Tank Man

For the sake of a short and readable post, I will try and give a generalised impression of China today. First, a dab of history:

Asia and the east, throughout history has suffered a greater share of natrual and man made disasters. Her larger populations has made prosperity low in quality and suffering large in quantity. The comfort, the affluent Chinese embrace today means a great deal psychologically. However, this is at the cost of the massive rural poverty both in human and environment.

Fast forward to post world war, and China is united in hope of a brighter future: of equality, peace and prestige. Yet, she was in constant fear from Russia to the north and USA to the east. This coupled with the single party communism has given China an extremely collective unity attitude, unsurpassed except in fundamental religious states.

China's constitution Part II: Rights and Duties of a Citizen states: Every citizen has the right to protest, worship and citicize the state. As long as it doesn't threaten collectivism. Subjective and slightly paradoxial. China in fact has the least reason to be worried about her unity: smooth coastline, well connected infrastructure, centralised government, no religious divide, culturally dominant...etc. Yet, the chinese people cling to unity more so than ever, convinced that what happened in 1989, a peaceful protest, would reignite the sufferings of history: rebellion, civil war, division and anarchy.

In many respects, the Chinese mentality is generally closer to Hobbes's royalist: a fear of anarchy; than it is with Franklin's liberalism: a fear of despotism. Either extreme is not beneficial to the thrive of humanity. Except, the tyranny in China has become a sometimes clumsy, but nonetheless an art. Those with virtue, but without intellect are kept free to make the public skeptical about liberalism. Those who are wise and intellectual are either absorbed to serve the party or confined in a way that they can not break social unity. Finally, intellect without virtue defines most of the Chinese high society today: well paid professionals, who embrace luxury like immortal kings: half ignorant and half avoiding reality.

Tiananmen Square was in 1989, the end of a silver age for China. People on the whole were a combination of morality and intellect. They wanted progress with checks and balances, reform from corruption and liberalism in society. One protestor said it best:

"I would think it's strange if there wasn't a small or large protest everyday in Beijing. There is much to worry about in China. Today, if our protest fails and the government ignores us, that's no problem. I know my children will come back and protest more and more!"

Oh what common sense that makes to us. Yet, the harsh brutality that followed has drained all spirit out of my people... The "Hukou" passport system removes the slum we see in other developing cities, so there is very little exposure to real poverty in urban China. The abundance of comfort in Chinese ivory white towered cities has all made the Chinese people you see in the west today: disillusioned. Please do not feel the Chinese people you meet outside China, representative of my race. They have completely undeservedly crowed themselves the apostles of modern China.

There has been a sharp rise in the number of Hongkongers who want the 1989 pro-democracy movement vindicated by Beijing.

According to a poll of 1,011 respondents carried out by the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Programme last week, those who said the central government must reverse its official stance on the June 4 incident increased from 49 per cent last year to 61 per cent.

It was the highest since the same question was first posed in the annual survey in 1994. Beijing has branded the movement an "anti-revolutionary riot". On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said there was no need for the central government to apologise for its handling of the incident.

Some 69 per cent of respondents also said "the central government did the wrong thing" in curbing peaceful protests with troops and tanks - an 11 percentage point rise from last year and the highest since the handover.

The percentage of those who said the students had done "the right thing" hit 56 per cent, an increase of 6 percentage points.

Although those who believed the students were in the wrong also rose by 4 percentage points, the figure was relatively low at 19 per cent.

There was also another significant change in perceptions of human rights on the mainland, with a drop in those who believed things would improve in three years' time. The latest figure, 63 per cent, was a drop of 14 percentage points on last year.

Seventy-eight per cent believed people in Hong Kong had a responsibility to instigate democratic development on the mainland, and there was a 6 per cent rise, to 29 per cent, among those who thought people should "put more effort" into such endeavours. Sixty per cent said the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China should not be disbanded - 14 percentage points more than last year.

Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the public opinion programme, said: "Although Hong Kong people generally recognise China's achievement in its economic development, more and more people would like to see China develop its democracy at the same time."

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 1 to 3 per cent.

