A guilty verdict in a trial involving actor Gregory Wong gets people thinking that so much, if not everything, is wrong!

  

Still image of Gregory Wong at Admiralty from 

 Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down

 

This has been one of the weeks where so much has happened (including announcements that make people realize that the dreaded Article 23 may be pushed through faster than many of us had hoped) that I lost track of the days and thought for a time yesterday that today was going to be Friday, only to realize after a while that today's still just Thursday.  But let me focus today's blog post on just one subject: today's judgement by Magistrate Li Chi-ho at the end of a 34 trial in which six defendants stood accused of "rioting" on July 1st, 2019.  

 

Firstly, let's note for the record that Magistrate Li found four of the defendants, including actor Gregory Wong, guilty as charged.   We'll get back to Gregory Wong shortly but here's focusing now on the two defendants found not guilty of rioting: Wong Ka-ho, who was then a a reporter with a student publication at the City University of Hong Kong; and Ma Kai-chung, who then was a reporter with Passion Times.  Sadly, they did not get off scott free.  Specifically, Magistrate Li found the duo guilty of  "entering or staying in the precincts of the [Legislative Council] chamber" that a number of pro-democracy protestors had illegally stormed that day.

 

A reminder in a Hong Kong Free Press article about today's judgement of that event that was labelled "Taking Back the Legislature" (the title of a 2020 documentary film that I managed to view but which is no longer allowed to be screened in public in Hong Kong): "That night, protesters occupied the government building, smashing windows and spray-painting protest slogans on the walls. Some left by around 11 pm, according to the case details.  Police officers did not stop the storming. By the time officers entered the building, all protesters had left, according to a police watchdog report" (my emphasis).

 

As early as the night of July 1st, 2019, itself, people were pondering the following:"Seems possible, even probable, that the police and authorities in Hong Kong purposely retreated to create the circumstances and images that would justify a stronger backlash. Surely they had the means and the force to prevent the legislature being stormed... if they wanted to."  (This from France 24 journalist, James Creedon.)  

 

A little over a week later, Stephen Vines's July 9th, 2019, Hong Kong Free Press piece was headlined: Was Hong Kong's protestors' occupation of the legislature a dangerous trap laid by the police?" and in it, he noted that Fernando Cheung -- one of the many pro-democracy legislators (including the jailed  since February 28th, 2021, likes of Claudia Mo and Lam Cheuk-ting) who had tried in vain to stop protestors from breaking into the Legislative Council building -- had suggested precisely that.  And today's judgement looks to have proven Fernando Cheung, now no longer in Hong Kong (and, instead, one of the many Hongkongers who have emigrated in recent years to Canada) right.

 

Returning to Gregory Wong: he had pleaded not guilty and "told the court he entered the legislative council solely to deliver two chargers to reporters who were covering the break-in by protesters.  According to video evidence played by the prosecution, Wong left the chamber immediately after delivering the chargers to a reporter in a yellow vest."  And yet he was found guilty.  

The case magistrate, according to a Reuters report, "said Wong could have met the reporter outside the Legislative Council, so as to not "take risk to get in, and serve the purpose of helping others"."  According to an Associated Press (AP) report, magistrate Li also noted that Wong "had hugged a protester before leaving the chamber as an expression of support."  From this, magistrate Li surmised that Wong's “intention of entering the legislature is obvious, it is to join this riot"!

As a friend was moved to state upon hearing this: Jesus wept!  For as the Hong Kong netizen who goes by John dEFROG on Twitter pointed out: "This has been a common theme among all the rioting convictions: if you were on the scene and/or treated protesters like human beings and not one-dimensional villains, or you weren't actively trying to stop them, you're guilty of whatever they were doing."  And to follow up: "I've said it before, but I still believe this is the legal equivalent of being convicted of bank robbery because you were in or standing next to the bank while it was being robbed."

 

Also note what happened to another of the defendants, as detailed in the AP piece: Lam Kam-kwan "was convicted of rioting and a separate charge of criminal damage Thursday, had been detained in mainland China in August 2019 and had been forced to write a repentance letter. Lam said some Hong Kong police officers later met him and told him that if he would not admit his wrongdoing, he then could not return to the city."  Does that sound like a forced confession to you?  Because that's what it sounds like to me!

 

For the record: this was a jury-less trial.  I can imagine a trial by jury producing different verdicts.  So, yeah, it can feel when reading judgements like today's that, to quote a lawyer in a legal drama that did involve a jury trial -- and which I described in my review of it as representing "wishful thinking or plain fantasy on the part of its makers.  Or, alternatively, a reminder of how justice should be served" -- like "Everything is wrong", sadly enough! :(

Leaving on a Jet Plane: Final Images of Hong Kong by Photographers Who Have Emigrated Recently (despite clearly f**king loving Hong Kong) (Photo-essay)

Two years ago today, the final issue of Apple Daily came out.  Two years on, a number of its senior editors and executives are behind bars -- including its publisher, Jimmy Lai.  And while a good number of its former staffers are not behind bars, quite a few have left the media industry (and become such as taxi drivers) and still others have left Hong Kong.

