This year, fewer Hong Kong residents called 1989’s Tiananmen killings the “wrong decision.”

“That’s another way of saying they aren’t basing their opinions solely on what happened 19 years ago. When people generally think better of the Communist Party, as during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics and just after the government has done a good job of disaster recovery after a deadly earthquake, then they don’t think so negatively about a horrible incident nearly 20 years ago. In 2003, when tempers were running high because a killer disease—SARS—spread amid government secrecy and Hong Kong was on the verge of enacting a harsh anti-subversion law at Beijing’s urging, then people were less willing to overlook old errors. That year 62% felt Beijing was in the wrong, which climbed again to 67% in 2004 before beginning a decline to today’s level.”