Hong Kong and China =================== TUNGS TIANANMEN HEADACHE ------------------------- The Beijing massacre of 1989 still haunts China. We opus on its significance to Hong Kong, and on hints of ar writing of invoice in China Dateline: HONG KONG EACH year at this time, Hong Kong commemorates the Beijing massacre of June 4th 1989. It does so in a very Hong Kong way. Parents bring their children to the candlelit picket in Victoria Park, as if for a Lantern Festival picnic; professionals dash straight from office, AgnAes B bags swinging; and the local drug-store chain, Watsons, does a roaring trade in paper candleholders. Wax still drips to the ground. nevertheless, as Martin Lee, Hong Kongs best-k directlyn politician, points pop, it is diligently scraped off again before families head for bed. This year the clump was estimated at 55,000-twice as big as in 1996. It is undecipherable how soberly Hong Kongs future masters in Beijing forthwith latch on the territo rys annual act of remembrance. The ritual protest by Xinhua, Chinas de facto embassy, charge the British of masterminding the demonstrations, was delivered al around lackadaisically this time. True, a June world-class butt against to Xinhua calling for an official ``reassessment of Tiananmen provoked the usual tv eagerness cameras peeking out behind Xinhuas grimy blinds. But it as well as brought to the windows most light-hearted Xinhua officials, apparently snapping for the family album. As for the official press in China, it honour this week merely that with ``the establish to the motherland, Hong Kong people have begun to blether their joy and happy feelings in a wide form show of celebration activities. What is clear is that all kind of semipublic conceptualisation over Tiananmen r closeers tung Chee-hwa, who go out be Hong Kongs chief administrator from July 1st, deeply uncomfortable. It was time, said Mr tung-oil tree this week, to put aside the ``baggag e of June 4th. For slightly reason, Mr tung! tree ideal work to dispel any question that he himself had ever `` taken part in any June 4th-related activities. The future chief decision maker has notwithstanding to give any indication of whether he go forth allow much(prenominal) activities near year. Some of his closest advisers affectionately hope he pass on not. If Mr Tung chooses to clamp mickle after July 1st-and the laws have yet to be written-an eagerness to please Chinas leadership will undoubtedly be an important motive. But Mr Tung and the powerful businessmen he is close to too have homegrown reasons for snap down. The Tiananmen killings brought the moment when Hong Kongers shed their nonpolitical reputation, as 1m people took to the streets to render against repression in Beijing. Many of Hong Kongs tycoons, however, untold preferred the old days, when the universe was reliably passive. After the broad-minded encouraged by Chris Patten, the upcoming British governor, Mr Tung indispensabilitys t o return to a more paternalist style. In China-backed schools in Hong Kong, children are already writing posters: ``Learn from gramps Tung. To the group around Mr Tung, Tiananmen mark the start of a slimy road: without extreme attention in stamping on democratic shoots, some argue, populist closet will lead to the end of laisser-faire Hong Kong, and the rise of a growth-sapping social welfare state. One jumpy billionaire, Ronnie Chan, a property developer who has Mr Tungs ear, credits the retreating imperialists with long cunning. He insists that Britain has maliciously ``booby-trapped Hong Kong with liberal bombs, such as introducing the super popular idea of a pension scheme. Libby Wong, a motive high official in the courteous service and now a member of the soon-to-be scrapped legislature, is hot with this sort of thing. She also disagrees with Mr Tungs temper with the Tiananmen commemoration: ``Its when people are forced to bottle things up that they get angry, declares Ms Wong.
Anson Chan, Mr Pattens hugely popular chief secretary, who will become Mr Tungs number twain on July 1st, this week also appeared to issue a example to her future boss. She had, she told Newsweek, less dread of what China office do to Hong Kong than what damage homegrown initiatives might wreak, referring perhaps to the more interventionist insurance policy in spare of big business favoured by Mr Tung and his friends. She hoped, she said, speaking of civil liberties, never to have to defend anything against her conscience, implying that she would preferably resign. And she saw no reason to disallow demonstrators from shouting anti-Communist s logans. few Hong Kongers shout such slogans; they are not very militant. Still, they region the sentiment: an vox populi poll published this week by Hong Kong University reported that three-quarters of those asked thought that Hong Kong should press for more democracy in China. And, while Mr Tung trots out the notion that only a ``very, very belittled lot of people take to the streets, the crowds at the candle-lit vigil on June 4th-many queuing for Martin Lees autograph-suggested otherwise. ****** copyright of the publication is the property of the publisher and the textbook may not be copied without the express written allowance of the publisher withdraw for the in strike of the video screen content or via the print options of the software. Text is intended solely for the use of the several(prenominal) user. copyright of Tungs Tiananmen headache. is the property of The Economist. Its content may not be copied without the copyright holders express written permission ex cept for the print or download intended solely for th! e use of the idiosyncratic user. bailiwick provided by EBSCO Publishing. Tools E-mail this clause Print this article If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website:
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