The image of a Cathay Pacific 747 on final approach towards Kai Tak Airport, making a sweeping turn over Checkerboard Hill, mere feet above the sprawling concrete apartments and neon signs of Kowloon, forever remains ingrained in the consciousness of Hongkongers as a symbol of their city. Today, people can no longer witness this sight […]
Tag: Hong Kong protests
A New Era of Hong Kong
“Two-thousand and eighty-five votes in favor, zero against, and one abstention. [The bill is] passed!” On March 11, 2021, nearly 3,000 Chinese lawmakers passed the “decision on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” at the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC). The NPC, according to China’s Constitution, […]
Resistance Beyond Borders: HK19 Meets Myanmar’s Anti-Coup Movement
The recent Myanmar Coup is hardly unprecedented. Myanmar was governed by a military dictatorship from 1962 to 2011, leaving the country under the iron fist of the Tatmadaw, the Burmese Military. The strength of the Tatmadaw was enshrined by the 2008 Constitution, which guarantees one third of parliamentary seats to the military, reserves leadership of […]
Contagion and Conflict: Hong Kong’s Protests During Epidemic
A Hong Kong resident died on February 5 after contracting the coronavirus, making him the second victim to succumb to the epidemic outside of mainland China. Though Hong Kong has remained relatively unimpacted by the outbreak, coronavirus’s effects have far-reaching implications for politics in the territory. In the past month, the coronavirus from Wuhan (recently […]
The Constitutional Dimension of “One Country, Two Systems:” The Interpretation of the Basic Law by Beijing
(This piece is inspired by a podcast episode produced by UPenn Center for the Study of Contemporary China, where Prof. Johannes Chan from HKU Faculty of Law discusses the rule of law in Hong Kong.) China’s resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong is a historical political experiment, and one challenge is to […]
Political Reform and Dialogue: Hong Kong Government’s Only Way Out of Its Legitimacy Crisis
The civil unrest that burst on June 9, when over one million people took to the streets, has been scourging Hong Kong for four months, and there is no indication that the strife is likely to subside within the foreseeable future. The ongoing turbulence is Hong Kong’s people’s direct response to a controversial fugitive bill, […]
Why the CCP’s Days are Numbered
Barricades in the streets. Chaos everywhere. A few officials frantically working to stall the impending storm. No, this isn’t the rebel base under attack in The Empire Strikes Back. This is Hong Kong, 2016. The Empire is the Chinese Communist Party, and its archenemy is time. In 2014, the Chinese Communist Party proposed that Hong […]
Doomed to Fail: why Hong Kong’s street protests hurt more than they help
Fires, tension, warning shots fired into the night: the 2016 “fishball riot” is the latest in a long line of destructive clashes between democratic activists and the Hong Kong police. Unfortunately, the violence is sending Hong Kong down a path democracy can’t follow. 2016 marks the 19th year Hong Kong has been part of China; […]
Mr. Xi Jinping, Tear Down This (Fire)Wall
In Beijing, signs throughout the city read: “Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Virtue.” Like most political slogans, this particular one relies heavily on wishful thinking and an element of deception. China ranks 22 out of 50 OECD economies in innovation, a surprisingly low number given the prowess of the Chinese economy. Innovation itself is synonymous with taking […]