Abstract
The Chinese government’s rejection of proposals for political reform at the end of 2014 signalled the failure of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. Since then, pessimism and a certain weary gloom has descended on Hong Kong’s civil society while its actors actively continue to search and debate the direction of the next step. This volume, edited by Edmund Cheng and Samson Yuen, documents the background and provides a detailed account of the development of social movements in Hong Kong in the past two decades.
The book is divided into four sections, namely (1) an overview of social movements in Hong Kong; (2) the plurality of social movements; (3) the practical experience of social movements; and (4) the interaction between the regime and social movements. The first and the last sections are in fact the core of this volume because they give a thorough summary of the development of social movements since the handover in 1997 and shed light on the regime’s response to contentious politics taking place on the ground – a point which is often overlooked.
In an insightful first section, Ngok Ma’s chapter lays out a solid foundation for understanding the trajectory of the biggest democratic movement in Hong Kong from the 1980s to the Umbrella Movement. This democratic movement spanning 30 years has witnessed both the heyday and dissipation of the ‘parliamentary route’ championed by the opposition, resulting in the opposition camp largely ditching compromise and cooperation and increasingly turning to politics on the streets after the transfer of sovereignty.
While Ma’s chapter examines the development of social movements in Hong Kong, Wing-sang Law’s chapter explains this development from the perspective of identity politics. Law argues that the nature of Hong Kong’s social movements has changed from moderate to radical because of the paradigm shift of the discourse within the opposition camp. The then prevalent idea of ‘democratic return’ (民主回歸論) was the only comparatively comprehensive and available discourse during the handover, which limited the range of action and imagination of democratic activists. After a series of movements to preserve the identity of Hong Kong since 2006, the idea of local identity has emerged and slowly become a major discourse. It culminated in the Umbrella Movement and, according to Law, the Hong Kong identity can only be forged through interactions in social movements. In the last chapter of the first section, Kin-ming Kwong argues that the Hong Kong identity has, however, emerged from the continuing deviation of ‘one country, two systems’ since 1997. He quotes the inaugural speech of the then Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, in the handover ceremony in 1997 to show how Tung’s speech matched perfectly the rationale behind the Umbrella Movement.
It is almost inevitable that Hong Kong–China relations enter into the discussion of social movement, especially the democratic movement in Hong Kong, and, not surprisingly, it always touches a nerve with the Chinese government. In the last section of this volume, Samson Yuen’s chapter systematically summarizes the regime’s responses to the Umbrella Movement and reveals different tactics employed by both the Hong Kong and Chinese governments – for instance, depleting the momentum of the movement through stalling as well as maintaining cohesion among the establishment elites and expelling disobedient members in highly publicized moves.
While this volume is much appreciated, there are several shortcomings. A number of chapters are overly ambitious in their attempt to achieve too many aims within a limited scope, which results in a loss of focus. For instance, Kwong’s chapter makes a good attempt to locate the origin of the Hong Kong identity in the first part, but the inclusion of case studies on Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia and their use of local Chinese dialects to distance themselves from mainland China blurs the focus of Kwong’s attempts to articulate the essence and origin of Hong Kong’s identity. In her chapter, Klavier Wang tries to contrast ‘media logic’ with ‘political logic’ in social movements by juxtaposing Hong Kong and Taiwan. However, the ‘China factor’ in social movements which Wang subsequently examines fails to resonate with the logic of both the media and politics.
Although this book covers almost every aspect of the Umbrella Movement, it leaves a void with regard to the role of political parties during the movement. What role did the traditional parties play in the movement? Why did they fail to dominate the movement, despite sharing a similar agenda with the activists? Chris Chan’s chapter does a wonderful job of analysing the role of political groups in social movements, and it also discusses the dilemma faced by these groups – for instance, whether or not to stay on the street or join institutions. Indeed, more attention should be paid to the role of political parties in Hong Kong’s democratic movement.
All in all, this edited volume is much needed in light of the shroud of pessimism which has descended on Hong Kong’s civil society in the aftermath of the Umbrella Movement. It would be of interest to all Hong Kong people who are feeling helpless in the face of the mighty authoritarian regime because it offers reflections and a rethink of contentious politics in Hong Kong’s democratic movement.