Speaking of which: there's an exhibition currently on at Lumenvisum -- but which is scheduled to end tomorrow -- entitled Leaving on a Jet Plane: Final Images of Hong Kong by Photographers Who Have Emigrated Recently featuring work by at least one former Apple Daily photographer.  (My apologies for not having blogged about it earlier but I found out about it -- by way of an article about it by the Hong Kong Free Press -- only recently myself!)  

 

When reading about the exhibition, I was shocked to find that: it features works by not, say, two or five or 10 or even 20 but 31 -- yes, thirty-one! -- photographers who have left Hong Kong in recent years.  Also, that a number of them are names I recognise -- by way of such as photography credits in newspapers.  Seeing their work, it's clear that they are talented and really f**king love Hong Kong; so it is a loss and tells you quite a bit of the state of Hong Kong that they have decided to be part of the exodus from a place whose views they have shared via this exhibition -- views which can tear at one's heart...

 

I returned to the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (where

I had gone to check out another photo exhibition last year)

to view this particular photography show

 

View of the exhibition, with Tse Ming-chong's

On the Road in the foreground

 

Samson Cheung's series of photographs is entitled Home

 and documents what would have been an ordinary evening

at home in Hong Kong for his family (who now reside in Canada)

Shan Kwok's Until we meet again are photos of the 

backs of her parents who, unlike her, 

have remained in Hong Kong

 

Jimmy Wong's That Night in June

was taken at Admiralty on June 16th, 2019

 

Chan Kai-chun (aka MC)'s Everything is as Usual

documents students revisiting a site of trauma

-- specifically, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

 

Look carefully and you can see the characters "ga yau" and 

"Hong Kong" etched on the brick pavement in Joe Lau's Origin

 

Winson Wong's work is untitled but, in the exhibition program, he -- 

who's moved to Taiwan -- stated for it that "We came from HONG KONG"

(and, yes, I choked up upon seeing those words and photo :S)

The latest works by VA Wong Sir and Ah To say so much about the situation in Hong Kong, and "the Far East"

Remember VA Wong Sir and Ah To?  The two talented political cartoonists may have left Hong Kong but they are keeping their eye on what's happening in the city they love and continuing producing works that are say so much about the situation in this part of the world.  And in recent days, both of them have produced illustrations that I think are very much worth sharing with others.  

 

So without further ado, I present to you this from VA Wong Sir (who now is on Twitter as well as Facebook as well as Patreon) which points out that Hong Kong is not (yet) "back to normal" like the Hong Kong government (including the Hong Kong Tourism Board) would like you to believe due to existing pandemic regulations and restrictions (never mind the national security law):

 

And this from Ah To (who has a Twitter account but appears to be more active on Instagram), produced to "celebrate" the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st of this year, which was inspired by -- and updates -- Tse Tsan-tai's "The Situation in the Far East" of July 1898: 

N.B. To appreciate the details of the illustrations, particularly Ah To's, click on the images to view enlarge versions of them!

A documentary about volcanologists and a drama revolving around a teenaged gymnast at the 2022 Hong Kong International Film Festival (Film reviews)

The very existence of the Hong Kong International Film Festival 

helps to make Hong Kong feel like Asia's World City ;b

 

Fire of Love (Canada-U.S.A., 2022) 

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Reality Bites program

- Sarah Dosa, director 

 

At the Hong Kong International Film Festival four years ago, I viewed Werner Herzog's volcano documentary, Into the Inferno. Among the volcanologists featured in it were a French couple, Katia and Maurice Krafft who, among other things, were famed for often getting closer to active volcanoes than most others along with their amazing photographs and film footage of the subjects that they were not just passionate but actually damn near obsessive about.

 

Fire of Love tells their story, with the help of footage they shot -- much of it impressive and mesmerizing -- and interviews they conducted with a number of other people.  And although the Hong Kong International Film Festival program booklet doesn't inform people about this, Sarah Dosa's documentary notes early on that this also a story about a couple who are no longer with us: specifically, Katia and Maurice Krafft lost their lives while filming eruptions at Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991.

 

But rather than dwell on their deaths and turn them into a cautionary tale about daredevils who diced too frequently with death, Fire of Love celebrates their love for each other along with their shared love for volcanoes.  It also gives added dimension to the appreciation of their individual personalities and work by pointing out their differences: such as Katia being a detail-oriented biochemist who brought the micro into focus whereas Maurice the geologist tended to be more expansive and, between the two of them, the more willing to take risks.

For the most part, I really only have one major complaint about this documentary -- and I realize that in the grand scheme of things, it really shouldn't be that big a deal.  The fact of the matter though is that I really would have preferred that Fire of Love had a different narrator besides Miranda July because hers is the kind of voice that is on the soporific side.  Consequently, despite the screening I attended for this film being in the mid afternoon, I found myself feeling like I was being lulled to sleep on a few occasions during the 93 minute offering!  And I also can't help but wonder if, with a brighter sounding narrator, this documentary effort would have felt less workmanlike and more, well, exciting and inspiring.

