Selena Liang<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy publish something that nobody reads and I cannot read, using my money?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Last year, I happened to have a conversation with an international student about the June 4th Publication. At a point he left the above remark, which left me stunned and completely speechless. That year doubts regarding the relevance of \u201cRemembering 4th June, 1989\u201d were also further highlighted in the local community. While various Chinese articles might have made sufficient responses, the messages were hardly transferred to the English group.<\/p>\n What does June Fourth mean to Hong Kong?<\/strong><\/p>\n The poem \u201cRemembering 4th June, 1989\u201d could be a starting point. Written by Louise Ho in 1994, the poem\u2019s record centers on Hong Kong people conscious of the 1997 deadline. The 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre was set in Beijing. Students and workers calling for democratic and economic reforms were \u201cCrushed, shot, taken, all overwhelmed,\/ Cut down without a finished thought or cry\u201d. Following the description of \u201cour neighbor\u2019s blood\u201d, the poem turns to the shock and bewilderment of people in colonial Hong Kong.<\/p>\n The stunned world responded, and<\/em> For Hong Kong, 1989 was a moment of realization and change. In the 1980s, the \u201cReform and Opening-Up\u201d policy in China was accompanied with intellectual liberation from the Cultural Revolution. The Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 confirmed China\u2019s principle of \u201cOne Country, Two Systems\u201d in ruling Hong Kong, and that Hong Kong could retain its capitalist system and way of living for fifty years. The call for a \u201cdemocratic reunification\u201d (striving for democracy while advocating a handover to China) was also popular in Hong Kong. Even when problems of corruption and economic inequality emerged in China, the overall mood of liberation and the 1989 movement seemed to elicit hopes\u2026…until 4th June.<\/p>\n But think, my friend, think: China never<\/em> The \u201ctea party\u201d or \u201ccakes\u201d could be symbols of Western luxury and commercial interest. They were never promised, especially for the masses. Being and realizing \u201cThe rock bottom of a totalitarian state\u201d, the city\u2019s identity emerged finally.<\/p>\n Then, this compact commercial enclave,<\/em> Before 1989, the remarkable Hong Kong energy was in fact characterized by the new airport on Lantau Island or restless speculations on property and stock markets. Hong Kong was a transient, a place to gather enough money to go somewhere else. The Hong Kong \u201cfreedom\u201d could be seen synonymous with the free market and even political apathy. You cannot and need not choose your political leaders, so indulge in choosing your garments [1]. In 1989, this commercial transient \u201cFirst time, ever, rose up as one.\u201d On 21st May, 1 million Hong Kong people took to the streets to voice support for students in Beijing. The Happy Valley Racecourse\u2014echoing the Chinese government\u2019s promise \u201cHorse races will go on and nightclubs will stay open\u201d\u2014was transformed as the place for assembly. On 6th June, 1.5 million Hong Kong people planned to march in response to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. 1989 seems to be a moment of political awakening for Hong Kong people.<\/p>\n Before we went our separate ways again,<\/em> Using English in Hong Kong<\/strong><\/p>\n As a Hong Kong poet, Louise Ho penned tremendous poems about Hong Kong in English, mainly with a writing style \u201cmore British than British\u201d. Although some raised the concern of being a stranger to one\u2019s hometown, Louise Ho replied: \u201cLiterature is an alienated language, anyway.\u201d The English literary consciousness and traditions could further de-familiarize and provide new approaches. Moreover, Ho credited the comment that in her poems, \u201cEnglish literature is an initial point of departure that allows the poet to take her bearings on local life and politics\u201d [2]. How the distancing made things bearable was especially clear in \u201cRemembering 4th June, 1989\u201d, when the poet was bewildered and questioned \u201cbut how shall you and I\/ Name them, one by one?\u201d However, the Hong Kong identity and the English language are characterized and frustrated by commercialization. After the Tiananmen Square Massacre, there has been a trend of emigration in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, \u201castronauts\u201d\u2014fathers who worked in Hong Kong to support their overseas families\u2014have become a common phenomenon. Hong Kong has resumed its identity as a commercial port and a place of transients. The critic Ackbar Abbas even suggested that the march in 1989 was a rare moment when economic self-interest misrecognized as political idealism, despite there was genuine care [3]. The \u201cone\u201d Hong Kong cultural entity was momentarily realized and continued to take some effect. But as Louise Ho noted in her poem, \u201cwe went our separate ways again\u201d. The Hong Kong character of a transient port determines its use of English. The language\u2019s nature is often depicted as either suppressive or marginalized, and the downright cause would be a sole focus on instrumentality. \u00a0In March 1997, the British government announced that only 100 out of 460 secondary schools would be allowed to use English as a teaching medium in the future . This caused objections from schools and parents, and the major parental concern was that the English-medium schools would become accessible only to upper-middle class children (and lead to further disadvantages in the global market). In 1999, the Hong Kong government allowed schools to choose their medium, and the positioning of instrumental English remains.