THE PERFECT CITY PRESS “TO TELL THE TRUTH” NOVEMBER 19, 2017 $2.50 Umbrella Revolution: Inside Hong Kong’s biggest protest in decades

The civil disobedience campaign is about more than open elections — it’s about the city’s relationship with the Chinese government, whose recent policies have left Hong Kongers feeling politically and economically constrained.

From September 26 to December 15, 2014, Hong Kongers staged a series of sit-in street protests over proposed reforms to the city’s electoral system.

China had initially promised that by 2017, Hong Kongers would be able to elect their top leader, the chief executive, by universal suffrage. Currently, Hong Kong’s chief executive is chosen by a “nominating committee” of 1,200 people, most of whom are elites who support the policies of the Chinese government.

But in August 2014, the Chinese government said that “while citizens would be allowed to vote for the chief executive, the candidates for the election would have to be approved by a special committee.”

The decision was widely denounced as highly restrictive and tantamount to pre-screening candidates. (Photo: Pasu Au Yeung/Flickr) On September 22, student protesters began leading a peaceful But the police responded by or community service — with the concessions from the government. demonstration against China’s shooting tear gas and rubber bullets exceptions of protest leaders Joshua election plan. They demanded the into the crowd. Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex Chow, In any case, many Hong Kong right to nominate and directly elect who received prison sentences. residents had actively opposed the their chief executive. They also called To ward off the chemicals, movement, fearing violent reprisals for the current chief executive, Leung demonstrators covered themselves in Still, it was always unlikely that the from China. Chun-ying, to resign. plastic wrap and wore goggles and protestors would see their demands surgical masks. But the movement’s fulfilled: if Hong Kong were allowed As an older woman named Chan On September 28, the Occupy most recognizable symbol have been to elect a pro-democracy candidate, said, “Those of us who came to the Central with Love and Peace the open umbrellas that protestors the Communist Party’s political city 60 or 70 years ago had nothing movement announced the beginning were using to deflect pepper spray. control over both Hong Kong and and we worked and suffered so much of a civil disobedience campaign, China itself could be undermined. to make Hong Kong the rich city it timed to build off the momentum of More than 900 people were arrested, is today. And now the protesters have the student protest. Demonstrators although the government has brought Indeed, when the protests ended after made our society unstable. For me, peacefully occupied Hong Kong’s city charges against fewer than one-tenth 79 days — due to demonstrators’ being able to eat and sleep is already a government headquarters along with of them. Those found guilty have exhaustion and organizers’ internal luxury. I don’t need democracy. What other major city intersections. been mostly sentenced to probation fractures — it was without any policy does it mean?” NOVEMBER 19, 2017 PAGE 2 WORLD Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers disqualified from parliament

Yau Wai-ching unfurls a banner that says “Hong Kong is Not China” before taking the Legislative Council Oath at the first meeting of the Sixth Legislative Council on October 12, 2016. (Photo: AFP) This article was removed by request of our In the span of just nine months, the requirement that the oath taker, in publisher. The Perfect City Press and its editorial Hong Kong High Court has unseated taking the oath, must also ­sincerely staff had no role in its removal. six lawmakers from the 70-member and truly believe in the pledges under Legislative Council over the manner the oath that he or she is taking.” in which they took their oaths of office when they were sworn in. Justice Au added that the purpose of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, In November 2016, Sixtus “Baggio” known as the Basic Law, was Leung and Yau Wai-ching were to establish the territory as an disqualified for the way they delivered “inalienable part of the People’s their oaths. Republic of China.”

Then in July 2017, “Long Hair” While the National People’s Leung Kwok-hung, Nathan Law Congress Standing Committee has Kwun-chung, Lau Siu-lai, and the power to interpret the Basic Law, Edward Yiu Chung-yim were they could have implemented more disqualified for their mannerisms restrained responses that do not during the ceremony. involve reversing voters’ decisions.