 

My rating for the film: 6.0

 

Olga (Switzerland-France-Ukraine, 2021)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Global Vision program

- Elie Grappe, director and co-scriptwriter (with Raphaelle Desplechin)

- Starring:  Anastasiia Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova, Tanya Mikhina

 

The titular heroine of this dramatic offering is a 15 year old gymnast (played by Anastasiia Budiashkina) obsessed with her sport and her ambition to compete in the European Championships.  Despite the best efforts of her journalist mother, Ilona (portrayed by Tanya Mikhina), she's as apolitical as you'd imagine a regular sports obsessed teenager to be.  But, what with their being Ukrainians, politics is not something that they can ignore -- with it introducing into their personal lives and the personal and the political ending up being interwoven and well nigh inseparable.  

 

After an attempt is made on Ilona's life that also puts her beloved daughter's life in danger, Ilona sends Olga away to safety in the form of Switzerland, the home country of her father, who died when she was young (and whose father -- Olga's grandfather -- has not forgiven Ilona for this happening).  There, Olga signs away her Ukrainian citizenship and officially becomes Swiss.  She also joins the Swiss national gymnastics team but, even while she may act like she is above all a gymnast, the ties to Ukraine stay strong -- and not just because of Ilona either.   

 

While Olga is in Switzerland, the Maidan Revolution (about which there's a powerful film, Winter on Fire) breaks out. Ilona gets caught up in it; and so, too, does Olga's best friend and captain of the Ukrainian women's gymnastics team, Sasha (Sabrina Rubtsova).  And while Olga is a fictional work, director Elia Grappe incorporated real life footage of the Maidan Revolution, including ones showing violent attacks by the authorities on the protestors and journalists present there to jam home what Ukranians have been fighting for, and have been doing for a number of years now. 

 

Those scenes which take place in Ukraine are painful to view but no less agonizing are those involving Olga in Switzerland.  The loneliness of the exile and the difficulties trying to incorporate into another society (even one where one can speak at least one of its native languages, albeit not like a native) are shown very clearly and well.  Ditto the yearning to go home and join the fight even while others implore you not to do so.  Also, do not underestimate the excruciating frustration of having one's country's struggles being dismissed by foreigners who think they know what's actually going on and better.  This perhaps particularly so if those foreigners also happen to be older relatives.

 

On a personal note: I wonder if I'd have been less sympathetic and understanding of Olga's outwardly stoic character and behavior before June 2019.  Now I see Olga and recognize that a number of its characters exhibited signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); a condition that many Hong Kongers and Ukranians  sadly know all too well.   

 

My rating for this film: 7.0 

Two European offerings at the Hong Kong International Film Festival which got an 8 (out of 10) rating from moi! :)

At one of the screening venues for this year's 

Hong Kong International Film Festival

 

Everything Went Fine (France, 2021)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Cinephile Paradise progam

- Francois Ozon, dir.

- Starring: Sophie Marceau, Andrew Dussolier, Geraldine Pailhas, Charlotte Rampling

 

I wonder how many films there are out there that have a major character seeking to peacefully end their lives via assisted suicide?  In any case, I've now not viewed not just one but two: Canada's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-winning The Barbarian Invasions (2003) close to two decades back; and now veteran French filmmaker Francois Ozon's Everything Went Fine (2021).  And both of them have been quite different, including in tone (with Ozon's film being darker in mood, though not as depressing as one might expect), but eminently watchable.   

 

Based on an autobiographical novel by the late Emmanuele Bernheim (who wrote the screenplays for Ozon's The Swimming Pool and 5x2), Everything Went Fine stars Sophie Marceau as a character named Emmanuele Bernheim who's a writer and the daughter of a wealthy art collector, André Bernheim (played by Andrew Dussolier) and former sculptor Claude (Charlotte Rampling).  The first time we see her father, he's in a hospital after suffering from a stroke.  Although André initially looks like he could at death's door, he in fact isn't and recovers sufficiently to be able to do such as attend his beloved grandson's clarinet recital and enjoy a luxurious meal at his favorite restaurant.  And yet, he is extremely dissatisfied with his well being and tells Emmanuele that he wants her to help him bring his life to an end.    

 

Tellingly, André does not make this demand of his other, presumably younger -- but not by that many years -- daughter, Pascale (Geraldine Pailhas).  He also doesn't bother to do so with regards his wife Claude, who has been suffering from depression for far longer than he's been upset with the way things have turned out in his life.  With parents like that, one might think that Emmanuele and Pascale would be pretty messed up individuals.  But, actually, they are not -- and from both these two women, one can see much humanity, and the kind of love for others that involves care, respect, sharing and sometimes even smiles and laughter.

