2026 Tiananmen Square Massacre Candlelight Vigil

Delivered on June 4, 2026 in Washington, DC 

Tonight, we gather in mourning and memory.

Tonight, we honor those who once dreamed of a free and democratic China, idealistic youth who were murdered for demanding democracy and denouncing totalitarian tyranny.

Tonight, this act of remembrance defies the Communist Party of China.

We are taking a stand to preserve memory and fight against historical amnesia, defying the narrative the Chinese Communist Party seeks to impose.

The preservation of memory is what historians like Yang Jisheng and Rowena Xiaoqing He do in their books, which give a true account and voice to those who perished during atrocities like the Great Leap Forward and the Tiananmen Massacre.

Indeed, Rowena He’s voice is especially poignant on this night of the Tiananmen martyrs, for preserving those Tiananmen voices has been her lifework, and, indeed, she spoke very eloquently at last year’s gathering at this very place.

So we are thankful for her voice, and those of emerging leaders like Frances Hui, who is being honored tonight for her advocacy on behalf of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was once a place where the greatest of candlelight vigils were held, in Victoria Park, yet those candles have all been extinguished.

In Hong Kong, democracy has disappeared, and voices of conscience like that of the great Jimmy Lai are muffled at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

That is why it is so important that we keep the flame alive, and remember this night of all nights.

For the CCP seeks to erase history.

Ironically, the Communist Party calls what we are doing “historical nihilism,” Lìshǐ Xūwú Zhǔyì, which is sometimes translated as “historical revisionism.”

It levels this accusation against us in a document that I would encourage everyone to familiarize themselves with, the Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere, known colloquially as Document Number 9. It circulated at the highest levels of the Party in 2012 and 2013, and its existence is roughly coterminous with the rise of Xi Jinping to power.

What they call “historical nihilism” is preserving any memory that contradicts the ideologically-infused narrative of the Chinese Communist Party.

But what we are doing is not “nihilism” or “revisionism.” Rather it is truth-telling.

This is also one reason why winning the Artificial Intelligence race is so critical, because whomever controls AI controls narratives about history that will shape the minds of the next generation. As George Orwell said, "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

This is why the candles in Victoria Park were snuffed out.

This also raises the uncomfortable question of why there are not more candlelight vigils, especially on university campuses, commemorating June 4.

Is it in part because of the massive amounts of money that flow into major American universities from Chinese actors with State ties?

There is a cognitive battlefield, where what will be learned by the next generation is in contention. The Communist Party seeks to shape history narratives, and erase truth, which is why they target universities.

This is why it was so important that Hoover Institution at Stanford University stood up when the CCP sought control over truth-telling diaries by Li Rui, one of Mao Tse-tung’s secretaries, and waged lawfare against Stanford. Those diaries are especially relevant to us gathered here tonight, because they also give us truthful insight from an intellectually-honest Party insider, into what happened at Tiananmen in 1989.

This is why it is so important that Judge Jon Tigar, from the federal court for the Northern District of California, ruled in favor of Stanford, as he understood that a default judgment obtained in a Chinese court is an outcome dictated by the needs of the Chinese Communist Party, and that there is no independent judiciary in Communist China.

Kudos also to Tom Kellogg, from Georgetown Law Center just around the corner from where we stand, who gave expert testimony to aid the court, noting why the CCP would want to exercise control over this case and dictate the outcome: “The CCP tightly controls information in China to support its version of history and the ideas it wants to promote. The Li Materials present a version of history that is different from the approved party narrative, and the CCP wants to prevent the public from being exposed to that version of history.”

Exactly.

And that is why tonight’s witness is so important.

May the candles you bear, may the torch borne by the Goddess of Democracy behind us, never burn out, but be held high, until one day, tyrants fall and the Chinese people can enjoy the blessings of Liberty.

Thank you.