On the evening of June 4, 2024, as night fell, a group of New York residents sat on the steps of the Flushing Library, lighting candles. Among them were an 18-year-old student from Beijing University, an elderly participant in the pro-democracy movement from Guangzhou, and young people in their twenties and thirties who had recently arrived in the United States.
Struggling against the wind, people gathered around the fire, one by one, taking a long time to finally shape and light up the numbers “89·64” formed by the candles.
This was the scene of the candlelight vigil commemorating the June Fourth incident organized by “Chinese Women’s Rights” in Flushing. June 4th also marked the last day of the nearby “Chinese Communist Party Atrocities Truth Exhibition”.
President of “Chinese Women’s Rights”, Zhang Jing, said that the 7-day exhibition had a particularly good effect, stating, “The Chinese Communist Party wants to cover up the truth, so it is very important to let the Chinese people know the truth”.
Starting from May 29, “Chinese Women’s Rights” displayed their 21 truth exhibition boards in the downtown area of Flushing, exposing in a concise and systematic manner, in both Chinese and English through images, the evil deeds the Chinese Communist Party has done to the Chinese people since seizing power in 1949.
Zhang Jing mentioned that an elderly man around 80 years old carefully examined each display board, and when he turned back, tears were streaming down his face. He emotionally said, “Our families have all gone through this, living a life that is not even human until we came to America, where our lives improved.”
“Why do the Chinese people keep being deceived time and time again by the Communist Party?” Zhang Jing said. “It’s because after each movement, the Chinese Communist Party covers up the truth. So, we will speak out this truth, reveal how many people died in each movement, why they did it, expose this truth, and demand the Communist Party to disclose their data.”
Zhang Jing emphasized that the truth about the Chinese Communist Party not only needs to be exposed but also needs to be systematically and completely revealed. She mentioned a friend who knew about the bad things done by the Communist Party, but after seeing the exhibition, gained a better understanding of the evil motives behind the Party’s movements and suppressions.
“They understand: revealing the truth about the Communist Party indeed requires a series of complete disclosures,” Zhang Jing said. “Otherwise, people will only have fragmented memories, and the Communist Party will fabricate excuses, and people will forgive it, again.”
A young man in his 90s from Hubei, Xiao Xu (pseudonym), who arrived in the United States a few months ago, stood in front of the truth exhibition boards and expressed that seeing these truths was “very shocking” because he was basically unaware of this content, but upon seeing it, knew it was all true.
“For example, the one-child policy, I almost became a victim. My parents were fined a thousand yuan for having me.” He said, “These things are not seen domestically, I really didn’t know. I also know that everything domestically is fake. They just won’t let you speak the truth, and they delete your opinions online.”
Xiao Xu mentioned that he only started using VPNs a year ago, discovered the truth about June Fourth and the pro-democracy movement, and immediately decided to come to the United States.
“I realized that we are all controlled by the Chinese Communist Party spiritually and economically,” he said. “For example, ordinary people, even rural folks, are forced to buy houses in the city… Survival in China is difficult.”
The candlelight vigil attracted many people. Some sang, some spoke, paying tribute to the Chinese people who sacrificed their lives for freedom. An elderly man sighed deeply, saying, “The Communist Party has committed too many sins! It should have been over a long time ago! They should have stepped down before June Fourth! They should never have appeared in China!”