On the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the June 4th Incident, the British Embassy in China released a commemorative video this morning on its official Weibo account, only to be taken down two hours later.
According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, around 11 am this morning, the British Embassy in China shared a video commemorating the June 4th Incident on its Weibo account.
The video depicted the background of the “Tank Man” (referring to the protester who stood alone in front of a tank during the June 4th Incident) gradually changing from a street to a blank sheet of paper, while the Tank Man remained visible; subsequently, even the Tank Man slowly disappeared into the expanding blank paper.
However, some internet users noticed that the video suddenly disappeared at 1:11 pm, and could no longer be found. Screenshots of the video showed that it only lasted for 2 hours on Weibo, accumulating 173 comments and 762 likes. Nonetheless, the British Embassy in China reposted the video on its X platform account at 2:17 pm.
Many netizens left comments expressing their admiration, “Only the British dare to post on Weibo.” “This video is great, bridging the June 4th Incident with the Blank Paper Movement.” “Very creative, thanks to Great Britain.” “Thank you to countries around the world for not forgetting the persecution of the Chinese people by the Chinese Communist Party.”
In fact, the British Embassy in China also released a commemorative video last year on its X platform account, remembering the June 4th Incident. In the video, a copy of the “People’s Daily” newspaper documenting the June 4th Incident gradually lost its color over time, eventually turning into a blank sheet. Netizens commented that this perfectly reflected the authorities’ attempt to erase the memory of June 4th. “The brilliance of this video lies in its subtle yet powerful visual language, presenting the truth of history and the absurdity of reality to the world.”
Last year, when the British Embassy released the video, they accompanied it with a caption saying, “35 years ago, the peaceful protest activities in Tiananmen Square and surrounding areas ended in tragedy. Some tried to erase these events from history and memory. Today, we remember history.”