJ.  Nor of course did CNN or the FoxNews website.  I will light a candle.  Free Hong Kong.  Free Tibet.  Free the Uygurs.  Apparently you can go to prison in Hong Kong for 5 yrs if you have a vigil or protest.  No matter what political party you lean towards, give this administration credit for trying to strengthen our relationship and partnership with Taiwan. 

[Jockey]

Tank man is one of my biggest heroes.

[Pakuni]

Huh.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/03/asia/hong-kong-june-4-tiananmen-nsl-intl-mic-hnk/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/03/china-rights-tiananmen-sophia-xeuqin-wang-jianbing/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/04/world/asia/tiananmen-square-hong-kong-june-4.html

[MuggsyB]

Huh.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/03/asia/hong-kong-june-4-tiananmen-nsl-intl-mic-hnk/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/03/china-rights-tiananmen-sophia-xeuqin-wang-jianbing/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/04/world/asia/tiananmen-square-hong-kong-june-4.html

I didn't see anything a few hours ago.  Ty Pakumi.

[rocky_warrior]

Was friends with a former coworker that was there protesting.  Fortunately his family had money, and was well connected politically.  They were able to get him, and his photo album out of the country essentially to never return.   Had some crazy stories, and the pictures to back it up!

[Goose]

I was in Hong Kong during the T Square uprising and remember watching the coverage on CNN. I just started traveling into China on a regular basis about a year before the protest and I could not believe the courage of the protestors. I was afraid every time I went into China that somehow I was going to get nabbed by the CCP and was very cautious in my early years in China.

[MuggsyB]

I was in Hong Kong during the T Square uprising and remember watching the coverage on CNN. I just started traveling into China on a regular basis about a year before the protest and I could not believe the courage of the protestors. I was afraid every time I went into China that somehow I was going to get nabbed by the CCP and was very cautious in my early years in China.

I glad you're okay Goose.  Hong Kong is an amazing city, or at least it was.   

[HouWarrior]

My brother was chief video editor at KPRC Houston NBC for many decades. He also loved Les Miserables.

 Here, in his T square piece, Tom joined the two,
"Tiananmen Square les mis do you hear the people tribute":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgYZkdA5nBc

It is watch worthy

[Goose]

houWarrior

Thanks for sharing the video. Very well done.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I glad you're okay Goose.  Hong Kong is an amazing city, or at least it was.

I love Hong Kong and it sounds like the Chinese ruined it. 

I last visited 15 years ago.

[JWags85]

I love Hong Kong and it sounds like the Chinese rubbed it. 

I last visited 15 years ago.

I started visiting in 2014 and it changed precipitously up to my last visit in 2019.

My dad's first visit was a year before the handover and he said it was incredibly different.

Talk to people who were there regularly in the 80s and they don't even recognize it.

I still loved it all the same, but I am kind of apprehensive about how I'll feel on my next trip, whenever that may be.

[Goose]

Wags

I made my first trip to HK in ‘85 and never missed a year until ‘20. There is no doubt that HK is a far different place in ‘20 than when it was pre handover, but I think many say it because they heard others say it. Many of the differences are subtle and the citizens of HK would be the best judge of how it is different.

I made a point to visit HK twice during the protests and that the last trip in Oct. ‘19 did make me sad. Streets were empty, limited western visitors and just a dark cloud over the city. That being said, the view having cocktails at the Renaissance on the Harbor looked as spectacular as always.

[JWags85]

Wags

I made my first trip to HK in ‘85 and never missed a year until ‘20. There is no doubt that HK is a far different place in ‘20 than when it was pre handover, but I think many say it because they heard others say it. Many of the differences are subtle and the citizens of HK would be the best judge of how it is different.

I made a point to visit HK twice during the protests and that the last trip in Oct. ‘19 did make me sad. Streets were empty, limited western visitors and just a dark cloud over the city. That being said, the view having cocktails at the Renaissance on the Harbor looked as spectacular as always.

I don't know about that.  I obviously respect your opinion, but a chunk of those people from the 80s were expats who lived there for a number of years.

The shore along TST that used to be so vibrant with restaurants and bars and shops that now is a "park" and Chinese government hub is a big one they always speak of.

And not to be an arrogant Westerner, but one of the hallmarks of HK was English was accepted and commonplace alongside Cantonese, but many people have mentioned to me how that is becoming further and further from reality.

Then just a bunch of smaller logistical, governmental, and transportation things.

It was my second favorite city in the world and some things about it will never change in terms of its beauty and mystique and appeal, I hope they can at least retain some of it, regardless if the plans to end it as a financial/business center come to fruition

[Goose]

Wags

The biggest differences to me are, number of mainland Chinese, more Mandarin speaking (less English and Cantonese), less vibrant, less Western visitors and definitely less of a buzz.

As for TST, I spent roughly ten nights a month at the Langham (many different names over the years) for roughly a 6-7 year period and that area was filled with action and I was out every night. When I was there last time it was almost a ghost town. Will add that TST was 95% visitors and early arriving ex pats and much of those folks are now gone.

For the record, I am somewhat jaded on opinions of ex pats that lived in HK in the 80's and 90's because I do not think they were living in a normal life reality. I know dozens and dozens of ex pats that were there pre handover and they lived a life that far exceeded the life they would have lived state side. Wonderful housing, private schools for the kids, drivers, nannies and unlimited expense accounts tends to influence perspective on reality. That said, those folks were a big part of the excitement of HK.

Basically, no one can argue that HK is not the same city. It has changed and not for the best, for tastes. The pre handover days was the gold rush into China and it created an atmosphere that I can only compare to by combining the excitement of Vegas and NYC. It was 24 hour a day action and the opportunity to conduct business is something I have never seen since. Pre pandemic Ho Chi Ming City, which the HK biz people call Boomtown Charlie, was getting a similar vibe, but on a much smaller scale.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I always stayed in TST because it made catching the KCR train at the beginning and end of my China trips easy. 
Loved my morning runs along the harbor walk shopping in the Temple Street Night Market and drinking beer in British Pubs staffed with Asian looking people with British accents.

[JWags85]

I always stayed in TST because it made catching the KCR train at the beginning and end of my China trips easy. 
Loved my morning runs along the harbor walk shopping in the Temple Street Night Market and drinking beer in British Pubs staffed with Asian looking people with British accents.

My favorite interaction like that was a middle aged HK bartender at a hotel bar I stayed at in Central one time.  An older European guest sat down and must have been a new (or first time in a long while) visitor.  He remarked something about...
 "wow, you've must have seen a lot of change here in your lifetime".
(Bartender shrugs)
"I dunno mate, I'm in England, I moved here 10 years in my mid 30s cause my parents were from here and my whole family decided we were sick of the rain"...in a classic North London accent

[rocket surgeon]

My brother was chief video editor at KPRC Houston NBC for many decades. He also loved Les Miserables.

 Here, in his T square piece, Tom joined the two,
"Tiananmen Square les mis do you hear the people tribute":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgYZkdA5nBc

It is watch worthy

holy schnikees that's powerful!  surprised utube has allowed it to be left up...so much disinformation eyn'a?