The exiled Hong Kongers seek to rekindle the famous Lennon walls of the city in Taiwan to serve as powerful reminders of a movement of democracy that Beijing sought to erase, even if no commemorative event was authorized in their original soil to mark the sixth anniversary of the massive anti-extradition demonstrations of Hong Kong.
“The Lennon wall is an important collective memory for us (Hong Kongers),” said Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong, who moved to the city of Taichung in Taiwan in 2021. “From 2014 to 2019, it was the place where we spread our democratic requests. Now the Lennon Wall and Democracy and Liberty in Hong Kong are gone.”
Lennon Walls of Hong Kong – named after the peaceful activism of the musician John Lennon and inspired by the Prague velvet revolution in the 1980s – has become emblematic characteristics of the Hong Kong pro -democracy movement, transforming public spaces into canvases of democratic expression.
Filled with colored demonstrations of sticky notes, posters, works of art and messages such as “We, Hong Kongers, never give up”, the Lennon walls of Hong Kong allowed ordinary citizens to express their political opinions and demonstrate their solidarity.
Lennon Walls germinated on the public spaces available through Hong Kong, including underground tunnels and on pillars outside the stations, during the 2014 umbrella movement and again in 2019, during the anti-extractition movement, when millions of people went to the streets to protest against proposed legislation that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to Mainland China.
In Taiwan, the Lennon wall in the passage of the Pedestrian Passage of Taichung is the only wall of this type accessible in the region, and the exiles of Hong Kong in the democratic island are eager to preserve it, even if they seek to establish more walls, including one in the capital Taipei.
Among them, Wong, who with his friends Thursday, marked the anniversary of the anti-extraditional movement with a visit to the Lennon wall in Taichung and sang in front of the protest of the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations, “Glory to Hong Kong”.
Earlier this year, part of the Lennon wall in Taichung would have been eliminated during a regular cleaning and maintenance of the underground passage by volunteers. This prompted a declaration of city officials who said they respect the wall as a symbol of public expression and that any future cleaning must be reported in advance.
Wong is now making efforts to preserve and refresh the display on the Lennon wall in Taichung, especially in the cleaned sections, considering it both as an act of commemoration and resistance.
“The crisis brings opportunities. As a curator, I want to transform the sections cleaned into art spaces,” Wong told Lennon's wall in Taichung every week and pays in the pocket to reprint and publish works of high quality art.
“If someone demolishes it again, I will republish it-just as we did during the 2019 demonstrations. This persistence is resistance resilience,” he said.
Another Hong Kong Exile Fu Tang is currently looking for a location in Taipei to establish a permanent Lennon wall in the city. He thinks that the protection of these spaces also represents fundamental Taiwanese values.
“The Lennon wall represents the right to freedom of expression of diversity and tolerance,” said FU. “The protection of the Lennon wall is not only to protect the freedom of expression of the people of Hong Kong in Taiwan, but also to protect the important values of peace and tolerance in Taiwan.”
Fu thinks that the creation of a permanent Lennon Walls in Taiwan will also serve reminders for the Taiwanese people to cherish their existing freedoms. “He also tells the world that Taiwan is not part of China, because there is no place for Lennon Walls in China,” added Fu.
Taiwan, which China claims as a territory, welcomed refugees in Hong Kong through various humanitarian programs, and many Hong Kongers participated in the 2019 anti-extradition demonstrations have now made the democratic island their house.
Among them, Tsai Chih-hao, who was one of the demonstrators who stormed the Hong Kong Legislative Council in 2019.
“As a demonstrator, I am very happy to be able to always see Lennon's wall in Taiwan,” Tsai said. “There are still people ready to maintain it and allow people who come to Taiwan to visit it.
Translated by Rachel C. edited by Tenzin Pema.