Despite limited mention in Hong Kong school textbooks of what happened on June 4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, young people are now said to form the majority of the participants in the annual candle-light vigil remembering victims of the crackdown.
Last month, former Legislative Council president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, a member of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said details of the June 4 crackdown should be included in Hong Kong textbooks.
'June 4 was part of history,' Fan said. 'It did happen and should be included in textbooks. However, the content should be objective and should not instil any thinking into students.'
A 16-year old student at St Paul's Co-educational College, who preferred not to be named, said: 'Even in our Chinese history textbooks, there are only a few lines about it. It's brief and definitely not comprehensive,' he said, adding that a teacher had discussed the subject in class.
Lee Cheuk-yan, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, told the Post in June, after this year's candle-light vigil in Hong Kong, that people aged under 30 had formed the largest group at the gathering. 'About 70 per cent of participants are young people aged below 30 - the group we call the post-80s generation,' he said. This year's annual vigil was the second in a row to have a large turnout of young people.
New generations learn about the June 4 crackdown online, with the message circulated via means other than the traditional media, Lee said.