The Sculpture Made To Memorialise The Lives Lost In The 1989 Tiananmen Square killings Was Taken Down In An Attempt To Censor Its History – But Why?
“The old cannot kill the young forever.” – The Pillar Of Shame
Those were the last words chiselled onto the base of the victims who were found wrapped up in plastic, gagged with rope and dumped in a cargo container on 23 December 2021.
Under cover of darkness on a gloomy night, they made their way to the killing site. Gigantic tall wooden boards lifted to the sky as the murder was about to take place.
Suddenly, drilling sounds and loud clanging could be heard from the boarded-up site, patrolled by armed guards, as workers barricaded the scene in Hong Kong.
Down Came The Claw Machine And Up Rose The Screaming Dead
The victim – an eight-metre-tall Pillar of Shame, which depicted 50 torn and twisted bodies that towered in entanglements of human suffering, was cast in bronze, copper and concrete.
Born in 1989, the suffering bodies were created by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt to symbolise the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
For 24 years, this sculpture stood on the campus of Hong Kong University.
It represented the people of Hong Kong who, at the time, asked for more freedom but got bullets instead.
Not only did it stand for the past, but it was a symbol of the present, of how far their walk to freedom got them.
Now, all left is plastic boards and an empty concrete corridor carrying the deafening silence that once stood tall.
The entire sculpture vanished, carrying its memory with it.
…And The Rest Is History
The monument’s removal stemmed from the increasing pressure from the Beijing government.
The actual event is seen as a taboo topic in mainland China where it cannot be publicly marked.
Every Year on 4 June, thousands of people rally throughout China to remember a 1989 violent government crackdown.
To this day, the Chinese government refuses to acknowledge the event, and any information about it is blocked on their internet and removed from public records.
The father and creator of the sculpture had this to say:
“This is my sculpture and my property. At the moment, they are destroying the artwork that belonged to a foreign artist, and I think maybe this is the new case. Of course, we will try to protect our property and even sue them if this is necessary.” – Jens Galschiøt.
Today more and more statues are disappearing in Hong Kong. It just makes you wonder. What are they trying to hide?
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