Debating Hong Kong’s crises: launch event of the Hong Kong Studies Association

Abstract

Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, is at a critical juncture. In the summer of 2019, anxieties about the erosion of human rights and the rule of law and the prospects for democratisation drove citizens from different generations and professions to participate in protests, which at their peak saw over a quarter of the city’s population demonstrating in the streets.

Initially, protesters mainly voiced their opposition to proposed legislation that would have allowed for extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China. Since then, clashes between protesters and the police have intensified and the demands of some protesters have extended to calls for the Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s resignation, for a public inquiry into police brutality, for the release of those wrongfully arrested and – echoing the demands of the 2014 Hong Kong ‘Occupy’ movement -- for greater democratic freedoms and independence from the PRC.

This inaugural seminar of the Hong Kong Studies Association aims to explore Hong’s Kong’s complex constitutional and political relationship with the central authorities of the PRC and the legal, political, and psychological impact of the protests on the people of Hong Kong and their future.

Dr Malte Kaeding will introduce the Hong Kong Studies Association and the panellists, Billy Fung, Dr Shirley Kong, Dr Tim Pringle and Eric Yan-ho Lai. The Q and A session will be moderated by Dr Heidi Wang-Kaeding.

Speaker biographies

Billy Fung Jing-en is an activist in Hong Kong. He served as President of The Hong Kong University Students’ Union in 2015-2016. During which, he strove for safeguarding academic freedom in Hong Kong from Peking’s invisible hand and actively participated in social movement since then. Because of his engagement in various protests, he was convicted for three counts of criminal charges in 2017.  After earning a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2017, he served as a research assistant at HKU. In 2018, he pursued a Master of Science (MSc) degree in the field of politics of China at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Now, he is doing his second master’s degree at National Taiwan University.

Shirley Sui-Ting Kong is currently teaching in the Department of Sociology at Durham University (UK). Her research areas include violence against women, innovative feminist methods and social work practice research. Her work and research experiences in Hong Kong have shaped her recent focus on the gendered and personal impact that political participation may have on women protesters particularly in a context of political violence.

Tim Pringle is Senior Lecturer in Labour, Social Movements, and Development at School of Oriental and African Studies. He embarked on a PhD program at the University of Warwick while simultaneously working as a co-investigator on a major research project examining trade union reform in Russia, China and Vietnam. Tim has published his research in numerous trade union, labour NGO and peer-reviewed journals and contributed chapters to many edited books. Previously he worked with various labour rights organisations in Hong Kong and Mainland China. He is the editor of China Quarterly.

Eric Yan-ho Lai is a Doctoral Candidate in the School of Law at SOAS University of London and an activist in Hong Kong. His research area covers law and politics and the rule of law culture in Hong Kong. He served as President of Student Union of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2010-11, and the Convenor of Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) in 2011-12. After earning a Bachelor of Social Science (BSSc) degree from CUHK, he pursued a Master of Science degree in political sociology at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He continues to be an active member of CHRF in the anti-extradition protest in Hong Kong. He is now a part-time lecturer in the Department of Government and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University.