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Anthropology
Social Anthropology

Fugitive Hong Kong

Profile image of Laura A MeekLaura A Meek

2023, Current Anthropology

https://doi.org/10.1086/728184
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13 pages

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Abstract

This photographic essay reflects on fugitive forms of protest in Hong Kong. Photographs span the peak of the prodemocracy movement in 2019 to current postactivist practices of protesting otherwise in 2023. In the face of state surveillance and repression, even the slogan 光復香港時代革命 (Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!) became illegal, and spaces that were previously animated with revolutionary dreams now stand stark, quiet, and apparently immobilized. International media accounts portray today’s Hong Kong as a monolithically hopeless place drowning in political despair. We offer these images to create a new narrative, one that insists on the ongoing fugitive experiments in what is still a dynamic and becoming-otherwise city. Coded language games proliferate around Hong Kong, from cupcakes to graffiti to license plates. Much of today’s political action capitalizes on censorship itself, deploying gaps and absences such as blank pieces of paper as a mode of protest. We show how activists draw on the capaciousness of such symbols to build emergent cartographies of open experimentation, transnational solidarity, and defiant rebellion. Our invitation is to become fugitive anthropologists who might augment these possibilities percolating, harboring, and emerging in and from the cracks. 這篇图像文章反映了在香港高壓下隱匿的抗議形式。照片的時間跨度從 2019 年民主運動的高峰期到 2022 年當前的後運動主義的抗議實踐。面對政權的監控和鎮壓，甚至連”光復香港，時代革命” (Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!) 的口號都成為非法的，而那些曾經充滿革命夢想的空間，如今也變得荒涼，安靜，顯得缺乏動力。國際媒體將今天的香港描繪成一個淹沒在政治絕望中的毫無希望的地方。我們提供這些圖片是為了創造一種新的敘事方式，一種堅持在這個仍然充滿活力、正在成為一個不同的城市的地方持續進行的隱匿抗議的敘事方式。從紙杯蛋糕、塗鴉到車牌，暗語遊戲在香港隨處可見。當今的許多政治行動都利用了審查制度本身，將空白和缺失（如白紙）作為一種抗議方式。我們要展示的是，抗議者如何利用這些符號的容量來建構開放實驗、跨國團結和反抗性反叛的新興圖譜。我們邀請大家成為隱匿的人類學家，增添这些在裂縫中醞釀、蘊藏和湧現的可能性。

