WATCH: Club 71's Grace Ma on 1989, 2003 and what the bar means to her
Grace Ma, who ran Club 64 for years before opening Club 71, looks back at the events of June 4, 1989 and at subsequent years of protest in Hong Kong.
What happened in and around Tiananmen Square 26 years ago still affects Grace Ma Lai-wah, the owner of Central bar Club 71. Her eyes start to well up as she thinks back at what happened.
Watch: Club 71 - a place to remember
“I was too tired, I couldn’t sleep. When they announced martial law I couldn’t sleep,” she recalls. “My [now ex-] husband told me they opened fire; I couldn’t believe it. I think at the time I was so traumatised I went numb. I only remember going to work, getting off work. I didn’t look at the news. I just did what I could. Everyone needs to do their work.”
In response to the crackdown, on September 2, 1989, her then husband and a few others opened Club 64 just off of Lan Kwai Fong that became a salon for journalists, legislators like Leung Kwok-hung, and famed cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
Since Ma worked as a medical secretary in Central, she would help out after work. While the bar’s name was a way for people to remember June 4 every day, it was too much for her to bear.