Hong Kong's Tiananmen Museum Takes on China’s Censorship Machine

  • Tiny space welcomes Hong Kong residents and mainland visitors
  • Former British colony remains refuge for commemorating event
Visitors look at artifacts recovered from the scenes of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests at the June 4th Museum.Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg
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A saboteur poured salty water into the museum’s nine sockets and fuse box during renovations. A few dozen protesters gathered outside when it opened. Critics pestered visitors at the entrance.

It hasn’t been easy reopening a museum in Hong Kong dedicated to documenting China’s June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, where its armed forces opened fire on student-led, pro-democracy protests -- killing hundreds or maybe thousands of people in the center of Beijing.