Overview

Memories of Tiananmen: Politics and Processes of Collective Remembering in Hong Kong, 1989-2019 analyzes how collective memory regarding the 1989 Beijing student movement and the Tiananmen crackdown was produced, contested, sustained, and transformed in Hong Kong between 1989 and 2019. Drawing on data gathered through multiple sources such as news reports, digital media content, on-site vigil surveys, population surveys, and in-depth interviews with activists, rally participants, and other stakeholders, it identifies six key processes in the dynamics of social remembering: memory formation, memory mobilization, memory institutionalization, intergenerational transfer, memory repair, and memory balkanization. The book demonstrates how a socially dominant collective memory, even one the state finds politically irritable, can be generated and maintained through constant negotiation and efforts by a wide range of actors. While Memories of Tiananmen mainly focuses on the interplay between political changes and the Tiananmen commemoration in the historical period within which the society enjoyed a significant degree of civil liberties, it also discusses how the trajectory of the collective memory may take a drastic turn as Hong Kong’s autonomy is abridged. The book promises to be a key reference for anyone interested in collective memory studies, social movement research, political communication, and China and Hong Kong studies.

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9789463728447

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"""Memories of Tiananmen is a landmark scholarly work...Clearly written and rigorously argued, it is recommended reading for anyone interested in Hong Kong and its complex connections with mainland China. Based on a wealth of data and always nuanced and balanced in its arguments, the book itself represents a kind of monument to the collective memory of 1989 that is now rapidly being erased under the new political circumstances."" - Sebastian Veg, The China Quarterly, Vol. 251, September 2022"

Memories of Tiananmen is a landmark scholarly work...Clearly written and rigorously argued, it is recommended reading for anyone interested in Hong Kong and its complex connections with mainland China. Based on a wealth of data and always nuanced and balanced in its arguments, the book itself represents a kind of monument to the collective memory of 1989 that is now rapidly being erased under the new political circumstances. - Sebastian Veg, The China Quarterly, Vol. 251, September 2022

"""Memories of Tiananmen is a landmark scholarly work...Clearly written and rigorously argued, it is recommended reading for anyone interested in Hong Kong and its complex connections with mainland China. Based on a wealth of data and always nuanced and balanced in its arguments, the book itself represents a kind of monument to the collective memory of 1989 that is now rapidly being erased under the new political circumstances."" - Sebastian Veg, The China Quarterly, Vol. 251, September 2022 ''[...]this is an excellent and rewarding monograph and should appeal to scholars working in Chinese studies, memory studies, media studies, political science, sociology, human geography and urban studies more broadly. - Andrew M. Law, Europe-Asia Studies, August, 2023, 75/7"

Author Information

Francis L.F. Lee is Director and Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is an elected Fellow of the International Communication Association and Founding Co-chair of the Society for Hong Kong Studies. He is also the chief editor of the Chinese Journal of Communication. Joseph Man Chan is Professor Emeritus at the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is an elected Fellow of the International Communication Association.

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