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Visitors to the Deng Xiaoping exhibition will be looking out for material on the controversial June 4 events. Photo: Sam Tsang

Deng Xiaoping exhibit in Hong Kong may touch on June 4 crackdown

An exhibition on the life of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping may touch on the June 4 incident, an event organiser has suggested.

An exhibition on the life of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping may touch on the June 4 incident, an event organiser has suggested.

Gao Yi, deputy secretary general of the Communist Party Central Committee's Party Literature Research Office, made the comments yesterday when he was asked if the exhibition, which will be held in the Convention and Exhibition Centre from August 21-23 to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Deng's birth, would include contents about the June 4 incident.

"You will know after seeing the exhibition," Gao said.

When asked again in Putonghua whether the exhibition would include contents relevant to "8964", referring to the date of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on protesters in 1989, Gao reiterated: "You will know after seeing the exhibition ... I believe part of the content will be reflected."

But he later denied making the comment recorded on camera and said the exhibition would show how Deng "handled national crises amid turbulent international situations".

Deng was regarded as the architect of China's reform and opening-up policy since the late 1970s, but he was also believed to have played a crucial role in the bloodshed that ended the pro-democracy movement.

In recent years, there has been debate about whether Deng's "one country, two systems" policy on Hong Kong has been implemented properly amid the city's economic and social integration with the mainland, and as Beijing emphasised its "comprehensive jurisdiction" over Hong Kong in an unprecedented white paper in June.

However, Gao said although one of the three areas of the exhibition would be dedicated to Deng's ties with Hong Kong, it would be "impossible" to include recent debates - including the one on how the city can achieve universal suffrage in 2017 - because it would focus on Deng's "life, thinking and character".

Across the border, a 48-episode television series on Deng and his leadership from 1976 to 1984, , premiered on state television last Friday.

The series - broadcast at prime time - marked the first time that a television programme had touched on stories that feature late state leaders Hua Guofeng and Hu Yaobang. Gao said the Hong Kong exhibition would also feature Hua and Hu.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Deng exhibit may touch on June 4 crackdown
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