‘alone like a match polished into light
when childhood’s tunnel
led to a vein of dubious ore
to be lost is a kind of leaving
and poetry rectifying life
rectifies poetry’s echo’
—Bei Dao’s “Requiem”, translated by Eliot Weinberger
Tuesday June 4, 2019 will mark 30 years since the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, when the Chinese government crushed the nascent democracy movement led by students and workers. The ensuing decades have brought tumultuous changes to the culture, politics, economics of China and the whole world.
To honour the struggle of the democracy protesters, mourn their defeat, and take stock of the last three decades, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal is convening a special feature of translations and original English works, to be published in the June 2019 issue of the journal.
In collaboration with PEN Hong Kong and Hong Kong Free Press, the journal is gathering a group of writers on Monday, June 3 to read selected texts which reflect their memory of the protests. They will share their views on democracy, and their hopes for the future of Hong Kong and China in Matches Polished Into Lights: Tiananmen Thirty Years On.
- Speakers: JenniferAnne Eagleton, Guo Ting, Lucas Klein (co-editor of the “Tiananmen Feature”), Louisa Lim, William Nee, Jason Y. Ng, Mei Kwan Ng, Kate Rogers, and more.
- Moderator: Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
- Date/Time: Monday 3 June 2019, 7:30pm – 9pm.
- Venue: Bleak House Books – Unit 2705, 9 Pat Tat Street, Well Tech Centre, San Po Kong, Hong Kong.
- Tickets: Free entry, all welcome.
