Security was tight in Hong Kong and activists faced pressure from police on the 36th anniversary of China's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, which Taiwan and the United States said must never be forgotten.

For most Chinese, the 36th anniversary of a bloody crackdown that ended pro-democracy protests in China has passed like any other weekday. And that’s just how the ruling Communist Party wants it. Security

University students occupied this symbolically important site in the spring of 1989. Their calls for freedoms divided the party leadership. In retrospect, the decision to send in the troops marked a decisive turning point in the evolution of modern China, keeping the party firmly in control as it loosened economic restrictions.