 

There are some films where everyone is an awful person.  Everything is Fine is not one of those films -- and all the better for it.  At the same time, it manages to show and reveal humans to be complex, imperfect beings, who often make terrible demands of others even while being able to give and forgive.  And does so in a way that's so palatable and intelligently that it might be the Francois Ozon film I've liked best of the ones that I've viewed (and I've actually seen a fair few to date!).

 

My rating for this film: 8        

 

Captain Volkonogov Escaped (Russia-France- Estonia, 2021)

- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Global Vision program

- Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, co-directors and -scriptwriters

- Starring: Yuriy Borisov, Timofey Tribuntsev, Nikita Kukushkin

 

This offering from Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov was the second of the first four films I viewed at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival with Russian subject matter.  Unlike Navalny, however, Captain Volkonogov Escaped is neither a documentary nor set in contemporary times.  Instead, it's set in Stalin's repressive Russia, where purges are taking place daily; albeit with certain stylistic anachronisms, notably the national security uniforms involving ruby red lower wear that resemble a cross between tracksuit bottoms and jodhpurs for the field officers and leather jackets for more senior ranks.  

 

There's also a spectre of a slain comrade (Nikita Kukushkin) who appears from time to time to haunt the film's titular character, Captain Volkonogov (Yuriy Borisov, giving a strong performance), and get him to go on a seemingly impossible mission involving getting at least one relative of one of his many tortured and slain victims to forgive him.  This after Captain Volkonogov realized one day that he and his colleagues were being "re-evaluated" and targeted for death -- for reasons unknown to them beyond it being the way of the authoritarian state that they serve and are dispensible pawns -- and that he needed to get the hell out of Dodge in order to continue living.

 

Otherwise, Captain Volkonogov Escaped is a fairly straightforward chase film which involves its titular character being pursued by Major Golovnya (Timofey Tribuntsev), another Soviet National Security Service Officer who knows that his life is very much at risk unless he does what he's ordered to do: in his case, track down and apprehend Captain Volkonogov within 24 hours; something that's not that easy to do given that the city where they reside, Leningrad, is pretty large and spread out.  And it doesn't help either that the people that might be said to have known Captain Volkonogov most -- the members of the Security Service who he worked the most closely with -- were all killed off within those 24 hours!

 

So fast paced that the slightly more than two hours spent viewing it really seem to fly by, Captain Volkonogov Escaped is quite the intense, involving thriller.  At the same time, some of the movie's slower, quieter, in-between-chase scenes may well be the ones that stick in the memory; with one particular one, involving a dialogue between Captain Volkonogov and a senior officer, in which it gets revealed why the victims of the purge singled out for "special methods" (i.e., torture) to be administered on them initially will protest their innocence, only to inevitably capitulate and "confess" their guilt, being utterly chilling and, sadly, all to familiar to those knowledgeable about the ways of authoritarian regimes. 

 

My rating for this film: 8.0

Hong Kong is really beautiful but, alas, not without problems so bad that it's seeing record numbers of people leaving :(

Hong Kong looking idyllic on a bright blue sky summer's day

-- but too many don't think they have a bright future here :S

 

I've been experiencing a rare good mood in recent days.  It started with my going on Thursday evening to a favorite bar that a friend had heard was closing down, with its proprietor planning to return to Japan after living here for some two decades, and finding out that he appears to have had a change of heart and is going to try to keep going for a bit after all.  

 

And probably adding to the lifting of my mood has been there being a (temporary) break this weekend in the rainy spell that Hong Kong has been having for some weeks now.  For yes, it's turned out to be another hot weather warning day but seeing blue skies and high visibility are treats that I no longer take for granted after all these years of living in this part of the world.

 

Yet, amidst all this, I can't forget that, well, Hong Kong has problems.  If it didn't, you wouldn't have   113,000 residents leaving the city in the past year -- the largest percentage decline over a 12-month period since records began in 1961 -- leading to Hong Kong’s population dipping to around 7.29 million (from a high in 2019 of 7.5205 million people), would you?  

As Bloomberg's David Ingles Tweeted: "This is a record decline and it's not even close."  And as lawyer Kevin Yam, once of Hong Kong but now Australia, Tweeted in response to another of Ingles Tweets on the matter: "Let’s not dance around the issue. COVID curbs played a part (and a big part for some, esp expats), and it was a convenient excuse for many who didn’t feel safe to admit that they are leaving for another reason, but we all know the real main reason for people leaving."

 

On a personal note: I've long thought of Hong Kong as a transient city; with my averaging a friend leaving a year for a number of years.  But starting from 2020, I've seen a really startling number of friends and acquaintances leave Hong Kong.  As in, we're now in double digits and while I've started to lose count of the exact number, I'd estimate that we'll be getting to the 20 mark by the end of this year, if not before.

