NOA Episode 5.1 Three Hong Kongers On A Sofa: You, Me We
The article is part of the 'Hong Kong: One Year Ago Today' initiative which aims to raise awareness for the anti-extradition demonstrations of 2019 and also to debunk some myths regarding the movement’s origins and core elements.
In the following two episodes of ‘Three Hong Kongers On A Sofa: You, Me, We’, we will be sharing a few of the submissions we have received as part of our ‘Hong Kong: One Year Ago Today’ initiative. Promoting it as a means of personal expression, people have used our online submissions platform, ‘One Year Ago Today’, as a confessions platform to share with us their opinions, thoughts and confusions surrounding the anti-extradition demonstrations in 2019. Whilst the two episodes differ little in terms of their structure and format, they are both equally worth listening into, offering some raw, anecdotal and exclusive insight into what life was like during the movement’s progression.
The thumbnail picture was taken by photojournalist 鄒保祥 from Mirror Media who recently received third place in the 2020 Taiwan Press Photography Competition in Breaking News Photography
The name, ‘Three Hong Kongers On A Sofa: You, Me, We’, aims to replicate the intimacy that can be felt between two friends sharing stories with each other (on a sofa). As our focus is more on personal experiences and reflections, the tone of the episodes are rather anecdotal and aims to generate light-hearted discussions over various aspects of daily life that were impacted by the events from last year. We have called it, ‘You, Me, We’, to bridge the distance felt by people who are perhaps unfamiliar with Hong Kong and create a pocketed space for locals to share their experiences from living in the same city.
In the first of our two-part podcast series, ‘Three Hong Kongers On A Sofa: You, Me, We’, we will be sharing with you a series of reflections on last summer, touching on areas such as initial reactions to the movement, impact on daily life in Hong Kong and also observations of the various reactions and responses in the community. There will also be room for a brief insight into the key features of the movement and observable differences in the city.
'It’s a Saturday evening (16th May) and I am on my way home. I look up and see that it's a blue sky with white clouds: ‘it was one of those spring days that seems warm and cold at the same time. Enough blue to make a pair of sailor’s trousers. Cirrus clouds overhead.’ I realised that if I focused hard, like really hard, I could pretend that coronavirus was not happening around me and that it could just be like any other day in May. And by the same logic, if I focused really hard I could try to forget the atrocities which plagued the 2019 summer and I could try to ignore the current situation in Hong Kong.'
Aiden: I feel like that’s the mentality of a lot of people.
Angela: Yeah?
Aiden: Because for me, for coronavirus, I can’t just ignore that the whole thing is happening but obviously with the whole Hong Kong situation, it is different because it's closer to heart. I think that’s why.
Angela: But it's so easy to just sit behind the walls to close everything around you and pretend like nothing is happening. It's so easy to surround yourself with this protection, this closed off-ness and it's so compelling to buy into that. It’s simple, but, reflecting on last year, it just wasn’t the case, it was impossible (to ignore).
Aiden: Actually in my room, I’ve put up some posters which I collected from the protests when I was still in Hong Kong over the summer. So I've kind of put them up as decorations which kind of reminds me of the movement every single day. Even if I am not on social media, I will still be minded. Maybe subconsciously I’ve kept them there to keep myself reminded because that’s something I would never want to forget, which is true.
'I followed the protests a lot last year and I know the positions are both hard to justify. Hence, I haven’t tried to get involved. I’ve received a lot of information, much of which sounds very bad. On Facebook and Instagram there would be these posts of very distressing images of chopped hands and bitten-off ears, none of which I got confirmation of its accuracy. There’s a lot I don’t know about the movement and I feel like I would need to hear more testimonies from people on both sides of the protest.'
Angela: I’m so glad that this person has said that they want to hear more testimonials from people because this is essentially what we are doing here. And I mean it would be hard to deny that these images were made up or like fake news because they really did happen.
Especially with the bitten-off ears, I think I know which event you were referring to. That had actually happened to my district councillor. During a conflict in the neighbourhood which started because of political differences, someone had just attacked him and went for his ear. And what happened at the end of the day was that he had his ear bitten off. We’re all quite upset about it because you wouldn’t want that done to yourself.
Aiden: I actually couldn’t believe it when that actually happened because a lot of images on Instagram and Facebook got flagged and I thought, is this made up? I just can’t imagine someone to have made that up and then it was confirmed that it had actually happened. To this day, I am still kind of shocked but like given how ridiculous the situation in Hong Kong has been for the past year, maybe that’s just like a representation of the wider society, I suppose.
Angela: Not necessarily representative of the wider society but it definitely happened and this wasn’t the first time conflict had happened. Maybe he was the only one who had his ear bitten off but things have happened, there have been rifts and areas where people have gotten a bit violent on the streets.
