China’s Coming Reckoning

On the main campus of Hong Kong University (HKU), there is a peculiar orange monument that looks very much like a large termite mound, the kind you would see on the African savannah. From a distance, the several stories tall column seems to be just another piece of ambiguous modern art. Indeed, when I first saw it nearly a year ago while studying at HKU, that’s all I thought it was until I got closer. Upon further inspection, the orange termite mound takes another, more terrible form. You see, what at first appears to be natural clumps of earthy clay soon mold into human faces, crying out in pain and suffering. What material remains of the mound then takes the form of their hands, some supporting themselves upon the bodies beneath them, some reaching out for relief and something even greater.

It would only be after reading the words at the base of the monument, known as the Pillar of Shame, that I learned what terrible event sparked its construction. On April 15, 1989, Hu Yaobang, a progressive reformer in the Communist Party of China (CPC), died of a heart attack only after being demoted in the party for his connections to recent political and economic protests. Little did anyone in the Politburo know, however, that Hu’s death would spark a much wider protest, largely driven … click HERE to continue reading