 

For the record: The first people I knew who left in 2020 were pro-Beijing/"neutral"-types upset because the protests had disrupted their lives; both of whom returned to Australia, where they had studied and gained citizenships (but had not been born there; with one of them, in fact, having been born in Hong Kong).  Then, post the national security law coming into being, pro-democracy types -- including a number who had never ever previously lived anywhere other than Hong Kong -- decided to leave -- to countries with democracies, like the United Kingdom, USA and Canada.  Also, although it has been made much of by the media, actually, very few people I personally know have left (principally) because of Covid curbs

 

And this exodus will continue, I'm sure, because, sadly, it's not like all the oppression has ended.  Adding to pro-democracy Hong Kongers' woes is that this is something that much of the world outside of Hong Kong do not realize -- or care? -- about this.  This is in part because we've not had any major street protests authorized and taking place for some time now -- thanks in large part to the pandemic, and "anti-pandemic" regulations and restrictions that often work better at controlling people than the coronavirus -- and thus no scenes of violent clashes involving tear gas and riot police for the media to film, photograph and beam out to the world.     

So it is good that the likes of Al-Jazeera are still producing articles (from time to time) like the explainer that came out yesterday entitled "What's going on in Hong Kong's courts?" (written, it's worth noting, by a journalist who used to be based in Hong Kong but also became part of the exodus).  Some choice excerpts from it:

More than 10,000 people have been arrested in the past three years for their alleged involvement in the protests, government criticism and pro-democracy political activities, according to Hong Kong government data. Of those facing charges, the vast majority are people below the age of 30, although they also include some of the city’s veteran opposition leaders...

Chinese “mainland-style criminal justice” and “lawfare” tactics have found their way into Hong Kong, said William Nee, research and advocacy coordinator at Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

“The volume of cases is part of it, and part of it is the lengthy legal process that people face – and we’re only two years into it,” he told Al Jazeera. “We predict it could go on for many, many years where people are unable to travel, unable to leave Hong Kong, unable to speak to the media, and unable to participate in public life,” he said...

The national security law has created a new criminal procedure in Hong Kong that strays from its common law tradition.

National security defendants are heard before a panel of three judges handpicked for terms of one year by the city’s chief executive, said Nee, which means the justices can easily be removed.

Unlike other criminal cases, there is no jury and defendants are almost exclusively denied bail while legal proceedings continue – often for months...

Sentencing has also become harsher regardless of age or past criminal record, said Steven Vines, a veteran Hong Kong journalist who left the city in 2021. Public order cases that once might have ended in fines or community service now attract prison time...

“People with no criminal convictions whatsoever are being given custodial sentences for things like unlawful assembly, which in the past would’ve incurred a fine, nothing more. People who are being convicted of more serious offences are getting sentences which are akin to armed robbers with a criminal record,” Vines told Al Jazeera...

[P]rosecutions of 2019 protesters are expected to continue over the next two years due to the lengthy backlog – the national security cases could take even longer due to the volume of evidence compiled by prosecutors and successive delays. In the meantime, much of Hong Kong’s opposition and civil society will remain silenced, exiled or in jail.

Another departure from Hong Kong -- Fernando Cheung this time

Messages worth heeding

 

Another day/week, another departure from Hong Kong.  Today, news came that Fernando Cheung is the latest pro-democracy figure to have left Hong Kong.  A naturalized American (who had worked in the U.S.A. and got his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley), Dr Cheung had given up his US citizenship to run for a seat in the Legislative Council.  A social worker and retired university lecturer, he entered the Legislative Council in 2004 through the social welfare sector functional constituency.  

 

In November 2020, Fernando Cheung was among the pro-democrats who resigned enmasse from the legislative assembly after four of their colleagues were unfairly disqualified by the government.  A few days earlier, he and six other pan-democratic Legislative Councillors had been arrested on charges related to obstructing a legislative council meeting in May of that year in a move by authorities that was part of a broad crackdown on "anti-government forces".  

 

This past February, Cheung was sentenced to jail for three weeks after being pleading guilty to "contempt, under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance".  Until then, he had never been in jail.  And actually, I don't think he had ever been arrested before November 2020 as he's considered a super moderate lawmaker and generally mild mannered individual.  (In fact, so politically moderate is Fernando Cheung that he's on the record as stating that the storming of Legislative Council by protestors on July 1st, 2019, was a mistake.)

 

The sense one gets is that Cheung was not expecting to be given a prison sentence despite having pleaded guilty.  He has a daughter, Vivian, who has special needs (and who, it is hoped, will be able to get better care in Toronto, where they have now moved to.) and he had previously told reporters that  he didn't want to go to jail, because that would mean being unable to take care of her.  So it must have been a shock to have received the jail sentence that he got, however short compared to that which has been handed out to a number of his fellow pro-democrats.

And it didn't help that Cheung served his prison time as the fifth coronavirus wave was hitting Hong Kong hard.  Someone else who was in prison this past February, Samuel Bickett, has written about what it was life in the prisons during this time -- and it makes for painful reading.  A few paragraphs from his account should suffice to give an idea of what I mean: 

A cancer-stricken 75 year-old political detainee housed in the same cell as me at Lai Chi Kok Prison had his court hearing canceled and was forced to remain locked up without bail, and without any indication of when he’d be able to seek release.

Hundreds of prisoners at Stanley Prison were locked alone in tiny cells for six weeks, only permitted out briefly every other day for a shower.