All six lawmakers were young, pro- Lily Ng, who voted for Nathan Law, democracy activists who ran in the was enraged that her vote no longer first major election following the counted. “Ordinary people don’t have 2014 Umbrella Revolution. a lot of power in Hong Kong, and now this most important right has The High Court ruled that oath- been stolen from us. What’s the point taking must be done strictly by the of elections if they are meaningless?” book with no additions or deviations — before, during or after an oath. The disqualifications of the six lawmakers mean that the pro- According to Justice Thomas Au democracy camp has lost its veto Hing-cheung, “It is also not only to power over major legislation, one provide a legal basis to check and of the most powerful tools in a punish future breaches by the oath parliament stacked with pro- taker... it is also a constitutional legal establishment legislators. NOVEMBER 19, 2017 PAGE 3 WORLD China breaches “one country, two systems” policy in Hong Kong

According to China, “Hong Kong is China’s domestic affair. Foreign countries have no right to interfere.”

In 2016, Britain released a report Kong limited autonomy and control outlining its concerns over mainland of its own legal affairs. As a signatory China’s interference in Hong Kong’s to the agreement, Britain is therefore legal affairs — prompting China to legally bound to uphold these respond in anger. freedoms in Hong Kong.

In the report, British Foreign Nevertheless, one year later, China Secretary Boris Johnson said that he would essentially dismiss the bilateral was concerned about the “integrity of treaty as irrelevant. Hong Kong’s law enforcement.” “Now that Hong Kong has returned Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman to the motherland for 20 years, the Geng Shuang responded that Britain Sino-British Joint Declaration, as a should “stop meddling in Hong historical document, no longer has Kong affairs,” as Hong Kong is now a any realistic meaning,” said Foreign Special Administrative Region (SAR) Ministry spokesman Lu Kang. of China. “It also does not have any binding Technically though, Britain does power on how the Chinese central have a limited obligation to Hong government administers Hong Kong. Under the 1984 Sino-British Kong. Britain has no sovereignty, no Joint Declaration, Britain transferred governing power and no supervising control of Hong Kong to China power over Hong Kong. I hope under the “one country, two systems” relevant parties will take note of The 1997 ceremony where Hong Kong was handed over from British to Chinese rule. (Photo: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images) arrangement, which grants Hong this reality.”

Emigration from Hong Kong hits three- The Sino- year high amidst tensions with China British Joint

Hong Kong may be known as one of Hong Kong appears to be suffering Declaration the safest and most law-abiding cities a kind of “brain drain,” as a majority in Asia, but in the wake of recent of the people looking to emigrate are The Sino-British Joint Declaration political events, thousands of Hong from the elite class. Additionally, most Taiwan has was signed by the respective Kongers are now looking to make applicants are couples who both hold governments of the United Kingdom their future elsewhere. a master’s degree. an electoral (UK) and the People’s Republic of “ China (PRC) on December 19, 1984. system. You can The latest government data shows Additionally, a survey by independent It gave rise to Hong Kong’s handover, that the number of Hongkongers think tank Civic Exchange in June vote unsuitable where the UK transferred sovereignty trying to emigrate reached a three- 2016 showed that some 42% of Hong politicians out of over Hong Kong to China with effect year high in 2016, with an 8.6% Kong residents want to leave. from July 1, 1997. increase in the number of locals office. But in Hong applying for immigration visas. 70% of 1,500 people surveyed said Kong we can't. According to the “one country, two Hong Kong had become “worse” or systems” principle, Hong Kong was Top destinations for Hong Kongers “much worse” to live in. Their biggest to maintain largely independent – Martin Wan (25), who was born in include Australia, the United States, concerns were housing, the “quality of Hong Kong but emigrated to Taiwan political, legal, and economic systems Canada, and Taiwan. government” and education. in 2016 to start a business. from China for 50 years, until 2047. NOVEMBER 19, 2017 PAGE 4 WORLD Hong Kong’s housing crisis: Life inside “coffin cubicles”

Forced out by sky-high rents, Hong Kong’s poorest feel that living in a cage is still better than living on the street.

