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49-522: Operation Yellowbird ( Chinese : 黃雀行動 ) or Operation Siskin was a British Hong Kong –based operation to help the Chinese dissidents who participated in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 to escape arrest by the Chinese government by facilitating their departure overseas via Hong Kong. Western intelligence agencies such as Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS a.k.a. MI6) and

98-588: A retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to

147-551: A boat crash. On 13 October 1989, another two of his men were arrested after an attempt to rescue intellectuals Chen Ziming and Wang Juntao was revealed to be a sting operation. They had received false information about the two wanted intellectuals and were apprehended by Chinese police officers when they came to identify the men. Chan travelled to Beijing in 1990 and secured the release of his two operatives in exchange for terminating his involvement with any additional fugitives. Chan himself managed to 'negotiate' himself out of trouble with

196-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from

245-612: A lot of influence in Macau and got involved personally to save time but he remained low-key and never claimed his share of glory." Within China, considerable financial backing for the operation came from a variety of sources, such as business personalities and ordinary citizens who sympathized with the activists. Diplomats in Hong Kong were also able to help by obtaining visas for the escapees' departures to various countries. Funds were used for

294-538: A photograph allowed either parties to recognize and trust the other. False documents and disguises were also used once the individuals were verified, with some teams enlisting make-up artists for this purpose. After locating the dissidents, groups had to quickly facilitate their transportation to Hong Kong. The cooperation of the triads gave the Alliance access to existing smuggling networks and extensive contacts. The collaborating groups agreed to provide free assistance for

343-812: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;

392-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to

441-570: The Kensiu language . Lo Hoi-sing Lo was born in 1949 to Lo Fu  [ zh ] ( 羅孚 ), a communist Chinese editor of a Hong Kong newspaper. He was raised and educated in Hong Kong and later continued his studies in the city of Guangzhou , where he experienced the Cultural Revolution during the 1960s. He later returned to Hong Kong and began working for a communist newspaper, like his father. Lo ended his ties with

490-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝   'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for

539-569: The Alliance. However, Chan, referred to by Szeto as only a logistician commanders, allegedly compromised the operation by divulging escape routes to mainland officials after his brother was arrested, and was sacked by Szeto. British authorities allowed the operation to continue, disregarding how dissidents entered the colony so long as they left to another country quickly and quietly. Diplomats and officials worked at Kai Tak airport to secure departures that avoided usual bureaucratic channels, thus minimizing scrutiny from immigration officials and press for

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588-579: The Beijing protest crackdown, this group drew up an initial list of 40 dissidents they believed could form the nucleus of "a Chinese democracy movement in exile" , with the help of the western intelligence agencies, and Asia's mafia, the Triads . According to the posthumously published memoirs of veteran Hong Kong political figure and leader of the Alliance, Szeto Wah , Yellowbird was financed mainly by Hong Kong businessmen and celebrities who sympathised with

637-597: The Chinese authorities, but later released after the intervention of the Hong Kong government. The operation obtained its name from the Chinese expression "The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the yellow bird behind" ( 螳螂捕蟬，黃雀在後 ). Reverend Chu Yiu-Ming , a core member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China during 1989, also asserted that the name originated from

686-668: The Chinese police and coast guards to ensure successful trips, while other customs and immigration officials were occasionally bribed to turn a blind eye. According to The Washington Post , the operation had contacts within "government departments, local public security bureaus, border troops, the coast guards, [and] even radar operators". Four main routes were used to get dissidents from Guangdong to Hong Kong: Shekou to Tuen Mun's Castle Peak Power Station , Huidong to Chai Wan , Shanwei to Wong Chuk Hang and Nan’ao to Sai Kung . A fifth passage, Chung Ying Street in Sha Tau Kok ,

735-657: The Communist Party when his father was arrested by the Chinese government. He instead began working in Beijing as the chief representative for the Trade Development Council of Hong Kong, but he resigned the post in early 1989 after seeking business opportunities in trade between Hong Kong and the PRC. Lo was married to children's author Chow Mat-mat  [ zh ] (Zhou Mimi), the daughter of

