Controversial moments in history like the Tiananmen Square massacre and the 1967 Hong Kong riots are likely to be included in a proposed Chinese history syllabus for senior secondary school students. The two major historical events, although not mentioned in a consultation document to be presented to a seminar for Chinese history teachers at a Shekkipmei school on Monday, fall within the time-frame of the revised syllabus. The new curriculum for Form Four and Five students, which covers the past 4,000 years up to 2000, will be introduced in 2004. At present, the Chinese history curriculum for senior secondary students only covers periods up to the late 1970s. The proposed curriculum would give more weight to post-1949 history. The consultation period is due to finish at the end of next month. The Tiananmen Square massacre of June 1989 is likely to be taught under the title of 'reforms and opening up to the rest of the world'. The move comes eight years after the then director of education, Dominic Wong Shing-wah, ordered a publisher to delete an account of the Tiananmen massacre from a new Form Three Chinese history textbook. Students are likely to be taught about the 1967 riots in Hong Kong, which claimed 51 lives, under the title of 'relations between mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan'. Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa announced in June last year the granting of the Grand Bauhinia Medal to riots ringleader Yeung Kwong, provoking a storm of criticism. Chinese history teacher Eugene Lee Han-kin said that although the Tiananmen Square massacre and the riots were not specifically mentioned in the document, teaching about these events would be unavoidable. Ho Hon-kuen, vice-chairman of Education Convergence, an education concern group, said he supported telling students about controversial events like Tiananmen Square. 'It's good to let students know more about the events, with teachers being able to introduce different views and interpretations,' he said. 'But the Education Department should provide more training for Chinese history teachers to cope with the new curriculum.' Mr Lee hoped that students' views on controversial events which deviated from official interpretation would be tolerated by public exam markers. 'Besides, some teachers may face difficulties in instructing recent events because of the huge volume of historical material that they need to catch up on,' he said.