'At some point over the summer last year, the protests in Hong Kong became not only the concerns of the Hong Kong people but the concern of the global community. When my ex-boyfriend, in Taipei at the time, posted on his story a picture of a park bench with the movement’s slogan ‘5 Demands Not One Less’ spray-painted onto it, I felt the urge to reply with a ‘thumbs up’ and ‘flexed biceps’ emojis to acknowledge his support of the movement in Hong Kong.
The conversation that followed was not something I had expected.
He struck open the conversation by telling me about the vandalised bench. He said that within 10 minutes of him taking the picture, the slogan was painted over and ‘disappeared’. We began talking about the demonstrations and he asked if I was involved. I admitted that I was attending the demonstrations as an observer and was taking all the precautions possible to avoid arrest and confrontation with the police. I explained that out of concerns for the UK Visa Application, it would be unwise to be ‘seen’ attending a rally or demonstration if it meant sabotaging my chances of starting university in September. And to which he said, ‘it's worth it, go get arrested for your country.’
I am no nationalist and believe that blind patriotism is no justifier for irrational and simply rash and stupid decisions.'
Aiden: Actually I’ve seen quite a few of these slogans vandalised on bus stops, benches around the world. In the UK, I’ve personally seen several. I remember seeing one quite close to UCL and then I saw another one when I was visiting Cardiff over Christmas which was kind of nice. It kind of tells me, as a participant of the movement, that we actually have support overseas as well.
Angela: I think also, a really good point to make is that the vandalism that was seen across Hong Kong and also abroad, it actually reflects a very key and prominent feature of the movement which is in the form of ‘protest art’. If you so go and reread the article that was launched earlier in the week about key features of the movement, this will help debunk the key features and explain the context and the background of each feature that you have seen. One of the topics that were touched upon by the article was about protest art and vandalism in terms of spray painting slogans and words of support, a hashtag and trends, these were very much seen across Hong Kong during the movement because it fell like a very key, crucial feature of the movement. And quite iconic and symbolic too.
'It was on my return home from the protest, I slipped off my black hoodie and shoved it into my bag as I slid into the crowd walking towards the MTR entrance at Admiralty. As I walked around the block, passing the ticket machines, I realised that I had used up all the credit on my Octopus on the journey to the protest and needed to top-up. However, behind me stood a row of ticket machines that were smashed-in and vandalised with a black cross across the screen. All apart from one were out of service and I quietly moved over to the machine to stand patiently behind a young boy and his father.
Whilst I rarely concern myself with other people’s businesses, I remember thinking how strange it was that of all the machines that were present, there was just one machine that remained working. It wasn’t long before they realised my presence and moved aside to reveal what they were preoccupied with.
The screen continued to flicker as tickets were printed and spat out through the flap below. Clenched in the boy's hands was a stack of ‘Adult Single Journey’ Tickets. I glanced at the stack in his hand, the stack balanced at the top of the machine and the pink tickets that continued to be spat out of the machine.
I was impressed, truly; they were purging the only available ticket machine of train tickets to gift to protestors that were in need of their travel expenses covered.
So I stood there gawking for a few minutes before the dad nudged the boy and told him to hand me a ticket. I was standing there, eyes-widened and heart-weakening as a boy, no more than 9 years old, shoved a pink plastic ticket into my hand. I was moved by this act of kindness.
In the end, the ticket didn’t allow me to exit at my stop as it hadn’t paid for the entire distance. However, that meant that I was able to keep the ticket as a memento for the time when I felt warmed by the kind-heartedness of Hong Kong people.
Whilst taken out of their own allowances, to them, it's not about the cost of the travel expenses, it's the sentiment embodied through helping each other, supportive actions and shows of solidarity.
Whilst I had already changed out of my protest attire and could afford to buy a ticket and catch the train, many hadn’t had the chance to take off their protest gear as they rushed from one venue to another. Most simply gate-hopped the barrier entrances to access the trains. And until later the evening, the father and son will remain to guard the ticket machine and giving out train tickets to guarantee protestors a means to return to their home.'
Aiden: Actually for mtr at the beginning of the protests, they weren’t vandalised so most people, like the father and son, were giving out changes and train tickets to protestors so they could return home safely. But after this certain incident on the 31st of August, the attitudes towards the mtr train system in Hong Kong completely changed. People started vandalising the system and that is like a good representation of what actually happened and what changed towards the mtr system I guess.
Angela: I think you’re actually missing the point with this piece. I think the person was really moved by this act of kindness. I think to them...I mean they literally say, ‘for that one time I felt warmed by the kind-heartedness of Hong Kong people.’ I think this person has either not felt it before and this was new to them or this was really really warming, but either way, it showed that it was a very different atmosphere of the entire community during those times. There was solidarity felt amongst the people and when things like these happen, it's touching to see it.
Aiden: I think there is a general feeling that Hong Kong people are cold before all of this happened. I grew up in Hong Kong and I was taught, ‘Don’t talk to other people, they might not be as nice as you think.’ Especially with big cities, there's just this general feeling that people are not nice to you but obviously, with this event that happened to the person who submitted the confession, it changed their attitude completely towards the general feeling for the character of Hong Kong people.
