Occupy Central Movement Research Articles

Influence of political movement on fields of study: Evidence from Hong Kong

Exposure to political movements may influence individuals’ behavior, such as decisions on fields of study. On the basis of the Hong Kong Population Census 2011 and 2016, this paper investigates the difference in fields of study between two cohorts, one exposed to the Occupy Central movement in 2014, by applying the cohort difference-in-differences approach. As a global business center, business-related fields of study have been popular among students in Hong Kong. However, the political movement triggered the interests of young people to study several nonbusiness-related fields, such as humanities, social and behavioral sciences, life sciences, health, and law. Significant differences in the effect exist across language speaking, household income, and gender. The study shows that political movement may affect education by triggering public awareness of related knowledge, but it varies by human capital, identity, and family background.

In sight, in mind: Spatial proximity to protest sites and changes in peoples' political attitudes

Occupying public spaces can be an effective tactic for conveying a semantic message of protest and gaining wider support; however, it may also severely disrupt the everyday lives of non-participants and causes a backfire. Therefore, it remains unclear whether and how the occupy movements have shifted political attitudes among the general public. Bringing a social-spatial perspective to the case of the Occupy Central Movement (OCM) in Hong Kong, this study investigates how the attitudinal impact of occupation has varied according to people's spatial proximity to the protest sites. Using two waves of individual-level panel data collected right before and after the OCM and detailed geo-information on the respondents' home addresses and the occupied areas, we apply a difference-in-differences (DIDs) design to identify the causal link between space and attitudes. In addition, propensity score matching (PSM) methods are used to ensure the comparability of nearby and faraway residents. The results show that after the OCM, residents living near the occupied areas not only maintained their support for the pro-democracy camp but also became more liberal as compared to faraway residents. This phenomenon can be explained by the "on-site" effect, which suggests that the direct exposure to protestors' solidarity and the repressive actions of authorities arouse bystanders' sympathy for the protestors and support for their political cause. Such influence appears to be long-lasting and can be evidenced by the local election results after the protest.

Media portrayals of the Hong Kong Occupy Central Movement’s social actors

Abstract We investigated how two English-language newspapers – Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) and the mainland China Daily (CD) – portrayed key social actors (police, students, protesters, and governments) during the Occupy Central/Yellow Umbrella movement. We examined emotional valence, arousal, and dominance characterizations in 1,180 news articles via a multilevel, multivariate outcome regression and critical discourse analysis. The findings reveal that emotional sentiments associated with students and protesters in SCMP were generally more positive than in CD but that this was reversed for the police and the government. Whereas SCMP deployed personal stories to construct a humanized image of protesters and students, CD relied on expert authority, rhetorical questions, and imagined scenarios to convey empathy towards Hong Kong residents, creating a villainized image of protesters. Our mixed-methods approach reveals how SCMP and CD portrayed students differently via the discursive frames of “optimistic dreamers” and “powerless scapegoats,” respectively.

Non-state Diplomacies and Norm-making during the Occupy Central and Umbrella Movement: Hong Kong’s Canadian Residents

ABSTRACT The article advances understanding of the relationships between diplomacies and governance and the role of non-state actors in them, through a case study of migrant norm-making. Drawing from 50 interviews, the analysis examines how Canadian residents of Hong Kong during the 2014 Occupy Central and Umbrella Movement protests enacted through their diplomatic practices what Wiener calls the “meanings-in-use” of norms—specifically, respect for democracy and human rights, as well as foreign non-interference. These NSA diplomatic practices made visible world order's contested multi-level normative frames within a local democratization struggle. The analysis provides starting points for research on how transnational lives, liminal identifications, class, denizenship, and state power shape NSA diplomacies. It advances the theorizing of norm-making within diplomacy, using insights from critical diplomacy studies, including the “other diplomacies” approach.

Learn to disobey: Evolution of “civil disobedience” and the transforming sociopolitical context of Hong Kong

AbstractThis article analyzes the collective action frame and its interaction with the sociopolitical context of Hong Kong. By tracing the history of civil disobedience, the authors argues that civil disobedience in Hong Kong has been localized by signifying agents as a spontaneous response to the sociopolitical contexts, rather than a planned action. The rapidly changing political environment and sovereignty issues from 1980 onwards had restricted the favorability for opting a planned civil disobedience movement. Through in‐depth interviews with protagonists, major civil disobedience attempts in Hong Kong, including (a) Yau Ma Tei Boat People Incident, (b) Protest regarding 1989 China’s June Fourth Incident, (c) Anti‐Public Order Ordinance Demonstrations, and (d) Citizens’ Radio Incident, are discussed. These four cases would be contrasted with the well‐planned Occupy Central Movement in 2014 to explain why the latter failed to materialize, and why future attempts of civil disobedience will become less possible in Hong Kong.

