of tanks and freedom and democracy

How much of it is a deep understanding and how much of it is nostalgia? How many young people were there tonight. I was nine in 1989. They were not even born. But tonight was my first time here. For every June 4th following 1989, I had been away from Hong Kong. I didn’t know we used real candles. When someone passed me a paper cup with a hole in the middle I didn’t know what to do with it. We were all sitting on the ground. A young man passed the flame of his candle onto mine. Two girls who sat in front of me came together. They had a pile of books and leaflets next to them. One of them sat very straight throughout the night. She sang all the songs, following the words, often with both hands on the candle. The middle-aged man next to me looked like a teacher. A few times I got my flame from him when mine went out. He sang with a deep voice. I saw an acquaintance who came by herself. I didn’t say hi to her after the vigil because we were both in our reflective states, at least I was.

So for the past twenty-three years I had been away, people who cared for the future of our people gathered here.

They said, since 1989, the gathering had never drawn more people than tonight.

(written very quickly, very tired, at my desk, late at night)