In October of 2021, a Hong Kong university took down a statue of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The takedown of the sculpture is part of a larger scheme within China whereby the Chinese Communist Party aims to create political stability within the country. The monument was built to remember those lost in the Tiananmen Square Massacre and was placed in a Hong Kong university. With the monument being removed, there are most likely no more monuments remembering the massacre left in Hong Kong. As only in Macao and Hong Kong were statues commemorating the massacre previously allowed on Chinese soil.

The Pillar of Shame was 8-metres-tall and depicted 50 bodies torn and twisted on top of one another. Jens Galschioet, a Danish sculptor, made the sculpture. The meaning behind the artwork was to represent the lives lost in the bloody military crackdown in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. CBC and other news outlets report that in response to the monument’s removal, Galschioet states those who ordered the removal are “sending a signal to the students that it is over with the [Hong Kong] democracy movement and that it is over with free speech in Hong Kong.”

The university argues that they had the right to take the statue down as no one gained approval from the university to elicit the monument there. Furthermore, the removal follows Hong Kong’s police raid on a museum remembering the Tiananmen victims. The raid reasons are unclear; however, it happened after several pro-democracy activists pleaded guilty to participating in an unsanctioned rally on the anniversary of the massacre.

With the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing, Xi Jinping, China’s president and party leader of the Chinese Communist Party, has made it his party’s number one priority to create political stability. The current political stability within the country is a stark contrast to how the political scene was when Beijing was hosting the Summer Olympics in 2008. The prominence of Tibetan protests for reforms of free speech, cultural and religious practices was growing at the time. Now in 2022, the political scene in China appears to be stable enough for the Winter Olympics to be held. The goal of the Chinese Communist Party to crack down on protests is one of the many things people outside of China critique. In the eyes of the regime, the crackdowns of political and religious groups are a way to assert power and legitimacy.

Importantly, the takedown of the Pillar of Shame represents a prominent issue within China. The removal of the monument and the raid on a museum commemorating Tiananmen victims symbolize the extensive and concerning efforts that the Chinese Communist Party will take to consolidate the stability of their regime.