Hong Kong singer Anthony Wong scores hit with Tiananmen song
- Wong’s song Is It a Crime was released in May and has already been banned in China
- The song talks about how remembering the crackdown is considered a crime under the one-party regime in China
Thirty years after it was crushed by China’s army, the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement is being commemorated in art, literature, public rallies and even synth pop.
Hong Kong singer Anthony Wong Yiu-ming’s latest release, Is It a Crime, recorded with long-time musical partner Tats Lau, is finding an audience by doing just that. The two make up the group Tat Ming Pair, long a staple of the city’s Canto-pop music scene.
Released in May, the composition has been banned in China, where all discussion of the protest movement and the military crackdown is strictly taboo.
Wong says the song asks difficult questions as to what might constitute a crime of remembrance and commemoration under China’s authoritarian one-party communist regime.
“Holding a candlelight vigil or just remembering what happened in the past could be a crime,” Wong tells a crowd of 80 or so packed into a dimly lit room for the screening of a documentary about the historic 1989 events held by local broadcaster RTHK.
“Writing an article and singing a song could be a crime. One day, anything could be a crime,” says Wong, wearing a brown fedora hat and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Down With Big Brother”.