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2019 marks the 30 years anniversary of the Tiananmen democratic movement, and its bloody crackdown. These past 30 years had a huge impact on Chinese popular music, from the official crackdown on Beijing rock'n'roll community after 1989 to the recent disappearance of Cui Jian's 崔健 songs from the internet, and the disturbing physical disappearance of the folk-rock singer Li Zhi 李志 these past few days. Official censorship is at its peak the days before the 30 year anniversary of the June 4th crackdown, it is no longer possible to comment videos on the streaming app Bilibili, some internet accounts are being closed down, and some people have to take forced holidays during the June 4th week.Li Zhi was probably targeted because of the content of his songs, which make reference to the Tiananmen democratic movement, but also because of his recent legal troubles, the folk singer indeed sued the TV Show “The Coming One” (明日之子) for using his songs without his authorization. It goes without saying that his songs mentioning the 1989 student movement - which he now doesn't sing during live performances - were the first targeted by the Chinese authorities. Two of his songs clearly mention 1989: "The Square" (广场), a reference to the Tiananmen Square and the June 4th crackdown; and "Goddess" (女神), which reminds of the Goddess of Democracy, a statue erected by the students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts on May 30th, 1989. The translation in English of these two songs comes from an article by the China Digital Time.https://youtu.be/JdE4Ehte4uULi Zhi, "The Square": https://youtu.be/JdE4Ehte4uUWhere are you riding your scooter to? You’re gliding in happy circles They watch you and wish you the best I used to have a face like yours Now this square is my grave This song will be your dirge You’ll be taught to be a bad guy A heartless, lazy dick Please don’t trust his love Dawn still hasn’t come Please don’t believe he cares His pistol’s pointed at your chest Now this square is my grave This song will be your dirge You’ll be taught to be a bad guy A heartless, lazy animalYesterday was like a dream Flew by like a shooting star I forgot about him I forgot what those two hands did I’ll never be so cocky again I’ll never love you like that again Suddenly, one day, I woke up Outside, I saw a white cloud A low-slung train flew by And a leaf fell I feel everything growing up Everything growing old Everything, just like you Everything, just like me Everything is just a dream Those times are gone forever Kill him Stab him again Fire Killed him Finished him I still don’t believe it Still don’t believe it Killed him I forgot about his handshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkPHa972YQgLi Zhi, "Goddess": https://youtu.be/rkPHa972YQgI have a friend, she’s 21Always wears a white windbreakerShe lives behind a boxA photo hangs thereThe people in the photo are inside the boxEach morning, a red diaper rises from a phallusSo she can’t see the people’s faces on the tombstonesThis friend of mine,She says she’s a treasureWhy did Daddy leave her here?He says he’ll come backHe says he’s waitingThe blue ocean is quiet and distantShe survives on the fresh blood of the pastWaiting’s only brought a makeup-wearing houndA house sits to the westThe spring brings applauseThe shameless adults disgust herA house sits to the eastThe autumn brings laughterThe ignorant children disgust her, tooShe’s in the corner, forgotten by the richHer clothes dirtied by the flowing colors of timeI have a friendSometimes I go see herShe never sees the color of the skyThis photo under the skyLike the paper I useI love it, I hate it, I feel sorry for itSpectacular two-faced world uniting all living thingsAnother dizzy spell and the blood on the ground will disappearThe world is changingMy fucking ideals still can’t come trueThe world is changingMy fucking ideals still can’t come trueMy ideals are changingThis fucking world still can’t come trueFor the 30 year anniversary of Tiananmen, the Hong Kong post-rock band Tat Ming Pair 達明一派 paid his own tribute to the democratic movement with the beautiful song "Criminal Memory" (回憶有罪) which lashes out at Chinese censorship in this sumptuous music video. The video uses iconic photos of the 1989 crackdown, and finishes with an evocation of the Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution of 2014. Tat Ming Pair knows firsthand the mechanism of official censorship, since their songs were recently censored by Apple in its Chinese Apple Store, alongside other important figures of Cantopop music like Jackie Cheung.https://youtu.be/kZaE6jAwOM4Tat Ming Pair, "回憶有罪": https://youtu.be/kZaE6jAwOM4 舊日或問天 怎允許摧毀信念  浩蕩像為了 被懷念  現在別問他 可有膽公開紀念  被現實騎劫 怎怨天  如燭光都有罪 將暗黑多幾十年  如傷疤都有靈 未變臉  回憶即使有罪 真相怎麼敢無言  歷史假使有人 定被發現 現在若問他 可悔當天走太前  道路腐壞了 不敢涉險  現在若問我 怎會這麼想紀念 烈焰幻滅過 總有煙 如燭光都有罪 