Concert for Democracy in China

The Concert for Democracy in China (Chinese: 民主歌聲獻中華) was a benefit concert held in Hong Kong in support of the students involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The concert was held on May 27, 1989, at the Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island. The event lasted for 12 hours[1] and raised over HK$12,000,000[2] (1.5 million US dollars) for the students in Beijing.[3]

Concert for Democracy in China
The Chinese characters 民主歌聲獻中華 along with "Concert for Democracy in China" in capital letters appears in red across a red outline map of China; the word "Democracy" is in white and inside a solid red rectangle. A red dot indicates the location of Hong Kong on the map.
Logo of the concert
VenueHappy Valley Racecourse, Hong Kong
Date(s)May 27, 1989 (1989-05-27)
Duration12 hours
Attendance200,000 – 1,000,000
Box officeHK$12,000,000

Event

The event was hosted by James Wong, Phillip Chan, Eric Tsang, and John Shum. Shum stated in a later interview that all the performers enlisted voluntarily and were not invited.[4] Sing Pao Daily News reported that the event was attended by nearly one million people,[5] while Ta Kung Pao reported around 500,000 participants.[6] Other estimates state the event was attended by around 200,000 people.[1][2]

Performers

Andy Lau,[7] Chow Yun-Fat, Alan Tam, Shing Fui-On, Loletta Lee, Chin Siu-ho, Maggie Cheung, Sharon Kwok, Cheung Kwok Keung and George Lam also delivered messages through a large screen on the stage.[10]

North American tour

The concert also toured outside of Hong Kong in 1990, namely with North American stops in Vancouver, San Francisco, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Toronto.[1]

Aftermath

After the event, Lee Cheuk-yan, representing the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was detained upon arriving in Beijing with HK$1,000,000 in donations made by the Hong Kong people to the event. He was forced to sign a letter of remorse and released three days later, while the funds were confiscated by authorities in Beijing.[11]

Donald Tsang attendance controversy

In June 2006, Szeto Wah and other participants recalled seeing Donald Tsang attend the event. Tsang, then the director of administration for the government, would have broken civil service rules by attending the concert. However, Tsang denied "unequivocally" he ever attended the event, stating that he had merely run into Szeto Wah after having dinner with his son at the Hong Kong Jockey Club.[12] At the 2006 commemoration of the 1989 protests in Hong Kong, Fernando Cheung also claimed that Donald Tsang attended the concert, which Tsang again denied.[13]

Song list

See list on Chinese Wikipedia.


See also

References
  1. Garofalo, Reebee (1992). Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements. South End Press. pp. 135. ISBN 9780896084278. Concert for Democracy in China.
  2. Kerns, Ann (1 October 2010). Who Will Shout If Not Us?: Student Activists and the Tiananmen Square Protest, China, 1989. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 92. ISBN 9780761363552. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  3. Scott, Margaret (22 October 1989). "Hong Kong on Borrowed Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  4. "Filmmaker: China must face 'history honestly' over Tiananmen protest". South China Morning Post. 30 May 2019. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  5. "《高歌民主獻中華 籌得一千三百萬》". 香港: 成報. 28 May 1989.
  6. "《五十萬港人出席演唱會，馬拉松歌聲歌頌愛國》". Hong Kong: Ta Kung Pao. 28 May 1989. Archived from the original (newspaper article scan) on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
  7. "Stars Take a Stand - Page 2 of 3 - Varsity". varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk. 17 March 2015. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  8. Tong, Elson (4 June 2016). "The Last Gunshot: The musical legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  9. Zhou, Viola (4 June 2021). "They Condemned Beijing for Crushing Tiananmen Protests. Now They Work for the Government". Vice. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  10. 民主歌聲獻中華 081/139 周潤發 劉德華 譚詠麟 張曼玉 錢小豪 李麗珍 張國強 郭秀雲 成奎安.................... 電話訪問 (video) (in Cantonese). 89concertchina (Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China). 4 September 2013. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020 – via YouTube.
  11. Creery, Jennifer (4 June 2019). "'It's the same dictatorship': Veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan on keeping the flame of the Tiananmen protests alive". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  12. "Nonsense! I wasn't at concert: Tsang". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  13. "行政長官會見傳媒談話全文（只有中文）". www.info.gov.hk (in Chinese). 6 June 2006. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
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