1989 crackdown included for the first time but no mention of democracy or estimated 'hundreds or thousands' of deaths
Hong Kong's new Chinese history textbooks for upper secondary students have for the first time mentioned the student protests of 1989 but failed to make any reference to the violent crackdown of the democracy movement.
Legislator and chairman of the Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) Cheung Man-kwong accused publishers of 'rewriting history' by concealing what happened on June 4 and the nature of the democracy movement.
'They have either distorted or evaded history by not mentioning what happened during the crackdown. There is no mention of the use of force, that military tanks and machine guns were used to disperse the crowds,' he said.
'This is deeply regretful. It is no different from changing 'Japanese invasion of China' to 'Japanese entry into China',' Mr Cheung said. 'Publishers are so worried their books will be banned and afraid of political pressure that they dare not tell students what really happened.'
The books will be on sale in bookshops before next term, but the South China Morning Post obtained advance copies of three of the five titles that will be available to schools. Exploring Chinese History, published by Ling Kee, gives the most detailed account over four pages. It describes the causes of the protests, including corruption and the growing divide between rich and poor, but does not mention that students were calling for democracy. It makes no reference to the violent crackdown, or the fact that unknown numbers of students, Beijing residents, and soldiers were killed when the military moved into the city centre.
The book's key author, Chan Hon-sum, who teaches history at CCC Kwei Wah Shan College, admitted having exercised self-censorship. 'I should have been more courageous in depicting the event. But as authors, we are all guessing the extent of control the government has over textbooks.' He said he would ask the publisher if he could add reference to the military crackdown.
