Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the aftermath of the Tiān'ānmén Square protests of 1989, an underground smuggling
operation, code-named Yellow Bird, was set up in Hong Kong to spirit many activists to
safety overseas. Meanwhile Hong Kong-based Chinese officials who had criticised the
killings were either yanked from their posts or sought asylum in the West.
Tiān'ānmén & Its Aftermath
The concern of many Hong Kong people over their future turned to out-and-out fear on 4
June 1989, when the Chinese army killed pro-democracy demonstrators in Běijīng's
Tiān'ānmén Square.
Tiān'ānmén was a watershed for Hong Kong. Sino-British relations deteriorated, the
stock market fell 22% in one day and a great deal of capital left the territory for destinations
overseas.
The Hong Kong government sought to rebuild confidence by announcing plans for a new
airport and shipping port in what was the world's most expensive (HK$160 billion or
US$20.6 billion) infrastructure project of the day.
The Tiān'ānmén protests had strengthened the resolve of those people who either could
not or would not leave, giving rise to the territory's first official political parties. In a bid to
restore credibility, the government introduced a Bill of Rights in 1990 and the following
year gave Hong Kong citizens the right to choose 18 of the 60 members of the Legislative
Council (LegCo), which until then had essentially been a rubber-stamp body chosen by the
government and special-interest groups.
Hong Kong is the only place under Chinese rule that still mourns those killed in 1989.
Every year on 4 June, tens of thousands of people gather at Victoria Park to attend a
candlelight vigil held in commemoration of those who lost their lives.
Democracy & the Last Governor
One of the first parties to emerge was the United Democrats of Hong Kong, led by out-
spoken democrats Martin Lee and Szeto Wah. The pair, initially courted by China for their
anticolonial positions and appointed to the committee that drafted the Basic Law, subse-
quently infuriated Běijīng by publicly burning copies of the proto-constitution in protest
over Tiān'ānmén. China denounced them as subversives.
Chris Patten, Hong Kong's 28th - and last - British governor, arrived in 1992, pledging
that democracy reforms would be sped up. China reacted by levelling verbal attacks at Pat-
ten and threatening the post-1997 careers of any pro-democracy politicians or officials.