Ambrose Leung

【本報訊】六四20周年前夕，香港大學民意研究計劃公佈，超過六成港人支持平反六四，比率為歷來最高；同情北京學生、認為中央做錯的市民比例，也創回歸後新高。該計劃總監鍾庭耀指出，民調結果反映，六四薪火相傳目標已經達到。經歷改朝換代，飽嚐經濟起伏，熬過世紀疫症，20年來香港人沒有忘記六四的是非，沒有放棄民主的信念。數字說明，我心不死。記者：蔡元貴、雷子樂、陳沛敏

港大民意研究計劃自93年起，每年六四前進行相關民意調查，本月19至22日成功抽樣訪問1,011名香港市民。結果顯示，55.5%受訪者認為當年北京學生做得對，為94年六四5周年以來最高。68.9%人認為中國政府當年處理不當，較去年的58%大幅增加，為13年來新高。

「薪火相傳目標已經達到」

支聯會評分比去年上升，雖只有48分，卻有六成市民不贊成解散支聯會，同樣創下歷來新高。民研計劃自97年加入「你是否支持平反六四？」的問題，結果今年有61.2%人支持平反，較去年49.1%大幅上升，也是調查以來的歷史新高。鍾庭耀認為，結果反映香港人的六四情結，「訊息好清楚，結果反映香港人需要一個象徵佢情結口號（平反六四），同埋一個象徵性團體。」

鍾庭耀分析，今年是六四20周年，香港以至各地公開悼念及討論六四的活動甚多，引發更多港人關注，「尤其係趙紫陽（中共前總書記）聲帶，令大家多資料重新討論。」近期一些言論，如港大學生會前會長陳一諤的「有問題」論，以及特首曾蔭權的「代表香港人」論，均推高了港人的情緒。

調查結果顯示，香港人對學生的同情以及對當時政府的責難，多年來均十分穩定。鍾庭耀指出：「事件過20年，香港人仍然持有相同意見，反映出來已經唔單止係民意，而係態度，代表住香港人基本價值取向。」

認為港人有責任推動內地經濟與民主發展者同樣佔大多數，雖然前者比率較高，但今年是81%與78%之比，相當接近；若要受訪者二擇其一，比率變成39%對29%，是17次調查中差距最窄的一次。鍾庭耀說，可能不少香港人開始意識到，中國的經濟已發展到一個不錯的地步，是時候發展民主。

官員民望受同期經濟環境及沙士等社會大事影響，但民調顯示港人對六四的態度較少受這些因素左右，20年來，均有四至六成人支持平反六四，七至八成人覺得香港人有責任推動中國民主發展。鍾庭耀說，數字說明，薪火相傳的目標已經實現了。

「如果話薪火相傳目標已經達到，我同意；六四事件距離今年已經20年，隔一代人，但係民調數據變化不大。」鍾庭耀認為，新一代大致認同上一代對六四的意見，一方面是因為支聯會每年的悼念活動，另一方面是組織以外的因素，「例如家庭教育，兩代之間感染力，民間傳承工作，好難睇得到，但係同樣重要。」

特首被斥欠港人一個道歉

支聯會主席司徒華認為，民調結果證明香港人對平反六四的訴求清晰，「20年來，大家完全冇忘記。」他指出，曾蔭權、陳一諤以至最近劉夢熊發表的六四言論，刺激港人要表達平反六四的訴求。調查結果也證明，國家經濟起飛可以讓人民放下六四等這類見利忘義的觀點站不住腳。「唔通一個人殺人之後發達，當佢畀錢你使，你就可以話佢冇做錯咩？」司徒華今年到多間中學出席六四講座，發現學生的提問相當有深度，反映平反六四的訊息得以薪火相傳。

昨日特意到立法會旁聽六四辯論的民主黨創黨主席李柱銘相信，民調結果「反映香港市民的眼睛係雪亮」。他認為，曾蔭權早前的六四言論，是由於他平日在內地和香港接觸的人都持同類觀點，「佢根本聽唔到普羅大眾心聲，相信佢真係以為全港都咁睇。」他又批評曾蔭權欠港人一個道歉。

港大民調同時調查港人對中央政府的信任程度，由92年的不足兩成，上升至近年的近六成。鍾庭耀說，香港人逐漸信任中央政府的同時，大多數人仍覺得中國政府處理六四做得不對，仍支持平反六四，表面上有點矛盾，卻起一種提示作用，「中央政府民望雖然上升，但仍然受六四事件拖累。如果六四得到平反，信任程度可能唔止五至六成。」