784-535: The Haitian folk song "Yellow Bird". In an interview with South China Morning Post , he explained that the group "wanted the activists to fly freely in the sky, just like the yellow birds". Weeks prior to the violent escalation of the protests, the CIA maintained a network of informants among the student protesters as well as within Chinese intelligence services, which it used to monitor the situation. The CIA actively aided

833-484: The PRC in 1991, having convinced certain official interlocutors that his intentions were patriotic. However, Chan was seriously injured after being attacked by unknown assailants in Hong Kong in 1996. Three Hong Kong–based activists associated with the Operation were arrested by Chinese authorities on the mainland, but later released after intervention by Hong Kong's government. In 2002, Hong Kong democrat Leung Wah, who

882-555: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China

931-519: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were involved in the operation. Other contributors included politicians, celebrities, business people and triad members from Hong Kong—forming the "unlikely" alliance which sustained the operation for most of its duration. The operation began in late June 1989, following the issuing of an order by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on 13 June 1989 to apprehend

980-729: The United States as well as to France, which was said to be the "most accommodating", according to Yellow Bird organizers. During the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution , on Bastille Day (14 July 1989), several Chinese students exfiltrated by Operation Yellowbird watched the parade on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées (Paris), from the official seats of the People's Republic of China, since Chinese officials did not show up. Chinese students in France were at

1029-469: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,

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1078-449: The costs of smuggling individuals directly out of mainland China, as well as for financial assistance for other dissidents who made it to Hong Kong by themselves. Rescue money was mainly raised privately by the Operation, for fear of alerting British authorities at the time who were being careful before Hong Kong's transfer to China in 1997 . There were worries about possible repercussions from Beijing if any knowledge of assistance given to

1127-484: The dissidents were revealed. Nonetheless, Yellow Bird managed to gather funds of around US$ 2,000,000 from the business community in its early beginnings. Closely following the aftermath of the protests, 7 of the 21 most wanted students escaped China through the operation's assistance; although some had no knowledge of its existence at the time. These seven individuals were Wu’er Kaixi , Chai Ling , Feng Congde , Li Lu , Liang Qingtun, Wang Chaohua and Zhang Boli , while

1176-531: The extractions. However, former US Ambassador to China, James Lilley, said Americans were involved "almost exclusively in legal exfiltrations". There was cooperation from foreign embassies for the asylum-seekers. The CIA supplied materiel in the form of sophisticated equipment and other means of escape and subterfuge, and even weapons. Chan Tat-Ching, or Brother Six, also helped with the operation as he had access to different speedboats and smugglers who specialized in moving goods between mainland China and Hong Kong. He

1225-399: The fugitives. In an interview with Bloomberg , Alistair Asprey , former Secretary for Security in Hong Kong, said that officials met with staff of foreign consulates on different occasions to ask about accepting dissidents. Chu Yiu-ming, a core member of the Alliance, also sent letters to foreign governments requesting their approval of asylum applications. Some escapees were able to flee to

1274-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from

1323-471: The leaders of the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation who were on the run. The operation continued until 1997. Yellowbird successfully helped more than 400 dissidents, who were smuggled through Hong Kong, and then onwards to Western countries. Notable escapees include Wu'erkaixi , Chai Ling , Li Lu , Feng Congde , Chen Yizi, and Su Xiaokang . Three Hong Kong–based activists were arrested by

1372-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as

1421-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In

1470-983: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often

1519-452: The middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is

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1568-524: The months before the colony's return. Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until

1617-677: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as

1666-564: The operation but demanded that their associates on either side of the border be paid. Although the triads made certain connections possible, most of the smugglers involved in the rescue operations were not triad members themselves. Escapees generally reached Guangdong , through the help of sympathizers and escape teams who hid them in houses, factories and warehouses, where they were then taken to Hong Kong. The individuals were whisked away on speedboats late at night or stowed as ship cargo to avoid being caught. Smugglers relied on their contacts within

