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Goddess of Democracy statue, Tiananmen Square memorial removed from Hong Kong campuses in early hours of Christmas Eve
- The removal of the artwork at Chinese University and Lingnan University, both created by sculptor Chen Weiming, follows HKU dismantling the Pillar of Shame a day earlier
- In removing the Goddess of Democracy, Chinese University notes its placement on campus had never been authorised, while Lingnan cites ‘legal and safety risks’ in tearing down relief
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A day after the University of Hong Kong dismantled a sculpture commemorating victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in a late-night operation, two more local institutions have followed suit.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on Friday confirmed it had removed a statue known as the Goddess of Democracy, which had stood on campus since 2010, while Lingnan University said it had torn down a wall relief memorialising the crackdown.
Both artworks were created by sculptor Chen Weiming, a Chinese-born New Zealand citizen now living in the United States.
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More Tiananmen crackdown monuments removed from Hong Kong university campuses
More Tiananmen crackdown monuments removed from Hong Kong university campuses
In a statement, CUHK noted that it had never approved a 2010 student union request to place the statue on campus and that its reasoning for the decision was a matter of public record.
“Following an internal assessment … CUHK has removed the statue,” the statement said. “The university never authorised the display of the statue on its campus, and no organisation has claimed responsibility for its maintenance and management.”
It added that the two groups responsible for placing the statue on campus – the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and its own student union – had been disbanded.
Fourth-year CUHK student Woo Yat-wa said he was shocked to learn of the statue’s removal.
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