Standing Up to Beijing, 30 Years Apart
When Chinese student protesters thronged Tiananmen Square in 1989, their comrades in Hong Kong stood with them. Now Hong Kong is itself trying to defy Beijing.
The first time I encountered members of Hong Kong’s student union was in late April 1989, when I attended an early meeting of our own, unofficial Beijing version. We were planning a big march to Tiananmen Square, calling for democratic reform. They were there among us, pledging to bring our message to the outside world, no matter what might happen. You couldn’t help but be impressed by their commitment to the cause, how swift they were in coming to our aid, how organized they were.
For the next several weeks, we worked together; they helped us perfect our student-union charters, which were modeled after their own, and ran the most efficient supply station in the square, with donations coming from Hong Kong itself. They told
