Wake up（385）

 

385

 

Wanru drove away from Tsuen Wan Plaza, and took Nan Yangsheng for a night tour of Hong Kong.

Along the way, she told stories about Hong Kong people.

Wanru said that in the third year after the outbreak of the anti-extradition movement, a member of the "Hong Kong People in Germany Association" Hong Kong girl Ah Meng sat at her home in Germany and was busy designing for the third anniversary of 612. The association is almost the same age as the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong. It is a non-governmental organization spontaneously organized by Hong Kong people in Germany.

Ameng moved to Germany in 2017 due to marrying a German husband. She was not used to it when she first came, and she returned to Hong Kong every year to visit relatives, until the outbreak of the anti-extradition movement and the global pandemic of the new crown in 2019, and then never went back.

When he was young, Ah Meng was the kind of person who was called a "Hong Kong pig". "Hong Kong pigs" refer to those who are not keen on political affairs, but only want to live a stable life.

In 1989, Ah Meng, who lived in Hong Kong, "witnessed" June 4th from overwhelming media reports. Before the handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997, she planned to immigrate to foreign countries with her relatives and friends, but at that time she naively thought that it should be fine. The CCP has no reason to do so. Destroy Hong Kong? Isn't destroying Hong Kong the same as demolishing itself? At that time, the social atmosphere also generally believed that Hong Kong should not change, as long as the economy is good. They are willing to believe that "fifty years will not change".

In 2014, Beijing's "831 Decision" de facto reneged on its promise of universal suffrage, triggering the Occupy Central movement. This time, Ah Meng was finally awakened by the blast. She was particularly moved by the concept of "love and peace" of the third son of Occupy Central. Expressing his demands in a peaceful way, he was prepared for self-sacrifice to be arrested by the government from the very beginning, which is very similar to June Fourth in Ah Meng's view.

She believes that the college students who gathered in front of the monument in 1989 just wanted to mourn the death of Hu Yaobang, and they used very peaceful means at the beginning. They were all for the good of the country, not for confrontation with the government. During the two months of Occupy Central, people slept on the streets every day, and the government did not come to negotiate. Instead, it cleared the place violently on the 79th day of the movement. So she began to rethink, is it really all about making money? Why does the government always make you feel that politics has nothing to do with you? Thinking about the past, she realized that she was a frog that had been stewed in warm water for a long time.

Tens of thousands of people participated in the anti-amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. After the 30th anniversary of the June 4 incident on June 4, 2019, the scale exceeded The "Umbrella Movement" in Hong Kong. The FDC said that the scale of the parade on that Sunday exceeded the July 1, 500,000 parade in 2003, with 1.03 million people participating in the parade.

Police said the peak attendance was 240,000. The Hong Kong police said on the same day that seven people were arrested during the parade on charges of ordinary assault, criminal damage, and assaulting the police. Hong Kong government officials have previously stated that they have no intention of withdrawing the draft, and emphasized that the draft only includes serious crimes and will not affect freedom of assembly, press, and speech.

In 2019, the anti-extradition movement broke out in Hong Kong. Meng was surprised by the daily TV images: one million people took to the streets, and two million people took to the streets, but the government treated them as nothing. Like Moses dividing the Red Sea, the crowd gave way to allow the ambulances to pass. As a Hong Kong native, she feels very proud on the one hand, but on the other hand feels sad and helpless because of the constant projection of tear gas and water cannon trucks. Finally, on the fifth anniversary of 831, Ah Meng took to the streets of Germany for the first time to support Hong Kong people.

For that event, Ah Meng made two designs. One is to combine several groups of Chinese, English, German fonts and Cantonese pinyin in the style of Kowloon Emperor's calligraphy. She believes: "Zeng Zaocai is a fool, and others also think that the protesters are fools, but we still insist." In another design, Ameng used the first half of the German word "Freiheit" (freedom) (Frei = freedom) 的) combined with the Chinese word "Freedom"—it is both "Freiheit" and "Freedom heit" (pronounced similarly to free hi/閪).

Whenever asked, she would tell the stories behind the designs. Only in this way, based on the fifty and a half years since the reunification, faced with the unrecognizable Hong Kong after the Hong Kong version of the national security law, can she feel a little bit of guilt for not having the courage to stand up.

Along the way, Wanru told Nan Yangsheng the stories of Hong Kong celebrities and entertainers during the year of demonstrations.

As protests in Hong Kong have turned into a struggle against China's authoritarian rule, one of the city's most famous pop singers has become a symbol of resistance. Denise Ho, the Cantopop singer, is just one of many high-profile figures in the decentralized protest movement, who has spoken at numerous rallies, handed out voter registration forms at marches and been on the front lines with demonstrators calling for riot control The police don't charge.

But among the celebrities in Hong Kong, Denise Ho is just an outlier. Five years ago, Denise Ho put her career at risk to support Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement and paid the price - being barred from the lucrative mainland Chinese market.

