{"id":1943444,"date":"2023-06-03T08:20:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T12:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/theatre-in-democratic-taiwan-stages-hong-kong-play-about-tiananmen-square\/"},"modified":"2023-06-03T08:21:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T12:21:59","slug":"theatre-in-democratic-taiwan-stages-hong-kong-play-about-tiananmen-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/theatre-in-democratic-taiwan-stages-hong-kong-play-about-tiananmen-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwanese theatre presents Hong Kong play on Tiananmen Square."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftheatre-in-democratic-taiwan-stages-hong-kong-play-about-tiananmen-square%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1943444&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Theatre in Democratic Taiwan Stages Hong Kong Play About Tiananmen<\/h2>\n<p>By Angie Teo and Jessie Pang<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A Taiwan theatre is showcasing a Hong Kong play about Tiananmen Square to mark the 34th anniversary of the crackdown in Beijing, saying almost as much about shrinking freedoms in the former British colony as it does about the 1989 bloodshed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px;  text-align: center;\">\n  <script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1'); });<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__ad-label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<p>Taiwan\u2019s Shinehouse theatre group, with the support of rights group Amnesty International, is putting on six performances of \u201c35th of May\u201d in Taipei from June 2-4. The play is about parents grieving for their son killed in Tiananmen Square.<\/p>\n<p>Restrictions on dissent in Hong Kong have all but snuffed out what were once the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/theatre-in-democratic-taiwan-stages-hong-kong-play-about-tiananmen-square\/\" title=\"Taiwanese theatre presents Hong Kong play on Tiananmen Square.\">largest vigils marking<\/a> the crackdown on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ga-gop-sen-david-perdue-in-runoff-battle-with-democrat-jon-ossoff\/\" title=\"Ga. GOP Sen. David Perdue in runoff battle with Democrat Jon Ossoff\">pro-democracy protests<\/a> in Tiananmen Square, leaving cities like London, New York, Berlin and Taipei to keep the memory alive.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not only talking about June 4 in 1989, it\u2019s talking about all kinds of authoritarian and totalitarian situations,\u201d Shinehouse\u2019s director, Chung Po-yuan, told Reuters, explaining the importance of bringing the play to Taiwan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The last time the play was shown in Hong Kong was in 2020 before the enactment of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/canadian-olympic-committee-warns-athletes-not-to-criticize-china\/\" title=\"Canadian Olympic Committee Warns Athletes Not to Criticize China\">national security law<\/a> that Beijing imposed on the city later that year. It was shown online because of COVID-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>The theatre group that staged it, Stage 64, disbanded in 2021, citing pressure under the national security law.<\/p>\n<p>The play has not been officially banned in Hong Kong but few doubt that authorities in a city where the Tiananmen crackdown has become taboo would move to block it.<\/p>\n<p>An alliance of Hong Kong activists that used to organise the annual Tiananmen vigil was disbanded after the arrest of several of its leaders in 2021. Three were charged with inciting subversion and face up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMay 35th\u201d, by playwright Candace Chong, is about a husband and wife dealing with the loss of their son who was killed when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-new-york-times-journalist-brent-renaud-killed-in-ukraine\/\" title=\"Former New York Times Journalist Brent Renaud Killed In Ukraine\">troops opened fire<\/a> on democracy protesters in and around Tiananmen Square 34 years ago. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Important Platform<\/h3>\n<p>Even in democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, actors have been nervous about taking part in the play, Chung said. Some worried about their careers or the fate of families and friends in China.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cEveryone has an invisible fear. The actors are actually quite brave,\u201d Chung said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Some actors will use stage names and two Hong Kong actors will wear masks.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOn the one hand, we want to safeguard the freedom of performing this show, on the other, we need to ensure that everyone\u2019s safe, including families in Hong Kong,\u201d said Chiu E-ling, secretary general of Amnesty International Taiwan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The founder of Hong Kong\u2019s Stage 64 theatre group, Lit Ming Wai, is working on an English version of \u201c35th of May\u201d to spread its message and keep it alive.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAfter facing some difficulties in Hong Kong, now we can re-enact this story in another place,\u201d said Lit, who is now based in Britain but was visiting Taiwan to see the performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTaiwan has become an important platform. Works banned in different places can be published here, everyone has the opportunity to exchange ideas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Chung, like everyone in Taiwan mindful of Beijing\u2019s vow to take the island back, by force if necessary, said the play had a simple message: \u201cFreedom and democracy should not be taken for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taiwan&#8217;s Shinehouse theatre group is presenting a Hong Kong play about Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the Beijing crackdown. The play highlights the diminishing freedoms in Hong Kong, as well as the 1989 tragedy. Angie Teo and Jessie Pang report for Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":1943445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[542],"tags":[7926,7930,4599,12771,20408,28217,20586],"class_list":["post-1943444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oann","tag-hong","tag-kong","tag-play","tag-square","tag-taiwanese","tag-theatre","tag-tiananmen"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1943444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1943445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1943444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1943444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1943444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}