A dead prisoner’s corpse was left in a shared cell for hours, as other prisoners bunched together on the furthest wall in the small room to avoid getting too close.

This is just a sampling of the dire circumstances I encountered after I was sent to prison on February 8, 2022, just as Hong Kong began ramping up restrictions in response to a new wave of Covid infections...

As it so happens, Fernando Cheung caught Covid while in prison.  (This is something that a mutual friend disclosed to me.)  Also, a lot of what he had to say about his brief but still traumatic time in prison accords with what Bickett wrote about the conditions that the prisoners faced.  So, honestly, I can understand why he would decide to leave after that experience.

The news of Cheung's departure from Hong Kong was broken by another individual who recently departed Hong Kong: former Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) deputy chief executive, Chung Kim-wah.  The Hong Kong Free Press piece about Cheung having left Hong Kong included the following detail: "Cheung’s departure was later confirmed by another former pro-democracy legislative councillor, Shiu Ka-chun, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, who said that he had kept Cheung’s departure a secret until he had safely landed in Toronto." 

 

In view of so many members of the pan-democrat camp having now gone into exile or been jailed since what I've referred to as Hong Kong's second, scarier Handover (i.e., the day that China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong), I wonder when Shiu will leave too.  I remember him being featured in Evans Chan's We Have Boots and talking about how much he loved his mother.  I guess he'll leave Hong Kong if she's willing to do so too.

 

Just yesterday, a friend and I were talking about the members of the pro-democracy camp who are in prison or no longer in Hong Kong.  We worry about many of them but there also are those who have left Hong Kong who appear to be truly flourishing.  A prime example: former legislative councillor, Dennis Kwok -- who recently announced his setting up of a boutique law firm in New York.  

 

After the news of Fernando Cheung's departure broke, another friend (who, herself, has now left Hong Kong and is now Canada-based) and I messaged each other about it.  She wrote that she was happy for him.  I replied that I was too, but also sad for Hong Kong.

 

Speaking of being sad for Hong Kong: Yesterday was World Press Freedom Day.  To mark it, international NGO Reporters Without Borders released its latest Press Freedom Index and Hong Kong was seen to now rank 148th, dropping a whopping 68 places from the previous year.  Another measure of how dramatic Hong Kong's downward trajectory is: 20 years ago, Hong Kong occupied the 18th position on the list!   

And yet: we really should never give up hope.  Never.  As far as press freedom is concerned, there are those who maintain that "There will be journalism as long as there are journalists", and a number of them do still exist in Hong Kong.  And, as Yuen Chan wrote in a column for the Hong Kong Free Press that came out on World Press Freedom Day: "Despite the death notices, despite the closures, the arrests, the smears, the sad and reluctant departure of their peers, there are journalists who simply continue to do their jobs."  Also worth noting: "When big gestures become foolhardy, dangerous or impossible, small acts of solidarity with those quietly toiling at the coalface become more important than ever."

Musings on Easter Monday about friends who have left Hong Kong in recent years

Photo taken while hiking with 

a friend who's now left Hong Kong

 

Today is the final day of a long Easter holiday weekend which I'm loath to see end.  My main reason is that, with the courts resuming their business tomorrow, I can imagine more bad news coming out of them in terms of such as guilty verdicts for and impositions of jail sentences on political protestors.  Such, alas, has become the sad norm on regular days in National Security Law-era Hong Kong.  

 

On a positive note: the weather really has been lovely these past few days.  Shiny and high visibility on Good Friday; and a spell of cool spring temperatures in recent days that have made it unnecessary to switch on the fan or airconditioning -- but also the heater too! -- in my apartment, and been very conducive to napping as well as other sedentary activities like watching movies on home video and reading in bed!  

 

Pre-pandemic, I'd have taken advantage of the good weather to venture out more this long weekend.  But I've actually spent the bulk of the past two days at home; with my sole venture outside in the past 48 hours being spending time with a friend who left Hong Kong this evening.     

Since the National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong, I've seen 10 friends depart from the Big Lychee.  Among them are people who were born here, for whom Hong Kong was previously the only home they had ever known.  And even among those who were not, my sense is that many of them would not have left Hong Kong if they didn't feel that Hong Kong's gotten much worse since July 1st, 2020, but, also, is going to get worse still in the coming months and years.  

Among the latest to go has been a friend who announced on social media on July 1st, 2020, that he and his wife couldn't live in a place with no freedom of speech and expression, and thus would have to leave Hong Kong.  It actually took him (and his wife) longer to depart than I had thought would be the case.  But, then, it's not easy practically as well as psychologically to remove one's ties to a place that one loves.  And, in the case of those who have only ever called Hong Kong home, to find and settle on another part of the world to start one's life anew.

For those who are wondering where my friends who have left Hong Kong since July 1st, 2020, have resettled: the majority have gone to England; with the decision made "easy" for them in that they have British National (Overseas) (BNO) passports.  Then there are those friends originally from the USA and Canada who have returned to their countries of origin (even while leaving a substantial piece of their heart in Hong Kong).