Ho defended the latest protests after a caucus of young protesters stormed Hong Kong's Legislative Council on Monday, in a damaging turn for the movement. That day, she left a peaceful march to join a crowd cheering for students outside the Legislative Council. She was still at the scene after midnight when hundreds of riot police, some of whom used tear gas, entered the legislature to disperse them.

Ho's popularity skyrocketed in China in 2014, where she played more than 100 concerts. She then joined protests in Hong Kong, calling for freer elections in the semi-autonomous territory.

The Chinese government banned her from performing and pulled her songs from streaming sites. Denise Ho said being blacklisted cut her annual income by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Being banned will only embolden Ho, reminding her of the need to protect free speech and other civil liberties that set Hong Kong apart from the rest of China.

Denise Ho said in an interview not long ago: "For me, everything is for the people, for the power that the people are empowered, and for them to believe that we can control our own destiny."

But to other celebrities whose careers are increasingly dependent on the mainland market, Ho's punishment is the latest warning from a Communist Party that is extremely intolerant of political dissent. Most stars stay away from politics. Others chose to support Beijing, and it paid off.

"Most of these people are silent," Ho said. She live-streamed her participation in demonstrations, including one where she appeared to be shoved by a police officer. "It's very frustrating and certainly lonely, especially for young people."

Denise Ho gave speeches at the Oslo Freedom Forum (Oslo Freedom Forum), wrote columns, gave interviews, and used her special status to express the dissatisfaction of Hong Kong people to the world.

But amid mass protests in recent weeks against legislation that would allow the extradition of criminals to the mainland, Hong Kong entertainers have made few public appearances.

This is in stark contrast to 1989, when Hong Kong, still a British colony, was in the golden age of entertainment development and had little market in mainland China. That year, many stars gathered in Hong Kong's entertainment industry and appeared in a concert in support of the student democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Jackie Chan performed on stage, actors Andy Lau and Chow Yun Fat showed their support through the big screen.

In recent years, amid rising nationalist sentiment and rapid economic expansion on the mainland, mainland authorities, entertainment companies and fans have frequently snubbed entertainers who are perceived to be critical of Beijing.

In addition to Denise Ho, entertainers reportedly blacklisted after the 2014 protests known as the Umbrella Movement include Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung. Some stars have found themselves ostracized by mainland fans and entertainment companies. Job opportunities evaporate in an instant.

During the recent protests, several industry groups, including the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild, issued statements calling for the full withdrawal of the extradition bill.

However, apart from Denise Ho, only a few individual artists such as actor Anthony Wong Chau-sang and Cantonese singer Anthony Wong Yiu-ming spoke out for this.

Hong Kong actor Charmaine Sheh, who is popular in mainland China, has been attacked by netizens after she liked an Instagram image of a protest. Charmaine Sheh quickly apologized. "I was shocked when I later found out the content of the photo," Charmaine Sheh wrote on a Chinese social media site. "I love my country and Hong Kong!"

Some entertainers who only hinted at their support for the demonstrations were asked to take their stand.

Hong Kong actor and singer Miriam Yeung posted a picture on Instagram with the words RIP (May he go well), which many fans thought was a tribute to the protesters who fell to their deaths last month. Miriam Yeung later deleted the post without explanation, which led fans to accuse her of bowing to mainland pressure.

Some stars, such as actor Tony Leung Ka Fai and singer Chung Chung Tao, have publicly supported the police, even as protesters accused them of using excessive force in dispersing crowds.

"Why we came out today is actually a bit dangerous for public figures," Leung Ka-fai said at a rally in support of the police on Sunday. "But we're not talking about politics, we're talking about justice."

Jackie Chan, the Hong Kong-born actor of “Rush Hour” fame, was in Taiwan last month to promote his new album, just days after hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers took to the streets to fight the extradition bill. When the reporter asked about his opinion on the demonstrations, Jackie Chan said that he just got the news. "I don't even know what it is," he said.

Wong Yiu Ming, 57, a Cantonese singer, is one of the few high-profile entertainers who, along with Denise Ho, have spoken out against the extradition bill. He came out as gay in 2012 and said the experience encouraged him to break the industry-wide silence on politics.

"I'm a citizen first," Wong said in a telephone interview. "I'm a musician second, and I'm a social activist."

But solidarity with the Umbrella Movement — a movement Beijing has dismissed as a national security threat — comes at a huge cost. Huang Yaoming said that the annual income from the Chinese market and international brand cooperation has been reduced by more than half.

"I've been singing for thirty years and can afford it," he said. "A lot of people will be too scared to express themselves publicly. That's the most chilling thing."

Denise Ho said that choosing to speak out has always made her feel liberated. "I feel so free," she said.

Addressing thousands of protesters at a rally Friday night, the singer urged them not to fear the arrest of several demonstrators and to carry on.

Wanru took Nanyang Sheng on a car tour of Hong Kong all the way, telling the stories of Hong Kong people along the way. Let Nan Yangsheng have a new understanding of Hong Kong.