June 4th Memorial Association
TheJune 4th Memorial Association(full name:June 4th Massacre Memorial Association Inc.;abbreviation:64MA;Chinese traditional: Sáu bốn kỷ niệm quán or sáu bốn kỷ niệm hiệp hội; Chinese simplified: Sáu bốn kỷ niệm quán or sáu bốn kỷ niệm hiệp hội ) is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization incorporated in the State of New York on September 14, 2021. Its main activity is the curation of the June 4th Memorial Exhibit (colloquially: June 4th Memorial Museum or June 4th Museum; Chinese traditional: Sáu bốn kỷ niệm triển lãm, sáu bốn kỷ niệm viện bảo tàng or sáu bốn viện bảo tàng; Chinese simplified: Sáu bốn kỷ niệm triển lãm, sáu bốn kỷ niệm viện bảo tàng or sáu bốn viện bảo tàng ) inNew York City.
Background
[edit]In the spring of 1989, massivepro-democracy demonstrationsbroke out in Beijing and other Chinese cities. On June 3 to 4, 1989, by the order of the Chinese government, heavily armed soldiers set their aim on the demonstrators in Beijing, killing and wounding thousands of them. The crackdown is known as theJune 4th Massacre.To memorialize the events of 1989, aJune 4th Museumwas established in Hong Kong in 2012. Following the imposition of theHong Kong National Security Law,the museum was forced to close on June 1, 2021, shortly before the32nd anniversaryof the massacre. The museum was shuttered permanently by theHong Kong policein September 2021. In the aftermath of the closing,Dan Wang,a student leader of the 1989 demonstrations, proposed the creation of a June 4th Museum in New York City and incorporated 64MA. At an online press conference on January 10, 2022, he released 64MA's formal proposal, titled "Never Forget, Never Give Up".[1][2]This called for the production of a temporary exhibit on the June 4th Massacre at the Victims of Communism Museum (VOC Museum) in Washington, DC in 2022 and, if funds permitted, the establishment of a permanent exhibit in New York as early as 2023.
The exhibit at the VOC Museum, which is part of theVictims of Communism Memorial Foundation(VOC), opened on June 3, 2022.[3][4]TitledTiananmen1989, it included a set of large narrative boards. Many photos on these boards were provided by Liu Jian, who had kept his large stash of photos from 1989 private for 30 years.[5]The exhibit also included numerous items from the 1989 protests, notably a shirt worn by army reporter Jiang Lin that had become blood-soaked on June 4, 1989.[6]The exhibit was well received.[7]In his recorded remarks to the opening of 64MA's New York exhibit on June 2, 2023, Andrew Bremberg, President of VOC, observed that the Tiananmen 1989 exhibit had been viewed by thousands of people.[8]
Current exhibit
[edit]By September 2022, 64MA had received over $500,000 in donations, enough to set up a permanent exhibit in New York in rented premises. The largest donation by far, $120,000, came from a businessperson in China who took part in the 1989 demonstrations.[9]In December 2022, the temporary exhibit at the VOC Museum came to a close. After renting a venue inMidtown Manhattanin early 2023, 64MA produced an expanded version of the exhibit at the VOC Museum. Among the new items on display are a mimeograph machine used by the students in Tiananmen Square to print flyers, a military canteen that fell into the hands of Beijing residents during their scuffle with the soldiers in the evening of June 3, 1989, and a banner that was used to bind bullet wounds and became blood soaked. The exhibit also includes a small gallery dedicated to Hong Kongers' Defiance (1989–2019).
The new exhibit, simply titledJune 4th Memorial Exhibit,held an opening ceremony on June 2, 2023. The ceremony and the exhibit were widely reported by the media.[10][11][12][13]The exhibit opened to the public on June 25, 2023, and received good reviews. Some well-known public figures, including members of U.S. CongressMike GallagherandAshley Hinson,have visited the exhibit.[14][15]
David Yu, executive director of 64MA, explained at the opening ceremony of the New York exhibit that, while it is 64MA's goal to build a museum, the exhibit is strictly speaking not a museum, because it does not satisfy all the requirements for operating a museum in New York State.[8]However, many people, including many journalists, continue to refer to the New York exhibit as a museum.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Never Forget, Never Give Up".June 4th Massacre Memorial Association.2022-01-10.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Beijing, Didi Tang (2023-11-11)."Tiananmen Square massacre: Exiled activists vow to build memorial in New York".The Times.ISSN0140-0460.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^"Vĩnh không quên cùng từ bỏ 1989 Thiên An Môn kỷ niệm đặc triển khai mạc".Radio Free Asia(in Chinese (China)). 2022-01-11.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^""Đừng quên 33 năm trước Đảng Cộng Sản ở thủ đô nổ súng giết người" Washington sáu bốn đặc triển, kỷ niệm qua đi cũng cảnh giác thế nhân ".Voice of America(in Chinese). 2022-06-04.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^May, Tiffany (2019-05-30)."Photos of the Tiananmen Square Protests Through the Lens of a Student Witness".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Buckley, Chris (2019-05-28)."30 Years After Tiananmen, a Chinese Military Insider Warns: Never Forget".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Lawson, Charlotte (2022-07-30)."A Dream of a Free China".The Dispatch.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^ab"Our progress".June 4th Massacre Memorial Association.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^"New York sáu bốn kỷ niệm quán đem tranh thủ với sang năm 6 nguyệt 4 ngày khai quán".Radio Free Asia(in Chinese (China)). 2022-09-29.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Fadulu, Lola; Southall, Ashley (2023-06-02)."Tiananmen Exhibit Is 'a Symbol of Defiance'".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Areddy, James T.; Qi, Liyan (2023-06-02)."How Chinese Dissent Found Its Voice in New York City".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Trung ương thông tấn xã (2023-06-03)."Hong Kong sáu bốn kỷ niệm quán bị bắt tắt đèn New York trọng khai trương mong thế nhân ghi khắc lịch sử | hai bờ sông".Trung ương xã CNA(in Chinese).Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^"Dân vận lãnh tụ triệu tập New York sáu bốn kỷ niệm quán khai mạc vương đan: Mong mọi người ghi khắc lịch sử".World Journal(in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2023-06-03.Retrieved2023-11-11.
- ^Trung ương thông tấn xã (2023-09-13)."Phóng New York sáu bốn kỷ niệm quán cái kéo cách: Đối trung cộng ảo tưởng sớm nên chung kết | hai bờ sông".Trung ương xã CNA(in Chinese).Retrieved2023-11-12.
- ^"Concerns Grow That Congress Is 'Target' of Beijing's Espionage as Britain Contends With Spying Disclosures, Head of House China Committee Warns".The New York Sun.2023-09-13.Retrieved2023-11-11.