Behind Hong Kong’s glamorous increasing affordable housing options facade of neon lights and towering — but this is, obviously, easier said skyscrapers, approximately 200,000 than done. There are more than people — including 40,000 children 220,000 people on the waitlist for — live in cage-like spaces ranging public housing, and the average wait between 15-100 square feet in size. is almost three years.

It’s an inadequate response to the In 2014, when some illegally tenanted conflicting issues of land constraints buildings were evicted, only five and unsustainable population out of 100 tenants were reportedly growth: Hong Kong has almost no offered public housing alternatives. developable land remaining, but its population size is nearing 7.5 million, “It’s not whether I believe [the which has caused its housing market government] or not, but they always to become the most expensive in talk this way. What hope is there?” the world. A small one-bedroom said Leung, a person who has been apartment can cost HK$16,000 living in cage homes since he stopped Yan Chi Keung, 57, reads the newspaper in his cage home in Hong Kong. It is impossible to know how many such cages there are because so many of them are run illegally. The estimated number shot from a few (US$2,050) a month. working at a market stall after losing thousand in the early 1990s to 53,000 in 2007. (Photo: Brian Cassey) part of a finger 20 years ago. Pushed out by skyrocketing rents, Hong Kong’s poorest are forced Holding just a secondary school why we should care, as these people to live in unsafe, cramped, and education, Leung has only been able are not a part of our lives. They are inadequate living conditions. to find intermittent casual work. exactly the people who come into They are crammed into wire mesh His sole income is HK$4,000 your life every single day: they are I'm still alive, and boxes stacked on top of each other, (US$513) in government assistance serving you as the waiters in the measuring as small as 6’ x 2.5’ each each month. restaurants where you eat, they are yet I am already — the size of a coffin. The resultant the security guards in the shopping “ surrounded by space is too small to stand up in. But “It’s impossible for me to save,” said malls you wander around, or the on average, the rent runs only about Leung, who is unmarried and has no cleaners and the delivery men on the four coffin planks! HK$1,500 (US$192) per year. children to lean on for support. streets you pass through. The only difference between us and them is – An anonymous cage home dweller, as told to Benny Lam for SoCO, an To help address the issue, the Hong Photographer Benny Lam wrote on [their homes]. This is a question of NGO fighting for policy changes and Kong government is committed to his Facebook page: “You may wonder human dignity.” decent living standards in the city.

Retiree Kong Sui Kao, 64, lives in a cramped room alongside 17 other Over the last 10 years, the number of cage homes made of wire mesh The United Nations has condemned the living conditions in these people on the roof of a 12-storey block. (Photo: Brian Cassey) has decreased, but they’ve been replaced by beds sealed with wooden sub-divided units as “an insult to human dignity.” (Photo: Benny Lam) planks. (Photo: Benny Lam) NOVEMBER 19, 2017 PAGE 5 WORLD