將暗黑多幾十年 如傷疤都有靈 未變臉 回憶即使有罪 真相怎麼敢無言 歷史假使有人 定被發現 皇天不必答辯 只怕蒼生肯忘言 后土不知冷熱 生滅無念 歷史只懂向前 輾轉反側三十年 如今滄桑少年 莫問蒼天 若舉傘 為誰命運祭奠 廣場上 這麼多告別 莫須有 是誰造就壯烈 願廣場上 聲音不會滅 Anthony Wong, the singer of Tat Ming Pair, sang "回憶有罪" during the Hong Kong vigil on June 4th, 2019 at Victoria Park, in front of 180.000 people.Hong Kong singer Anthony Wong performs his new song - "Is it a Crime" - written on the eve of the 30th anniversary of June 4."I've never stood on this stage before... I'm not usually the kind of person that shout slogans," Wong said. pic.twitter.com/DZmzaZlkiE— Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) June 4, 2019Anthony Wong singing "回憶有罪" during the 2019 Tiananmen vigil. Hong Kong Free Press.Talking about Jacky Cheung (张学友), his famous song, written by Cantopop Godfather James Wong, "The Path of Man" (人间道), was removed from streaming apps in China. The song, featured in the Hong Kong movie A Chinese Ghost Story II, released in 1990, refers directly to the June 4th massacre, according to the late lyricist: “The youth are angry, heaven and earth are weeping… How did our land become a sea of blood? How did the path home become a path of no return?”.https://youtu.be/yzF_O1kT3z8Jacky Cheung, "The Path of Man": https://youtu.be/yzF_O1kT3z8Li Zhi and Tat Ming Pair were not the first to mention the 1989 student movement in their songs. Singers, mostly rockers, were mobilized in favor of the students, and often sang during the protests. It’s now a cliché to remind that Cui Jian’s song “一无所有” (“Nothing to my Name”) was the anthem of the students during the 1989 democratic movement. Cui Jian and He Yong performed in Tiananmen Square in 1989, as shown in this audio record of Cui Jian's concert on May 20th 1989 in Tiananmen:Apart from Cui Jian and He Yong, other rockers, from China or Taiwan, participated in the 1989 democratic movement. Hou Dejian 侯德健, a popular Taiwanese singer, was with the students up until the end, negotiating alongside Liu Xiaobo with the  authorities the retreat of the students from the square. In this video taken in Hong Kong during a demonstration in favor of the Chinese students on May 27, 1989, Hou Dejian sang his hit-song  “Heir of the Dragon” (“龙的传人”), written in 1978, which he modified after  1989 –  he changed the lyrics “black eyes, black hair, yellow skin” after meeting the Uyghur student leader Wuer Kaixi, since being  Chinese does not mean to be ethnically “Han”. Unfortunately for his symbolic posterity, Hou Dejian recently composed a song praising Xi Jinping's "Chinese Dream". As Chateaubriand (and de Gaulle) would say, "old age is a shipwreck". https://youtu.be/-btV6XWtFr8Hou Dejian in Hong Kong in 1989: https://youtu.be/-btV6XWtFr8During this demonstration in support of the Chinese student movement in Hong Kong, the very popular Taiwanese singer  Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng 邓丽君) sang the famous song "My Home is in this Mountain" (家在山那边). At this time, Teresa Teng was a rock star in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Asia in general, to the extent that there was a popular saying in China up until the 1990s stating that  “Old Deng [Xiaoping] rules by day, little Deng [Lijun] rules by night”:https://youtu.be/WONKqNMw6FMDeng Lijun in Hong Kong in 1989: https://youtu.be/WONKqNMw6FMThe crackdown on the student movement came also with an increased control of popular music. For instance, Cui Jian was forbidden from performing in Beijing until 2007. However, 1990s musical production was influenced by the crackdown, in the music itself or through the despair in the lyrics. In Cui  Jian’s “The Last Bullet” (“最后一枪”) we think of bullets being shot when we hear the drums, and see the distress of the singer in the video-clip  directed by the (then) independent director Zhang Yuan 张元:https://youtu.be/NROdt4nhq8ECui Jian, "最后一枪": https://youtu.be/NROdt4nhq8EHe Yong’s “Garbage Dump” (“垃圾场”) is perhaps the song that reflects  the most accurately the post-Tiananmen state of mind. The proto-punk  ask the audience if “there is still hope” (“有没有希望”) in a society where "humans eat conscience and shit ideology":https://youtu.be/93xobgXBZKwHe Yong, “垃圾场”: https://youtu.be/93xobgXBZKwWhat about the new generation of musicians who didn’t experienced the  1989 crackdown? Against all odds, since the late 1990s, punks and  rockers made reference to the democratic movement and its crackdown –  more or less clearly. The Wuhanese punk band SMZB is perhaps the most  straightforward band when they talk about 1989. In its song “Mother  TAM”, SMZB talks about the Tiananmen Mothers, an association led by Ding Zilin, which tries to establish what happened during the June 4th crackdown:https://youtu.be/KoZ0O01l7GgSMZB, "Mother TAM": https://youtu.be/KoZ0O01l7GgWe can even say that the entire work of SMZB is dedicated to the  history of the oppressed in contemporary China, from Lin Zhao to the