Key takeaways
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AI

  1. The text explores fugitive forms of protest in Hong Kong from 2019 to 2023.
  2. State repression, including the national security law (NSL), has criminalized dissenting voices and symbols.
  3. Activists adapt to censorship by using coded language and creative symbols like blank paper for protest.
  4. The narrative challenges monolithic portrayals of Hong Kong, emphasizing ongoing acts of resistance and hope.
  5. Emergent cartographies of solidarity and rebellion suggest a dynamic, evolving political landscape in Hong Kong.
Figures (17)
Figure 1. “Ideas are bulletproof” spray-painted on the ground at the University of Hong Kong campus. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 1. “Ideas are bulletproof” spray-painted on the ground at the University of Hong Kong campus. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 2. Mass protest march across Hong Kong island, chanting “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!” December 8, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 2. Mass protest march across Hong Kong island, chanting “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times!” December 8, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 3. Bricks dislodged from the University of Hong Kong campus were transported in shopping carts to construct barricades, like those blocking the heavily trafficked Pokfulam Road outside. For days, no vehicles could pass, and the highway was transformed into a pedestrian path to an otherwise world in the making. Note the bloodred Pillar of Shame monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre in the back-right corner. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 3. Bricks dislodged from the University of Hong Kong campus were transported in shopping carts to construct barricades, like those blocking the heavily trafficked Pokfulam Road outside. For days, no vehicles could pass, and the highway was transformed into a pedestrian path to an otherwise world in the making. Note the bloodred Pillar of Shame monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre in the back-right corner. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 4. Pokfulam Road barricaded outside the University of Hong Kong campus. Spray-painted on red and yellow plastic were the words “Sir. This. Way.” and a smiley face. The upcoming December graduation ceremony was canceled, and its wonted adornments— “Congratulations Class of 2019”—were repurposed by students for their own revolutionary dreams. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 4. Pokfulam Road barricaded outside the University of Hong Kong campus. Spray-painted on red and yellow plastic were the words “Sir. This. Way.” and a smiley face. The upcoming December graduation ceremony was canceled, and its wonted adornments— “Congratulations Class of 2019”—were repurposed by students for their own revolutionary dreams. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 5. The last official Tiananmen Square massacre candlelight vigil to be held in Victoria Park. The leaders have since beer arrested, and their organization—the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China—was forcibly disbanded. June 4, 2020. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 5. The last official Tiananmen Square massacre candlelight vigil to be held in Victoria Park. The leaders have since beer arrested, and their organization—the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China—was forcibly disbanded. June 4, 2020. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 6. The Pillar of Shame monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre, which stood on the University of Hong Kong campus since its erection in 1997. Each year students and teachers per- formed an annual ritual—or “wake work” (Sharpe 2016)—in which they gathered to solemnly clean the statue on June 4. In October 2021 the University of Hong Kong announced plans to tear it down, leading to a legal battle with the monument’s artist, Jens Galschiot. The 26-foot tall statue was finally removed on Christ- mas Eve 2021 and replaced with a blandly inoffensive, post- modernist sitting area, reminiscent of an airport lounge (see fig. 8). October 15, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 6. The Pillar of Shame monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre, which stood on the University of Hong Kong campus since its erection in 1997. Each year students and teachers per- formed an annual ritual—or “wake work” (Sharpe 2016)—in which they gathered to solemnly clean the statue on June 4. In October 2021 the University of Hong Kong announced plans to tear it down, leading to a legal battle with the monument’s artist, Jens Galschiot. The 26-foot tall statue was finally removed on Christ- mas Eve 2021 and replaced with a blandly inoffensive, post- modernist sitting area, reminiscent of an airport lounge (see fig. 8). October 15, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 7. Offerings at the Pillar of Saame monument on the University of Hong Kong campus shortly after the university’s intention to remove the monument was announced. Like many others, we went to the monument this day to see whether it was still standing and to pay our respects while we still could. October 15, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 7. Offerings at the Pillar of Saame monument on the University of Hong Kong campus shortly after the university’s intention to remove the monument was announced. Like many others, we went to the monument this day to see whether it was still standing and to pay our respects while we still could. October 15, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 8. This seemingly serene sitting area was erected in the space where the former Pillar of Shame monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre once stood on the University of Hong Kong campus (see fig. 6). The statue was surreptitiously wrapped in white cloth and removed by security guards and construction workers near midnight on Christmas Eve 2021. During the months that followed, this sitting area was almost always empty—one of many indexical absences in the fugitive city. July 12, 2022. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 8. This seemingly serene sitting area was erected in the space where the former Pillar of Shame monument to the Tiananmen Square massacre once stood on the University of Hong Kong campus (see fig. 6). The statue was surreptitiously wrapped in white cloth and removed by security guards and construction workers near midnight on Christmas Eve 2021. During the months that followed, this sitting area was almost always empty—one of many indexical absences in the fugitive city. July 12, 2022. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 9. A Lennon Wall before they were torn down or ren- dered blank. Note the heterogeneity of views expressed—from proclaiming an independent Hong Kong to a world with “nc borders” and “no nations.” Some of the Chinese notes read #7 Jn (Hong Kong add oil), # fit MARKT (the revolution ha: not succeeded), #{—/5## (don’t shirk responsibilities), anc AeA, EGR POS DI | AHERE AL EH, 7 NAB (Hong Kongers, please keep going. . . . Add oil! For democracy anc freedom, never say retreat). September 13, 2020. Credit: Bai Hua
Figure 9. A Lennon Wall before they were torn down or ren- dered blank. Note the heterogeneity of views expressed—from proclaiming an independent Hong Kong to a world with “nc borders” and “no nations.” Some of the Chinese notes read #7 Jn (Hong Kong add oil), # fit MARKT (the revolution ha: not succeeded), #{—/5## (don’t shirk responsibilities), anc AeA, EGR POS DI | AHERE AL EH, 7 NAB (Hong Kongers, please keep going. . . . Add oil! For democracy anc freedom, never say retreat). September 13, 2020. Credit: Bai Hua
Figure 10. Lennon Walls—named after the Lennon Wall in Prague—first appeared in Hong Kong during the 2014 Umbrell Movement and proliferated around the city during the height of the 2019 protests. The walls were typically bedecked with stick notes, and these small pieces of paper have now congealed such symbolic force that even when left blank they signify an otherwis that cannot be named. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 10. Lennon Walls—named after the Lennon Wall in Prague—first appeared in Hong Kong during the 2014 Umbrell Movement and proliferated around the city during the height of the 2019 protests. The walls were typically bedecked with stick notes, and these small pieces of paper have now congealed such symbolic force that even when left blank they signify an otherwis that cannot be named. November 14, 2019. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 11. A Lennon Wall at a “yellow” (prodemocracy) space in Hong Kong. These blank pieces of paper, deafening in their censored silence, enact a fugitivity, a furtive and defiant playfulness. The intentionally terrifying ambiguities of the national security law cast a pall of uncertainty over whether such blank sticky notes are illegal—and punishable. November 29, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 11. A Lennon Wall at a “yellow” (prodemocracy) space in Hong Kong. These blank pieces of paper, deafening in their censored silence, enact a fugitivity, a furtive and defiant playfulness. The intentionally terrifying ambiguities of the national security law cast a pall of uncertainty over whether such blank sticky notes are illegal—and punishable. November 29, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 12. Blank pieces of white printer paper—indexing words that must now be left unwritten—border a sign that reads FX! 1A IE YASH SUE (1 fucking love Hong Kong). This phrase too is code for protest slogans that have become illegal to utter in public. November 29, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 12. Blank pieces of white printer paper—indexing words that must now be left unwritten—border a sign that reads FX! 1A IE YASH SUE (1 fucking love Hong Kong). This phrase too is code for protest slogans that have become illegal to utter in public. November 29, 2021. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 13. An anonymously posted drawing of a protester with the slogan “Be water, my friend” left on the walls outside the former student union office at the University of Hong Kong. Note the umbrella—icon of the 2014 Umbrella Movement—and the yellow color that represents prodemocracy. The University of Hong Kong student union (HKUSU) moved out of this building after the university severed all ties with it and gave students one week to vacate the premises before changing the locks and stationing security guards outside. April 30, 2021. Credit: Bai Hua.
Figure 13. An anonymously posted drawing of a protester with the slogan “Be water, my friend” left on the walls outside the former student union office at the University of Hong Kong. Note the umbrella—icon of the 2014 Umbrella Movement—and the yellow color that represents prodemocracy. The University of Hong Kong student union (HKUSU) moved out of this building after the university severed all ties with it and gave students one week to vacate the premises before changing the locks and stationing security guards outside. April 30, 2021. Credit: Bai Hua.
Figure 14. Language games can appear in even the most prosaic of places, like on these cupcakes in the window of a “yellow” (prodemocracy) bakery. The cupcake on the left reads “Hong Kong, add oil,” a popular slogan during the protests. Read vertically, the characters are #7 /# (Hong Kong), and read horizontally, they are JM} (add oil). Meanwhile, the cupcake on the right is written in coded block characters for 3672 #5, FF{K4# Ait (Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times)—a slogan that is now illegal. Au- gust 31, 2020. Credit: Bai Hua.
Figure 14. Language games can appear in even the most prosaic of places, like on these cupcakes in the window of a “yellow” (prodemocracy) bakery. The cupcake on the left reads “Hong Kong, add oil,” a popular slogan during the protests. Read vertically, the characters are #7 /# (Hong Kong), and read horizontally, they are JM} (add oil). Meanwhile, the cupcake on the right is written in coded block characters for 3672 #5, FF{K4# Ait (Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times)—a slogan that is now illegal. Au- gust 31, 2020. Credit: Bai Hua.
Figure 15. Riot police cordoning off Victoria Park, where the annual vigil for the Tiananmen Square massacre was outlawed. Laura Meek in foreground. Like many others, we furtively snapped photos, trying to escape notice. June 4, 2022. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 15. Riot police cordoning off Victoria Park, where the annual vigil for the Tiananmen Square massacre was outlawed. Laura Meek in foreground. Like many others, we furtively snapped photos, trying to escape notice. June 4, 2022. Credit: Laura Meek.
Figure 16. Protesters spray-painted this calligraphic couplet across the Swire Bridge. The poem, originally created by University of Hong Kong students in response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, reads / IL Eeeae ESERIES, STIR EIAT (The souls of the martyrs shall forever linger despite the brutal massacre / the spark of democracy shall forever glow for the demise of evil). In a decades-old annual rite—or “wake work” (Sharpe 2016)—students and teachers would repaint this verse every year on June 4. October 9, 2021. Credit: Bai Hua.
Figure 16. Protesters spray-painted this calligraphic couplet across the Swire Bridge. The poem, originally created by University of Hong Kong students in response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, reads / IL Eeeae ESERIES, STIR EIAT (The souls of the martyrs shall forever linger despite the brutal massacre / the spark of democracy shall forever glow for the demise of evil). In a decades-old annual rite—or “wake work” (Sharpe 2016)—students and teachers would repaint this verse every year on June 4. October 9, 2021. Credit: Bai Hua.
Figure 17. Graffiti in To Kwa Wan, Hong Kong. 367 #5 HRF{C42 Air (Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times). October 7. 2021. Credit: Bai Hua.
Figure 17. Graffiti in To Kwa Wan, Hong Kong. 367 #5 HRF{C42 Air (Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times). October 7. 2021. Credit: Bai Hua.