 

With regards to age: we're talking 30-something- to 60-something-year-olds.  With regards to professions: they include journalists, academics, filmmakers, someone who worked in a legal practice that specialised in dealing with refugees, a graphic designer, an accountant and, also, a dog groomer.       

With regards to the last two: they're a couple who, when driving along a street in Yuen Long on July 27th, 2019, made a fateful decision.  Upon seeing a young anti-extradition bill/anti-mob/anti-police protestor being pursued by riot police running towards them, they decided to open one of their car's doors and shouted at her to get in; after which they sped away from the scene and took her to a public transportation stop far away enough from the scene to be considered safe.  After which, they looked at each other and decided that they should head back to near where they had picked up that protestor to offer rides to others in need.    

In the weeks and months thereafter, they ended up doing this over and over again.  Put another way: they volunteered to be "parents" who would "ferry" protestors away from the riot police when needed, including during the the Chinese University of Hong Kong siege in November of that year.  On the days that they themselves weren't marching in protest themselves.  

Although they never were arrested nor committed any act of violence, they still felt threatened when the National Security Law for Hong Kong was announced and then was imposed on the territory; and so much so that they decided they needed to leave Hong Kong.  And so, last year, they left the only home they had ever known for a part of the world they had previously never been to, even as tourists.  And while the likes of Leung Chun-ying may assert that "Hongkongers who have left the city haven't emigrated", I know they aren't coming back to this part of the world unless the political situation dramatically, miraculously improves.

As for the friend who left today: she may originally be from Canada but she had lived in Hong Kong for 18 years and had planned to live here for many more years.  Heck, she had even bought an apartment here (in which to live, not just for investment) to boot!  And yes, she took part in the anti-extradition bill protests too -- and, for that matter, the "Occupy" phase of the Umbrella Movement as well along with the annual June 4th vigils at Victoria Park.  (In fact, she was one of the friends I was at Victoria Park with the last time the candlelight vigil was allowed to be staged -- on June 4th, 2019.)

So, yes, a good number of people (mainly expats) have left Hong Kong in recent months because of Hong Kong's "zero Covid" controls.  But do not underestimate the number of people who have left because of the National Security Law that Carrie Lam had said would just target a small number of "troublemakers" but, in fact, has impacted the lives of so many Hong Kongers.  Just look at my friends who have left and trust me when I say that I doubt that the exodus is over; especially since the expectation is that Hong Kong will become even more of a police state than it already is with former police chief John Lee's ascendance to the post of Chief Executive come this July 1st pretty much assured!   

Hong Kongers who have gone into exile, and one who has opted to stay against the odds

Which road to take?  Is one better than the other?

 

Democratic Party vice-chairman Lee Wing-tat has left Hong Kong -- joining an ever-growing list of former pro-democratic camp legislative councillors who have gone into exile  It's not just Nathan Law (currently based in Britain) and Ted Hui (in Australia) but also the likes of former legal sector representative Dennis Kwok (in Canada) and "Oathgate"'s Baggio Leung (in the U.S.A.).  When you consider that the likes of Glacier Kwong and Ray Wong also out of Hong Kong, there really is quite a sizeable contingent of (former) politicians and (still active) activists out there now, many of whom are continuing to make their voices heard and seeking to tell the world about Hong Kong's plight.

I'm not sure how much difference it can make for Hong Kong but one can't say that their voices are being completely ignored.  Just this week, we've seen: American president Joe Biden blocking the removal of Hong Kong residents from the U.S.A. for 18 months, citing Chinese repression; Canada officially issuing a warning to its citizens that the authorities in Hong Kong can prevent people leaving the city under a new law that has raised fears of Mainland China-style exit bans; and a Washington Post editorial warning of 'white terror' sweeping through Hong Kong and pointing out that President Biden has talked of a global contest intensifying between democracy and dictatorship, "and right now the despots are taking over Hong Kong." 

 

That Washington Post editorial about Hong Kong also referenced Steve Vines and Kacey Wong having decided to leave Hong Kong.  Meanwhile, the veteran journalist has also a piece out today in the Hong Kong Free Press about why he decided the time finally came to leave his home of 35 years old, a few choice excerpts of which I quote here:   

Killing the spirit of Hong Kong was never going to be easy but the Chinese Communist Party has set about this task with a vigour and determination that is quite breathtaking...

There is a real fear of the knock on the door in the early hours of the morning by National Security police. The almost daily arrests confirm that this is so. The idea that the rule of law has not been undermined is hard to sustain following the introduction of a slew of new legislation clearly signalling that Hong Kong citizens can no longer look to the law to protect them from injustice. I could go on, but the litany of body blows to liberty is sufficiently well known..

...loving Hong Kong has become a suspect activity. The Quislings now running Hong Kong and their mini-me supporters revel in their disdain for everything that makes this place distinctive. Most of all they hate the people, the millions who poured onto the streets calling for democracy and even those who chose to stay at home but cherished all the things that made Hong Kong so distinctive. They even hate the Cantonese language and the free-wheeling culture.