This picture was removed by request of our publisher. The Perfect City Press and its editorial staff had no role in its removal. The case of Hong Kong’s disappearing booksellers This article was removed by request of our publisher. The The abductions represent yet another sign that the “one country, two systems” formula Perfect City Press and its protecting Hong Kong’s autonomy from mainland China is steadily being eroded. editorial staff had no role in its removal. Between October and December books, including several about the drink-driving accident from over a 2015, five Hong Kong-based book private life of Chinese President Xi decade ago. He added that his return publishers went missing. Jinping. That evening, Lee went to get to China had been voluntary. the books in a warehouse in a quiet The five publishers were linked to part of town. He never returned. If in fact orchestrated by mainland Mighty Current, an obscure Hong China, the disappearances would Kong publishing company that A few days after his disappearance, violate Hong Kong’s mini- churns out gossipy titles about China Lee called his wife and faxed a constitution, the Basic Law, which and its top political leaders. message to colleagues saying he was grants Hong Kongers various political “O.K.” and had gone to mainland freedoms independent of Chinese law Some time later, the booksellers China “in his own way.” — such as freedom of the press and would turn up in police custody in freedom from arbitrary arrests. mainland China — but China has However, Lee’s wife had found his been reluctant to provide information, travel documents at home — raising To further complicate matters, saying only that some of the missing suspicions that he had been abducted in June 2016, another missing booksellers were being investigated and forcibly brought to the mainland bookseller, Lam Wing-Kee, spoke for unspecified “illegal activity.” by Chinese government operatives. at a surprise news conference about being kidnapped and detained by As a result, the British government Subsequently, the Hong Kong Chinese “special forces.” He also released a statement asserting that newspaper Ming Pao reported that claimed that the booksellers’ televised one of the booksellers, Lee Bo, had footage from the surveillance cameras confessions had been scripted. been “involuntarily removed to the at the book warehouse showed Lee mainland without any due process being shadowed by strangers as he In response, China’s Ministry of under Hong Kong SAR (Special walked into an elevator. Foreign Affairs said, “Lam Wing- Administrative Region) law.” Kee is a Chinese citizen, and he In January 2016, another one of the has violated China’s laws on the On December 30, 2015, Lee, who missing booksellers, Gui Minhai, mainland. Relevant authorities in was an editor at Mighty Current, appeared on Chinese state television China are authorised to handle the received a phone order for a dozen and tearfully confessed to a fatal case in accordance with the law.” NOVEMBER 19, 2017 PAGE 6 WORLD Hong Kong soccer fans jeer national anthem

In the United States, athletes protest when the national anthem is played. But in Hong Kong, it’s the fans who do. (Photo: Bobby Yip/Reuters)

For the past two years now, whenever passed a retaliatory law prohibiting Critics of the anthem law worry that the issue need not be politicized even the Chinese national anthem has disrespect of the anthem. In it could be used to suppress freedom though it is “very serious.” She went played during a Hong Kong men’s particular, people who do not of expression. on to clarify “that this is an issue of soccer match, Hong Kong fans “stand with respect” and “maintain a respect for the nation and whether would turn their backs, boo, and even dignified bearing” when it is played Dennis Kwok, a member of Hong you recognize that you are Chinese.” raise their middle fingers — all in could face 15 days’ detention, with the Kong’s Legislative Council, pointed protest of mainland China’s growing possibility of further criminal charges. out that applying the law could prove But for now, the prospect of legal influence in Hong Kong’s affairs. tricky. “What does it mean to be consequences has not deterred fans The anthem law went into effect respectful of the national anthem? with pro-democracy beliefs from Although it’s been a Special on October 1, 2017. But Hong That concept of law is simply continuing to boo at games. Administrative Region (SAR) of Kong maintains a semiautonomous unheard-of here, to have to stand in China since 1997, Hong Kong still existence that allows it to keep its silence. I think we need to be very “[The anthem law] does dampen competes with its own team in major own economic and legal systems. So careful defining what is respectful and our freedom of speech, forcing us to international competitions. Hong Kong will need to enact its what is not.” respect something,” said 24-year-old own version of the law — which its Sanho Chung. “I worry, but I will So in September 2017, the government is currently working On the other hand, Hong Kong’s still practice my rights. I think this is government of mainland China on doing. chief executive, Carrie Lam, said that my right.”

Free speech curtailed at Hong Kong universities

When the 2017 school term kicked stipulates that “Hong Kong residents off at Chinese University of Hong shall have freedom of speech, of the Kong (CUHK), posters calling for press and of publication.” independence from mainland China were put up across campus. “Universities are supposed to be the last bastions to defend these values Following media backlash, 10 [of free speech], but instead they universities issued a joint statement became the first ones to try to control saying, “We treasure freedom of [us],” said Justin Au, president of expression, but we condemn its CUHK’s student union. recent abuses,” to the extent that the very notion of independence is not Students from mainland China felt permitted under Hong Kong’s mini- differently. As a student named Kwan constitution, the Basic Law. put it, “The freest people are those who follow the rules. Those who don’t (Photo: InMedia) But Article 27 of the Basic Law will feel oppressed everywhere.”