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Hong Kong bookstore draws stream of visitors with HK$6.4 candles, ‘35/5’ displays on anniversary of Tiananmen crackdown

  • Candles on sale for HK$6.4 among the draws for curious visitors heading to Hunter Bookstore in Sham Shui Po on June 4 anniversary of Tiananmen Square crackdown
  • Shop caught attention online over weekend when police officers stood outside and checked ID cards of visitors

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The centrepiece of the store’s current “monthly theme” is a window display featuring the numbers “35/5” obscured by a large red canvas. Photo: Jelly Tse
A Hong Kong bookstore selling candles for HK$6.4 (81 US cents) and displaying signs that read “35/5” attracted a constant stream of visitors keen to catch a glimpse of the apparent references to the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on Tuesday.
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Hunter Bookstore in Sham Shui Po caught the attention of some residents after it posted on Instagram that police officers had stood outside the store for an hour on Sunday afternoon to check the ID cards of shoppers, with the news seemingly helping to draw in more curious visitors on the June 4 anniversary.

“I’m so disappointed I didn’t get to be checked today,” said Wong Chi-kan, 65, who works in social services. “At least they have not taken further action [against the bookstore]. But even so, we will continue to stay here.”

Wong, who was visiting the store with three friends, said she planned to “take a stroll” in Causeway Bay later on Tuesday, which she had done “since the 1980s”.

Over the past three decades, a candlelight vigil in Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park was the only large-scale commemoration of the crackdown on Chinese soil.

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“I don’t think there’s anything to be scared of if it is the right thing to do,” she said.

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