New Museum Commemorating Tiananmen Square Massacre Victims Opens in New York

A new museum commemorating the victims of the 1989 Chinese crackdown on student protesters in Tian’anmen Square opens in New York this Friday, June 2, on the eve of the 34^e anniversary of the massacre [le 4 juin 1989]reports hong kong daily South China Morning Post (SCMP). The latter will be inaugurated two years after the closure of the Hong Kong one following a legal procedure.

“The Chinese dissidents behind the museum, including Wang Dan, the Chinese government’s most wanted student after the 1989 crackdown, say, according to SCMP, that Hong Kong has lost its unique role as a driving force for democracy in mainland China.”

Among the exhibits in this 2,000 m² museum are bloodied T-shirts, a soldier’s helmet, tents and leaflets dating back to 1989.

A global interest

In the columns of SCMP, Wang Dan laments that “Hong Kong can no longer do anything for democracy and freedom in China. The territory has its hands tied.”

Wang Dan, along with other Tiananmen figures, had planned to found a new June 4 museum after the forced closure of the one in Hong Kong. They managed to make this project a reality this Friday, June 2, after raising 500,000 dollars (450,000 euros) in less than eight months.

He told the Hong Kong daily that the new museum, located at 894 Sixth Avenue in New York“referring to the date of the Tiananmen crackdown, would attract fewer Chinese visitors than those from Hong Kong.”

But its purpose is elsewhere: Wang Dan insisted that the museum was not only aimed at Chinese people, but that it was of global interest.