At the same time, as Vines also noted in his piece: "Yet other people – including those considerably more exposed than I have been – have opted not to leave. Some have no choice, while others could go yet have decided to stay."  Among these are filmmaker Kiwi Chow, whose protest documentary, Revolution of Our Times, recently had its world premiere at Cannes. 

As it so happens, there's an interview with Kiwi Chow in the Hong Kong Free Press today too.  Some excerpts from that piece:

His film was [an] outlet for the emotions Hongkongers could not express. Many now fear that discussing the pro-democracy movement publicly or showing support for the protests may breach the sweeping security law.

“The year of 2019 was traumatising. But when people cannot even talk about this distress, it is like being traumatised for the second time,” Chow said...

Hong Kong has seen an exodus of families since the national security law was implemented last year. While Chow’s anxious friends urged him to quit the city in pursuit of a safer future with his family, he is adamant that he will stay.

Chow said there was no need for him to leave, as he wanted to “follow Jesus Christ” and “bear witness” to what happens in his home city.

(For those who didn't realize: Hong Kong is home to a not insubstantial number of Christians.  For the record: Carrie Lam is a practicing Catholic; as is Hong Kong's second Chief Executive (and now also ex-jailbird), Donald Tsang.  And on the other side of the political equation: there's Cardinal Zen, Martin Lee, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming and Joshua Wong, among others.)

A relatively quiet June weekend in Hong Kong

Agnes Chow was already a veteran political activist back in 2017...

 

Umbrellas raised -- initially against the rain -- back on June 12th, 2019

 

Yesterday was the second anniversary of a dark day for Hong Kong: one which saw the Hong Kong Police Force do things that damned them -- and the powers they protect as well as represent things -- as villains in the eyes of the majority of the Hong Kong people.  For much of it, the skies were gray, if not outright dark, and it rained quite a bit -- leading me (and at least one other Hong Kong resident) to imagine that the heavens were crying for what has befallen Hong Kong since, as well as in remembrance of, that fateful day.   

 

As it so happened though, there was a piece of good news to savor yesterday -- for the morning saw Agnes Chow emerge from the maximum-security Tai Lam Centre for Women after having served the prison sentence imposed on her for having played a part in a protest against police brutality outside the police headquarters in Wan Chai back on June 21st, 2019.  (A reminder: she, Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam pleaded guilty to the charges -- because they didn't think the courts would be fair to them -- but they were not the real organizers of that siege.)

Such has been the way things are these days in Hong Kong that part of me doubted that Agnes Chow would be allowed to walk free out of prison.  And the fact of the matter is that she still does have a possible national security charge hanging over her head.  This may account for her uncharacteristically not speaking to the press upon her release.  At the same time, it also is understandable that she needs some time to rest for a time to recuperate from her ordeal.  A reminder: the veteran political activist still is only 24 years of age and she had never been put behind bars before this multi-month incarceration.  And, as the photos taken of her yesterday show, she -- who already was on the thin side previously -- looks to have lost weight while in prison.     

 

I imagine that Agnes Chow was happy to spend much of yesterday resting quietly at home.  Due in part to the weather, lots of Hong Kongers stayed in too.  There also was the not small matter of some 2,000 police officers being deployed yesterday to specifically guard against assemblies taking place on one more key extradition bill protest anniversary.  

 

I went to Causeway Bay to do some food shopping yesterday afternoon and saw more cops than I felt comfortable with.  I know I wasn't the only one who had this reaction.  And this was even before we learnt of arrests having being made and the police casting their net so wide that they ended up exposing two of their plainclothes colleagues!  Frankly, I think it's only natural; and this particularly so if you are on the young side and favor wearing black attire -- the latter of which applies to the majority of Hong Kongers!  

 

Meanwhile, over in the likes of London, various American cities, Sydney, Tokyo and Vancouver, there were protests to mark what happened on June 12th, 2019, in Hong Kong.  When collated together, the pictures tell quite the damning story -- damning re Hong Kong and those that have denied the people the right to assemble to protest or even just plain remember, that is.  Ditto re video clips of Hong Kong on June 12th, 2019, and last night.                   

 

On a day when Hong Kongers had to be flexible -- "be water" in yet another way? -- and suck it up in order to live to fight another day, it was gratifying to see people standing up for Hong Kong elsewhere.  As far as people living in Hong Kong are concerned: With all due respect to the likes of Qu Yuan (the patriotic poet who the Dumpling/Dragonboat Festival commemorates), sometimes discretion is the better part of valor and it's wiser to be able to know when is a good time to fight and when is a good time to rest; this especially when one is feeling tired but still unwilling to give up.  Also, remember the declaration of many a Hong Kong protestor post arrest in 2019: "I will not commit suicide".  (And yes, I realize that it was frequently a reference to being a victim of the police but I also did see it, even then, as a defiant cry in favor of living.)