1715-500: The operation were also rescued, some of whom carried weapons when they arrived in Hong Kong. Escape teams from Hong Kong were sent into China with the cover of being specially formed trading companies. The rescue missions began with locating specific dissidents from the information and tips received by the Alliance about their whereabouts. Great care was taken to ensure the identities of the fugitives: code phrases or matching halves of

1764-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as

1813-429: The plight of the activists, but extensive assistance also came from the colonial government. The organizers of the operation spent upwards of HK$ 600,000 (US$ 64,000) to rescue each activist and to cover other expenses to get them abroad. Amounts spent on the rescue would vary between HK$ 50,000 and $ 500,000 depending on the specific logistics taking account of the political risks, and number of attempts. More than HK$ 600,000

1862-532: The remaining fourteen on the list had either turned themselves in or were subsequently captured. In its entirety, Yellowbird successfully helped more than 400 dissidents, who were smuggled through Hong Kong, and then onwards to Western countries. Some other escapees include Chen Yizi and Yan Jiaqi , senior government advisers to Zhao Ziyang at the time, along with the wanted intellectual, Su Xiaokang . In addition to pro-democracy activists, defected People's Liberation Army soldiers and police staff who provided aid to

1911-421: The start of the procession, surrounding a giant drum, their foreheads girded with white mourning cloth, bicycles in hand. Yellow Bird encountered several complications throughout its duration. Different circumstances forced Chan Tat-Ching to withdraw from the operation, just after he had facilitated the retrieval of a total of 133 individuals. In an early instance, two of his men and an escaping student perished in

1960-607: The student activists in forming their movement, providing them various equipment including typewriters and fax machines according to a U.S. official. Days after the Chinese government suppressed the demonstrations, Beijing issued a wanted list of ringleaders of the protests . In response, activists in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, set up Operation Yellowbird in mid-June 1989 to help wanted activists escape from China. According to The Washington Post , after

2009-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with

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2058-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write

2107-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being

2156-587: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c.  200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c.  the 5th century . Although

2205-547: Was also an option for escapees since one side belonged to Hong Kong and the other to mainland China. Once arriving in Hong Kong, dissidents would be hidden in different safe houses while preparations for their final departures were being made. Shelters such as Nai Chung camp in Sai Kung housed up to 30 activists at a time during its peak. Newsweek maintains that these rescue squads made incursions into Chinese territory, while US and British intelligence operatives were involved in

2254-450: Was also involved in the operation, died in mysterious circumstances in neighbouring Shenzhen. Although it was never proven one way or another, Leung's associates believe that he died at the hands of PRC security agents. The operation proceeded until 1997, when Hong Kong's sovereignty was transferred to China. Some escapees had remained in the city for years, awaiting their withdrawal, which came when diplomatic efforts were frantically made in

2303-449: Was described as a mastermind of the operation. Chan and his partners created an 18-page plan for the dissidents' escape, encompassing various details such as routes, secret signals and contact points. His one rule for working with Yellow Bird was that under no circumstance should he or his associates be known to the individuals they were rescuing. Szeto's memoirs detail how the operation was highly confidential, and known to only six members of

2352-442: Was financed by Hong Kong businessmen, and a mobster, according to Newsweek ; activists had initially collected $ 260,000 in donations from businessmen to fund the operation. One such businessman is Lo Hoi-sing , who was arrested during the operation. Other benefactors included chanteuse Anita Mui and filmmaker Alan Tang . According to Szeto, both lent significant financial and material support to help activists. Szeto said, "Tang had

2401-399: Was spent and three attempts made before Wu'erkaixi managed to escape. In addition, triad members who managed the smuggling routes inside China requested payments of about US$ 25,000 for every attempt, regardless of its success or failure. Assistance from boat owners, who occasionally had triad connections, cost around HK$ 200,000 for the transportation of four to five passengers. The operation

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