Legalization of the Chinese Communist Party’s Governance over Hong Kong

ABSTRACT The conflict between Mainland China and Hong Kong regarding the issue of how much autonomy Hong Kong would retain is becoming increasingly intense, especially after the Occupy Central Movement arose in 2014. This paper focuses on the “rule of law” policy under Xi’s government and analyzes how and why the CCP’s rule over Hong Kong was strengthened. Although Xi promotes the “rule of law,” it is different from the one in democracy. This paper, first, outlining the characteristics of the “rule of law” during Xi Jinping’s era and explaining the differences between the rule of law in democracy and the one in China. Second analysis is revealing the personal affairs and organizational structure of the party apparatus to see the linkage of the “rule of law” policy under Xi’s government with the CCP’s control over Hong Kong, and third is examining the reflection and rhetoric of the CCP’s “rule of law” governance over Hong Kong based on the politicians’ discourses. This paper reveals that the “rule of law” with Chinese characteristics implies standardizing the law, centralizing the power, and stabilizing society. The CCP has continually claimed to be “Governing Hong Kong according to Law” but the CCP would only accept the “rule of law” with these characteristics and, of course, without democratization.

Other diplomacies and Canadianness: Hong Kong-resident Canadians and the Occupy Central and Umbrella Movement protests

ABSTRACT This study examines the diplomatic practices of Hong Kong-resident Canadian nationals responding to the 2014 Occupy Central and Umbrella Movement. One of Hong Kong’s largest “foreign” populations and the second largest concentration of Canadians abroad, this population was mostly Hong Kong-born, dual nationals/residents and class privileged. Using an “other diplomacies” framework, the analysis examines how they represented Canadianness and identified/interpreted foreignness, practices with diplomatic characteristics even when performed by non-state actors. Drawing from 50 semi-structured interviews, the study found that in-betweenness and class shaped diplomatic practices. Interviewees often represented Canadianness as transnational/multi-jurisdictional, embodying liberal democratic values shared with Hong Kong and other jurisdictions/societies. Despite PRC government allegations that foreign forces and powers fomented the protests, most interviewees identified Canadian residents as politically non-foreign in Hong Kong and were broadly pro-protest. However, some disagreed with each other and the Canadian government over the reconciliation of business interests with representations of Canadianness. The findings, although tentative given data limitations, provide a rare glimpse of overseas Canadians’ diplomatic practices during Hong Kong’s ongoing, intensifying cycle of anti-government demonstrations. They suggest potential diplomatic and foreign policy challenges for the Canadian government confronting a rising PRC and underscore the need for more research on the political dimensions of Canadians abroad.

Hong Kong’s Civil Disobedience under China’s Authoritarianism

Acts of civil disobedience have significantly impacted Hong Kong’s liberal constitutional order, existing as it does under China’s authoritarian governance. Existing theories of civil disobedience have primarily paid attention to the situations of liberal democracies, but find it difficult to explain the unique case of the semi-democracy of Hong Kong. Based on a descriptive analysis of the practice of civil disobedience in Hong Kong, taking the Occupy Central Movement (OCM) of 2014 and the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) movement of 2019 as examples, this article attempts to explore the extent to which and how civil disobedience can be justified in Hong Kong’s rule of law-based order under China’s authoritarian system, and further aims to develop a conditional theory of civil disobedience for Hong Kong that goes beyond traditional liberal accounts. More specifically, it is argued that an act of civil disobedience targeted at the actions of the central government, which has no democratic accountability to the people of Hong Kong, is one aimed outside the domain of Hong Kong’s autonomy, and is thus unlikely to succeed in the Hong Kong context. By contrast, an act of civil disobedience intended to push against the government of Hong Kong acting within its domain of autonomy largely fits into Hong Kong’s semi-democratic system. Moreover, it is suggested that both forms of civil disobedience have had significant utilitarian value as a civic educational tool. Finally, this article seeks to reconcile unlawful acts of civil disobedience with Hong Kong’s rule of law by establishing clear limitations on permissible conduct, with particular attention paid to non-violence as a fundamental condition, albeit without excluding the use of limited forms of violence as an appropriate strategy, e.g. to invigorate political participation, in particular when available democratic and peaceful channels have been exhausted.