'It wasn’t until much later when I found out that my dad was present during the Prince Edward station incident on August 31st. In brief, the incident involved the alleged riot police ‘storming’ of Prince Edward mtr and were seen ‘beating people with their batons inside train carriages...and deploying pepper spray, with many passengers seen to be cowering and bleeding.’ (HKFP) During the incident, the police were seen assaulting both protestors and commuters alike and the date ‘831’ has since gone down as one of the key turning points of the movement.
According to him, he initially saw 60 protestors running into the carriage and all started to degear and change their attire. Commuters like himself on the train wanted to get home and a couple confronted the protestors and pleaded with them to get off so that the rest could get home. What started off as a verbal fight turned into a series of umbrella throwing before someone set off the fire alarm. Mass panic ensued before someone called the police. Whilst he had left just before the fire alarm went off and was unharmed, to hear it from his perspective was unsettling. With plenty of TV footage to indulge in, there had been this distance between your person and the incident itself. But for my own family member to have been at the scene of action, that was a further reminder of how much the movement has truly impacted our lives. Nothing about the summer of 2019 was normal.'
Aiden: This news outlet in Hong Kong called RTHK actually did a full-on documentary about this incident and so if you are actually interested in finding out more about the details of what actually happened on that day, please make sure to check that out because it's actually very well made.
'Compared to the many people who were in Hong Kong, present during the introduction of the Extradition Bill and the first of the protests back in late March/early April, I was rather slow in coming to the scene. It wasn’t until the morning of July 30th when I properly realised that the movement wasn’t just something you saw happening on a screen. Witnessing first hand the civil unrest caused by the non-cooperation movement at my local mtr station made me aware of the severity of the situation.
Previously, I remember joking with my family how the disturbances were never going to reach our neighbourhood. We lived in a nice residential area, set slightly apart from areas that were prone to chaos and community disputes, and it was simply unlikely for conflict of any sort to take place near our home.
But it did. And if it wasn’t for the suspension in train services during the morning rush hour on that particular morning, forcing me to queue for the bus, I wouldn’t have realised until much later on that there was no choice as to whether I wanted to get involved; everyone was ‘touched’ by it in some way and you simply were just ‘there’, at the centre of the action alongside everyone else. It was daily life.
Whilst it may have seemed an inconvenience at the time and made me late for work, it made me realise that the movement wasn’t this non-interacting climate, separate to my daily life, but one that affected people of all social categories and backgrounds.
Both out of fear for personal safety but also because it became something so recurrent in my daily life that it became impossible to ignore, I began to get more emotionally involved. There are certain things that once you see for the first time, you won’t be able to unsee. Similarly, the protests of that summer and implications on daily life was like an elephant in the room, unspoken of at home due to its sensitivity but impossible to neglect.'
Angela: Yeah, very much so. Back then, in the news, there were a lot of these reports of relationships breaking apart, falling out, people getting divorced because of political differences. These also happened in households as well which is obviously why this person referred to it as ‘an elephant in the room, unspoken of at home due to its sensitivity but impossible to neglect.’ As the person said, it was daily life. Regardless of where you positioned yourself in the whole thing, whether you were involved or you weren’t, even if you were abroad actually, even if you weren’t in Hong Kong, it still impacted how you felt. For me, it gave me anxiety.
But about the morning rush hour and the train thing, civil disturbances and unrests, that definitely did happen. I remember when I was working over the summer, there were these days when you didn’t know whether your colleagues were going to show up to work, you didn’t even know whether you were able to get to work that morning. You could be waiting there at the bus station and not know whether the trains were going to work for hours until everything stopped and it was just bizarre.
Aiden: I still remember quite vividly how annoyed my supervisor was on the first day of the non-cooperation movement. Though, her attitude towards it gradually changed. I mean I can’t speak for her, but I feel like as with many other Hong Kong people, they just started to empathise with the people taking part in the non-cooperation movement more. Obviously, many people were still very annoyed. Protests in Hong Kong (used to) be held mainly during the weekends and you would go back to work on the weekdays. You can see from this how important work is to Hong Kong people and so obviously people were going to be annoyed. I actually really empathise and understand why people were so annoyed.
Angela: It's all a balance of work during the week and the protests on the weekends. The tensions and emotions are so high that everyone just needs a break.
Aiden: Obviously things have changed and recently people are now going to protests during lunch breaks, after work and so circumstances have definitely changed in Hong Kong. Though, it's actually kind of interesting because you see the same movement but also how much it has changed since the start. So there is that.
Editor and Transcriptor: Angela Zhou
Podcast Hosts: Angela Zhou and Aiden Chan
As a blanket disclaimer for the entire ‘Hong Kong: One Year Ago Today’ initiative, we will not be disclosing the identities of any of the contributors to the initiative. We thank everyone who has submitted a piece of their own work and we apologise for not being able to openly accredit you for your contributions.