Boards hiding Queen Victoria statue for handover celebration removed after backlash

Photos: Clarisse Yeung (L), Rafiaa Rumjahn/Coconuts Media (R)
Photos: Clarisse Yeung (L), Rafiaa Rumjahn/Coconuts Media (R)

Organizers of a handover anniversary celebration have been forced to get rid of a set of boards hiding a statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Park after the move sparked a public outcry and a direct order from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Pro-Beijing group Hong Kong Celebration Association (HKCA) came under fire this week after a district councillor pointed out that they had covered up a bronze statue of Queen Victoria for a science expo celebrating the handover. Yesterday, HKCA’s chief organizer Cheng Yiu-tong dismissed claims that his group was trying to “erase” colonial history, and told reporters that the boards were set up to display directions for expo attendees.

The incident was first brought to light by Wan Chai District Councillor Clarisse Yeung, who posted a photograph of the statue being obscured by boards to Facebook on Tuesday. Above the boards was an inflatable banner reading “Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland”.

https://www.facebook.com/clarisseysy/photos/a.911819232226090.1073741828.901237633284250/1556769964397677/?type=3

“So it’s fine for [pro-Beijing people] to cover up Queen Victoria’s statue, but apparently it’s not okay when [pro-democracy activists] draped a cloth on the bauhinia statue?” one Facebook user said.

Yeung said she reported the incident to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, who warned the HKCA to remove the boards. When a Coconuts Hong Kong reporter visited the site at noon yesterday, the statue was visible again.

Photo: Rafiaa Rumjahn/Coconuts Media

The HKCA has reserved the park’s football pitches for a science expo from June 29 and July 2. This is the first year since 2004 that the Civil Human Rights Front, who organize the yearly July 1 protest, have been denied access to the football pitches as a starting point for the march. The expo has also been subject to controversy due to HKCA securing the venue in March, one month before the park officially began accepting July event requests.

Speaking to Apple Daily, Yeung said people using the park had “always respected” the statue and called HKCA’s actions “strange”.

The bronze statue was brought to Hong Kong in 1896 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It spent 59 years at Statue Square in Central before being moved to Victoria Park in 1955.

When Coconuts Hong Kong visited the site of the science expo, dozens of people volunteer workers and logistic workers were at the venue preparing for tomorrow’s exhibition. All of the volunteer workers our reporter approached were Mandarin speakers and they refused to comment on the incident, as did the park’s security guards and cleaners.

The entrance to the science expo, organized by pro-Beijing group “Hong Kong Celebration Association”. Photo: Rafiaa Rumjahn/Coconuts Media

While most park-goers apparently had not heard about the HKCA snafu (or as we’re calling it, Statue Gate), some said they believed it wasn’t a problem. Luk Tung-lam, who visits the park’s basketball court frequently, said he believed the group was only trying to keep the statue clean during the expo preparation.

“Colonialism is nothing worth commemorating. It all happened because of wars,” he said.

Luk Tung-lam says he thinks it’s a good idea to cover the statue of Queen Victoria. Photo: Rafiaa Rumjahn/Coconuts Media

However, 20 years after Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule, many are still missing the city’s colonial period. Dorothy Cheung, a mother-of-two, insisted there’s “no way” Hong Kong could be “decolonized”.

“Hong Kong was governed by Britain and it’s a fact. It’s history. It’s not something you can erase,” she said. She added that she, as well as many people who were born before 1997, would continue to inform future generations about the colonial way of life.

Marie Bouyx, who has just started a one-year work placement in Hong Kong, said Hong Kong should stop worrying about what Beijing thinks.

Marie Bouyx, who recently moved to Hong Kong from France for a work placement, says she doesn’t think the city should concern itself with what Beijing thinks. Photo: Rafiaa Rumjahn/Coconuts Media

“[The Hong Kong government should] say, ‘Okay, we don’t care about you. We love the statue, it’s historical. If you don’t agree, don’t come to Hong Kong’,” she said. She hopes Hong Kong’s way of life will remain the same until 2047, as promised in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.



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