Depression and post-traumatic stress during major social unrest in Hong Kong: a 10-year prospective cohort study

Hong Kong has been embroiled in increasingly violent social unrest since June, 2019. We examined the associated population mental health burden, risk factors, and health-care needs. In a population-based prospective cohort, adult participants aged 18 years or older were assessed at nine timepoints from 2009. Probable depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (score ≥10) and suspected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (score ≥14), plus direct exposure to traumatic events related to the ongoing social unrest. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify factors associated with both outcomes, adjusting for doctor-diagnosed depression or anxiety disorders before the unrest. On the basis of routine service statistics and respondents' intention to seek professional care, we projected the number of additional ambulatory specialist psychiatric visits required. After the two baseline surveys, we followed up random subsets of 1213-1736 adults at each timepoint. Probable depression was reported by 11·2% (95% CI 9·8-12·7) of participants in 2019, compared with 1·9% (1·6-2·1) during 2009-14 and 6·5% (5·3-7·6) in 2017 after the Occupy Central Movement and before the current unrest. Prevalence of suspected PTSD in 2019 was estimated to be 12·8% (11·2-14·4). Age, sex, educational attainment, or household income were not associated with either outcome, whereas heavy social media use (≥2 h per day) was associated with both. Political attitude or protest participation was not associated with probable depression, but neutrality towards the extradition bill approximately halved the risk of suspected PTSD. Family support mitigated against probable depression. We estimated that the mental health burden identified would translate into roughly an excess 12% service requirement to the public sector queue or equivalent. We have identified a major mental health burden during the social unrest in Hong Kong, which will require substantial increases in service surge capacity. Health-care and social care professionals should be vigilant in recognising possible mental health sequelae. In a world of increasing unrest, our findings might have implications for service planning to better protect population mental health globally. Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.

CHENG, Edmund 鄭煒 and Samson YUEN 袁瑋

Conventionally portrayed by scholars as one of the most politically stable cities in Asia, Hong Kong has in fact witnessed numerous protests, social movements, and even periods of civil unrest over the past one hundred years, with its supposedly politically apathetic citizens taking to the streets to demand rights, freedoms, and better governance from both the colonial and post-colonial governments. The 79-day Occupy Central Movement in 2014, which became popularly known internationally as th...

Rule of Law with Asian Characteristics: cultural insights from the Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong

This article uses the Occupy Central social movement in Hong Kong as a natural experiment to consider whether Asian culture influences the understanding and exercise of fundamental rights. In an earlier article, the author explored the relationship between Chinese culture and the rule of law as measured by the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. This article relies on the earlier work but expands the analysis to consider Asian culture while at the same time focusing specifically on the fundamental rights aspect of the rule of law index. This article shows a strong correlation between lower scores for Asian countries on Individualism, as measured by the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture, and scores on fundamental rights, protection for freedom expression, and protection for freedom of association, as measured by the World Justice Project Index. This correlation is reflected by the Occupy Central movement. Although the movement was an exercise in fundamental rights, its purpose was to promote the rights of the community and the protests were carried out in a manner to reduce the impact on community rights When the movement ended, the negative consequences for the community were a significant reason, and the leaders of the movement were ultimately prosecuted for inciting a public nuisance.

Rule of Law with Asian Characteristics: Cultural Insights from the Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong

This article, which was accepted for publication in the Indonesian Journal of International Law, uses the Occupy Central social movement in Hong Kong as a natural experiment to consider whether Asian culture influences the understanding and exercise of fundamental rights. In an earlier article, the author explored the relationship between Chinese culture and the rule of law as measured by the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. This article relies on the earlier work, but expands the analysis to consider Asian culture while at the same time focusing specifically on the fundamental rights aspect of the rule of law index. This article shows a strong correlation between lower scores for Asian countries on Individualism, as measured by the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture, and scores on fundamental rights, protection for freedom expression, and protection for freedom of association, as measured by the World Justice Project Index. This correlation is reflected by the Occupy Central movement. Although the movement was an exercise in fundamental rights, its purpose was to promote the rights of the community and the protests were carried out in a manner to reduce the impact on community rights. When the movement ended, the negative consequences for the community were a significant reason, and the leaders of the movement were ultimately prosecuted for inciting a public nuisance.