petitioners, and more specifically to the memory of the 1989 students. We could list a lot of other songs, as  “China Dream”, but the most obvious reference to Tiananmen is the  cover of SMZB album “A Letter From China” which literally piss on  censorship:Other singers made reference to Tiananmen, like Muma (木马), from  Changsha, in his poetic and melancholic song “舞步” (“Dance Step”) on “the  death of a teacher in spring”. Here Muma is performing the song in the  46 Livehouse in Changsha (the name of the bar itself is a reference to  June 4th), in the documentary “The Sound and the City” (“渔湾市”). "What comes next, it's your decision":https://youtu.be/ZO-f1vsnlS8?t=4914Muma singing "舞步": https://youtu.be/ZO-f1vsnlS8?t=4914The band SUBS in their 2006 album “Down” sing “Brother”, a song  talking about the brother of a friend who died and whose memory is being  forgotten: "In 1989/I was ten/My friend was eleven/His brother disappeared/A film is shown every ten years/We have already grown to manhood now/He has forgotten…his brother".Down by SUBSThe post-punk band P.K.14 from Nanjing sang the most beautiful tribute to the  students in “这辆红色的列车” (“This Red Train”). A red train carrying the blood  of the youth (“年轻的血”):https://youtu.be/MtzEy__aC1kPK14, “这辆红色的列车”: https://youtu.be/MtzEy__aC1kAnother poetic reference to Tiananmen can be heard in the last album of the post-punk band from Wuhan, AV Okubo (AV 大久保) produced by Andy Gill from Gang of Four (the English punk band, not the 四人帮). The iconic image of the tank is mobilized in "Red Tank" (红坦克), while the lyrics - again - revolves around youth and crushed hopes.Dynasty by AV OkuboBurning flames of the young man's heartShines the fiery-red upon the faceFeverish tears in the eyesFilled with hubris of the divineThe confused and miserable ImaginationIs shading inexorable and soundlesslyinto nowhereFearless and ignorant mindsFocus on the blurred imageVow with a shy blushlike the vision fromthe crutch, rising a bright moonAmbition never fluctuatesdashed into the deep shadow-land Fireflies fly overnets of neuronsflitteringfinding no waysun in the braindeparts from his pathand please take the count-downon its rapid expandingexplode your brain!let the flakes flutter onRemembering  June 4th means also fighting for the truth, as Demerit sings in “Voice  of the People”. When the government and the media try to hide the truth, “you need to find the truth, because there’s fear inside this place”:https://youtu.be/oDwxjNA8KvoMemory of the 1989 movement still exists in the musical underground,  where it can be expressed through songs and images. Talking about images, here are some covers of the rock magazine “So Rock!” (“我爱摇滚乐”), which makes a reference to the Tiananmen crackdown in every June issue: The title of this blog post ("如此生活三十年直到大廈崩塌") is a reference to the song by the post-punk band from Shijiazhuang, Omnipotent Youth Society 万能青年旅店, "Kill the One from Shijiazhuang" ("杀死那个石家庄人") - which literally means "living like that for 30 years, up until the building collapses". The song, published in their first - and until now only - album in 2010, is not dedicated to the democratic movement, but offers a poetic and nihilistic reflection on China after years of economic reforms. As I rencently discovered, another song by Omnipotent Youth Society, "在这颗行星所有的酒馆" (In all the tavern of the earth) is a direct reference to the Tiananmen crackdown - you have to replace "酒馆" (tavern) by "广场" (square). It also talks about the spirit of the youth crushed by a tank. As you may expect, the song was recently banned in China. In any case, "Kill the One from Shijiazhuang" ("杀死那个石家庄人") takes another meaning the year of the 30 years anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown...[playlist ids="1383"]万能青年旅店"杀死那个石家庄人" &#160;傍晚6点下班换掉药厂的衣裳妻子在熬粥我去喝几瓶啤酒如此生活30年直到大厦崩塌 云层深处的黑暗啊淹没心底的景观 在八角柜台疯狂的人民商场用一张假钞买一把假枪保卫她的生活直到大厦崩塌夜幕覆盖华北平原忧伤浸透她的脸  河北师大附中 乒乓少年背向我沉默的注视无法离开的教室生活在经验里直到大厦崩塌一万匹脱缰的马在他脑海中奔跑 如此生活30年 直到大厦崩塌 云层深处的黑暗啊 淹没心底的景观 Omnipotent Youth Society"Kill the One from Shijiazhuang"Finishing work at 6 in the eveningTaking off the uniform from the pharmaceutical factoryHis wife is making porridgeI go and drink a few bottles of bierLiving like that for 30 yearsUntil the building collapsesThe thick obscurity of the cloudsIs drowning the the view in my heartOn the octagonal counterThe craziness of the People's marketUsing counterfeit moneyTo buy a fake pistolProtecting her own lifeUntil the building collapsesDarkness covered the Hubei's plainHer face is soaked with sadnessIn Heibei Normal Middle SchoolThe kids playing ping-pong facing away from meI silently observeUnable from leaving the classroomLiving in these past experiencesUntil the building collapses10.000 free horsesAre running in his headLiving like that for 30 years Until the building collapses The thick obscurity of the clouds Is drowning the the view in my heart