<\/p>\n The critic Elaine Ho expressed that public debate over language use overemphasized on classroom competency at the expense of other social domains [4]. The poet Leung Ping-kwan, who \u201cwrites between Chinese and English\u201d, remarked that English teaching in Hong Kong often focuses on service or business situations with the Westerners instead of daily expression. As English in Hong Kong became solely commercial and instrumental, Leung Ping-kwan felt English has become \u201ca measure of one\u2019s social or economic status, a source of snobbery or mockery, rather than a means of communication.\u201d [5] \u201cThose of us writing in the English language in Hong Kong would know the feeling of isolation, perhaps of functioning in a void,\u201d penned Louise Ho [6]. While service English in Hong Kong was popular, daily English expressing local feelings and scenarios is often neglected, let alone literary English. Similarly, the English speakers often find themselves isolated in daily interactions and non-tourist conditions. Ours is a unique genius,<\/em> The poem \u201cRemembering 4th June, 1989\u201d is a conversation conveying the shock, beauty, identity, profit-driven quality of the Hong Kong audience in 1989 and then. It ends with a positive note on Hong Kong people\u2019s genius. Even when such genius belongs to \u201cours\u201d, however, each of us could only survive the tense situation \u201cin his own way\u201d. The city of isolation still awaits a more unified community and a more accommodating identity.<\/p>\n Remembering 4th June, 1989<\/strong> Yes, I remember Marvell, Dryden, The shadows of June the fourth Presumably, that night, or was it dawn, But think, my friend, think: China never Then, this compact commercial enclave, As we near the end of an era Whoever would not Ours is a unique genius, Each in his own way Originally published in Incense Tree: Collected Poems Louise Ho What does June Fourth (or the Tiananmen Massacre) mean to Hong Kong? The poem \u201cRemembering 4th June, 1989\u201d could be a starting point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[283,289,319],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPointing an accusing finger,\u00a0 felt cheated.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nPromised a tea party, or cakes<\/em>
\nFor the masses. It is we,<\/em>
\nWho, riding on the crest of a long hope,<\/em>
\nBecame euphoric, and forgot<\/em>
\nThe rock bottom of a totalitarian state.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nFirst time, ever, rose up as one.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n[1] Ackbar Abbas (1992). Introduction. City at the End of Time \u5f62\u8c61\u9999\u6e2f: Poems by Leung Ping-kwan \u6881\u79c9\u921e\u8a69\u9078 (Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWe thought as one,<\/em>
\nWe spoke as one,<\/em>
\nWe too have changed, if not \u2018utterly\u2019,<\/em>
\nAnd something beautiful was born.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n[2] Louise Ho (2002). Hong Kong writing and writing Hong Kong. Hong Kong English: autonomy and creativity(Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n[3] Ackbar Abbas (1992). Introduction. City at the End of Time \u5f62\u8c61\u9999\u6e2f: Poems by Leung Ping-kwan \u6881\u79c9\u921e\u8a69\u9078 (Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n[4] Elaine Ho(2010). Chinese English, English Chinese: Biliteracy and Translation. Hong Kong culture: Word and image(Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.<\/em>
\n[5] Leung, P. K. (2012). City at the End of Time \u5f62\u8c61\u9999\u6e2f: Poems by Leung Ping-kwan \u6881\u79c9\u921e\u8a69\u9078 (Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n[6] Louise Ho (2003). Foreword. City Voices: Hong Kong writing in English 1945 to the present (Vol. 1). Hong Kong University Press.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nLearning how to side-step all odds<\/em>
\nOr to survive them.<\/em>
\nWe have lived<\/em>
\nBy understanding<\/em>
\nEach in his own way<\/em>
\nThe tautness of the rope<\/em>
\nUnderfoot.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
\nLouise Ho<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nYeats, men who had taken up the pen
\nWhile others the sword,
\nThat would have vanished
\nWere it not for the words
\nThat shaped them and keep them<\/p>\n
\nAre the shadows of a gesture,
\nThey say, but how shall you and I
\nName them, one by one?
\nThere were so many,
\nCrushed, shot, taken, all overwhelmed,
\nCut down without a finished thought or cry.<\/p>\n
\nThe moon shone pure,
\nAs on the ground below
\nFlowed the blood of men, women and children.
\nThe stunned world responded, and
\nPointing an accusing finger, felt cheated.<\/p>\n
\nPromised a tea party, or cakes
\nFor the masses. It is we,
\nWho, riding on the crest of a long hope,
\nBecame euphoric, and forgot
\nThe rock bottom of a totalitarian state.<\/p>\n
\nFirst time, ever, rose up as one.
\nBefore we went our separate ways again,
\nWe thought as one,
\nWe spoke as one,
\nWe too have changed, if not \u2018utterly\u2019,
\nAnd something beautiful was born.<\/p>\n
\nWe have at last
\nBecome ourselves.
\nThe catalyst
\nWas our neighbor\u2019s blood.<\/p>\n
\nFor a carefree moment
\nRejoice at a return
\nTo the Motherland?
\nBut, rather pick ears of corn
\nIn a foreign field
\nThan plough the home ground
\nUnder an oppressive yoke.<\/p>\n
\nLearning how to side-step all odds
\nOr to survive them.
\nWe have lived
\nBy understanding<\/p>\n
\nThe tautness of the rope
\nUnderfoot.<\/p>\n
\nCopyright 2009 by Hong Kong University Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"