Tiananmen Square crackdown of June 4, 1989 revisited in Candace Chong’s play, ‘May 35’
- May 35 is the story of a woman who wants to hold a vigil for her son, killed by PLA troops in Tiananmen Square during the student-led protest in 1989
- Instead of focusing on the incident, Chong’s play concentrates on the families of the victims, whose suffering continues
For acclaimed playwright Candace Chong Mui-ngam, the June 4, 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square is a subject an artist must tackle “at least once in their lifetime”.
She may have been only 12 years old when People’s Liberation Army soldiers opened fire on the student protesters, but the incident left a strong imprint on her mind. Throughout her career, the subject would pop into her head every now and then.,
A breakthrough came when she had her first child, who is now nine years old. “It was no longer plain facts. I could see it from another perspective and relate to it,” she says.
But she didn’t find her connection with the subject until two years ago, when her parents fell sick and she and her brother took turns caring for them. “What about the Tiananmen mothers?” asks Chong, referring to the families of protesters killed in the crackdown, to whom she later spoke to as part of her research. “There is no one to care for them. They are restricted and monitored, and cannot even sweep the graves of the dead.”
Reading books that featured interviews with these families fuelled her anger about the issue, which became her motivation in the creative process. “It described their lives and what they went through, and really brought every victim alive. That is how you know these people are not just a number. They are people who were once alive. So how much agony have [the families] swallowed?”