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Lu Pan

Public Art Dialogue Volume 4, Issue 1, 2014 Special Issue: Murals

This article uses two specific cases of graffiti in contemporary Hong Kong, the “graffiti girl” incident and the work of the “King of Kowloon,” to divulge some of the neglected origins of cultural anxieties in Hong Kong. Using Alexandre Kojève's idea of “the end of history” (1980), the article argues that the two cases combine to unfold the real tension and dilemma of Hong Kong today: a tension not only between a “free” Hong Kong versus a totalitarian PRC but, more acutely, a tension between a Hong Kong that believes it is making/experiencing history and a City that has already passed the end of history. The article illustrates this paradox through an exploration into the relationship between graffiti and graffiti artists on the one hand, and the public, cultural institutions and the authorities, on the other hand. The goal of this essay is to show how aesthetic forms mobilize themselves and illuminate Hong Kong's society attitude towards politics.

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HONG KONG, OR HOW SOCIAL STRUGGLES CAN REINFORCE THE CARTOGRAPHY OF CAPITALIST ENCLOSURE
Jon Solomon

Euronomade, 2020

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Related topics

  • Social Movements
  • Anthropology
  • Visual Anthropology
  • Censorship
  • Photography
  • Political Anthropology
  • Social and Cultural Anthropology
  • Surveillance Studies
  • East Asian Studies
  • Anthropology of China
  • Anthropology of the State
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