In Chinatown, politics of old country still spark
Small and secluded, a memorial to Tiananmen’s fallen is causing ripples as residents debate its place in a redesigned park
By Meghan E. Irons, Globe Staff | March 10, 2010
Boston’s Chinatown memorial to the Tiananmen Square massacre sits at the shaded edge of a children’s sandpit in Mary Soo Hoo Park, a fenced gathering place just outside the neighborhood’s famous gateway.
When it was installed more than 20 years ago, the small granite marker was meant as a historic tribute to the massive Beijing uprising of 1989, put down with deadly force by the Chinese military.
But the memorial is now at the epicenter of a controversy that erupted in Chinatown after some residents asked that it be removed as part of city plans to renovate the park. It touched off a crossfire of accusations and exposed deep-rooted tensions over the role Chinese politics should play in everyday life in Chinatown.
E-mail campaigns to save the memorial were launched, heated exchanges marked a public meeting, and the issue has appeared in neighborhood blogs and Chinese-language newspapers. It is seen by some as so divisive that they did not want to be quoted as taking a side, fearing they would antagonize neighbors.
“I don’t think that everyone feels comfortable that the monument is going to stay,’’ said Jill Zick, a landscape architect at the Boston Redevelopment Authority who is spearheading a series of neighborhood meetings. “There is confusion about what the intention is [for the marker]. Will the monument stay or will it go?’’
Zick said the marker is likely to stay in the park, though it could be moved. But the controversy continues, in part because of the intense feelings it evokes. The marker, and the park where it rests, has long been a rallying point for activists protesting policies of the Chinese government, and many in the neighborhood of more than 6,000 see it as a symbol of rare resistance to the authoritarian government in their homeland.
“This monument is meant to educate the people about freedom and Democracy and the fact that we should value it,’’ said Chungchi Che, an activist in Chinatown.
But other residents say the stone memorial is a grim reminder of a dark past and that the park should be a place of repose, where adults can relax and children can play without the intrusion of politics. They point to followers of the spiritual movement Falun Gong who use the park on Sundays, practicing their breathing and posting large and graphic displays of the Chinese crackdown of their movement.
“A group that moves families out of their park is something that should not happen,’’ said Bill Moy, a co-moderator of the community organization Chinatown Neighborhood Council. “The Falun Gong do have a permit to be there, but on Sundays that excludes the families.’’
Moy had requested that the memorial be taken down so the park will be more inviting to children and the elderly who practice Tai Chi. He has since softened his tone, saying that the redesigned park would have enough space for both the monument and families.
First dedicated during the administration of Mayor Raymond L. Flynn in fall 1989, the Tiananmen Memorial stands chest-high at Beach and Hudson streets, a bustling hub at a tip of Chinatown that features markets, restaurants, and other businesses. The monument is unremarkable by itself, largely unnoticed by the men who play chess, the tourists who snap pictures on the adjoining greenway, and market clerks who hawk their wares.
In bold, black letters in English and Chinese reads the inscription: “Tiananmen Memorial. This park is dedicated in honor of the democracy movement in China and in the memory of those who died in the struggle for freedom in Tiananmen Square in June 1989.’’
It honors thousands of students who filled Beijing’s Tiananmen Square that year to demand freedom and democratic reform. After tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled through the square to disperse the crowd, thousands of bodies remained.
The issue of the monument first flared during a BRA redesign planning session in December, when a few residents suggested that it should go.
The meeting was held to gather community ideas for improvements in the park. About 60 residents were given blue stickers and sticky notes to rank their preferences.
Among the top suggestions: No political gatherings and “reform/transform/relocate Tiananmen Square Memorial.’’
Chinatown activists who had not heard of the first meeting flocked to a second session last month, peppering BRA officials with questions about whether the monument should be moved. The subject came up repeatedly as city designers urged residents to choose one of three proposed park redesigns, none of which showed a space for the monument.
Zick said she was “a little surprised’’ by the alarm from residents over the monument, which she said will either be relocated to a quiet corner, rebuilt, or reintegrated into the park’s new design. A third meeting is set for March 25.
“We were looking at different ways to keep the sense of the memorial,’’ she said, “but at the same time providing a location for it that is in tuned with the narrative of a memorial, something more contemplative.’’
Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment