Hong Kong Activist Keeps Quiet Vigil After Tiananmen Convictions

Tang Ngok-kwan, a 58-year-old former organizer of Hong Kong's annual Tiananmen Square vigil, still finds ways to remember the 1989 crackdown, even as public commemorations have disappeared and fellow activists face prison.

On the eve of the anniversary, Tang visited Victoria Park, where tens of thousands once gathered for the only large-scale public memorial in China. He bowed and read aloud a list of victims in a low voice. He also returns to two university campuses where commemorative sculptures once stood, though most traces are gone.

Two of Tang's former colleagues were convicted under the Beijing-imposed national security law, facing up to 10 years in prison. Their group, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was also found guilty of inciting subversion. Tang told reporters he felt wronged by the verdict and that the alliance now carries a sense of wariness.

Tang first joined the pro-democracy marches in May 1989. After the crackdown, he helped the alliance bring wanted individuals to safety and supported the candlelight vigil that ran for three decades. The vigil was banned in 2020, and the security law was imposed weeks later.

In 2021, police demanded the alliance's records, accusing it of links to overseas groups. Tang and others refused, leading to arrests. Tang was sentenced to 4.5 months in prison in 2023, during which he ran 35 laps barefoot to mark the 35th anniversary. His conviction was later quashed, but the legal battle continued.

Now, Tang walks between a subway station and the courthouse, counting 64 steps—echoing the June 4 date. He jokes that his attention to detail is "pathological," but says when there is nothing concrete to do, such rituals help balance his psychology.