Conceptualizations of sociopolitical culture in Hong Kong and Mainland China

AbstractThis study of media discourse focuses on how the sociopolitical culture in Hong Kong and Mainland China is conceptualized by the English-speaking press. To this end, the present research studies newspaper articles on the Hong Kong Occupy Central Movement published in Britain, the United States, and Australia. Cultural Linguistics, combined with corpus analytical techniques, is used to examine the construals ofhong kongandmainland china. A 303,455-word corpus which contains 402 articles was compiled for data analysis. It is found that the disagreement between the Hong Kong civilians and the Mainland Chinese government is often reported with metonymical conceptualizations (place for inhabitantsversusplace for the institution). In general, the sociopolitical culture in Hong Kong and Mainland China is imbued with negative emotions, disharmony, and power differences, as is evident from thebody,illness,disease,container, andpossessionconceptualizations. At the end of this paper, issues about researching conceptualizations in newspaper texts, such as the journalistic input, are discussed.

Hong Kong District Council elections 2015

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the results of Hong Kong’s 2015 District Council elections in order to test the repercussions of the Occupy Central Movement. The paper attempts to identify the political implications of the Movement as reflected by the 2015 election results.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology used for the paper was to collect election data and conduct data analysis to generalize the political implications of the Occupy Central Movement.FindingsThe paper found that, first, Hong Kong is still polarized, as most voters were divided into those who supported the Occupy Central Movement and those who opposed it. Second, there is no consensus regarding political reforms, as most voters were split into two antagonistic positions. Third, the activists of the Occupy Central Movement have formed a new political force that attracts voters who demand change. Fourth, the Occupy Central Movement has become a breeding ground that nurtures localism.Research limitations/implicationsThe 2015 District Council elections were a continuation of the Occupy Central Movement. The Movement affected the political balance between the pro-establishment and pan-democratic camps in the 2015 elections and it has shaped the democratization process in Hong Kong.Originality/valueThe paper was the product of an original research project that examined the results of the 2015 District Council elections to reflect on the implications of the Occupy Central Movement. The paper concluded that the 2015 elections sent important political messages to key political players in Hong Kong.

Political uncertainties in Hong Kong after the Occupy Central Movement

Political uncertainties in Hong Kong after the Occupy Central Movement

Transport resilience: The Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong from another perspective

This paper looks at the Occupy Central Movement (OCM) in Hong Kong from an innovative and understudied angle of transport resilience. With the OCM as a shock event, subsequent responses may be conceptualised as having three different phases. Phases One and Two refer to chaos at an adverse event’s initial outbreak, and the subsequent state of flux. Phase Three may or may not exist; it sets in when people in the society accept these adaptations as longer-term arrangements. Fragmented data and information about the severe disruptions and ensuing changes of the transport system during and after this shock event have been carefully assembled and systematically analysed in relation to the actions and adaptations made by the Government, the industry and the general public. With increasing urbanisation, all stakeholders, including city governments, the industry and the general public, need to be more prepared for large-scale disruptions caused not just by natural hazards but also human beings. Government actions alone are not sufficient. Speedy and concerted responses of the industry are indispensable in achieving transport resilience. Effective dissemination of information through different channels is critical. Moreover, there needs to be concrete steps towards establishing Key Resilience Performance Indicators for cities, covering both the hardware and software components of a transport system.

Ideological dissonances among Chinese-language newspapers in Hong Kong: A corpus-based analysis of reports on the Occupy Central Movement

The Occupy Central Movement was the biggest protest in Hong Kong in decades and caused an unprecedented division of opinion in society. Reports about the event in local Chinese media were remarkably different in stance and attitude. To understand the ideological dissonances and their linguistic construction, this article analyzes a corpus of 120 reports on the Occupy Central Movement from four major Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong, namely, Apple Daily, Ming Pao, Oriental Daily News and Ta Kung Pao, which cover the political spectrum from anti-Beijing to pro-Beijing. In total, 856 concordance lines of the two selected words ‘佔中’ ( occupy Central) and ‘佔領’ ( occupy) were annotated using the Attitude framework. Analysis shows that their attitudes toward the event form a continuum from supportive, through neutral, to antipathic. The attitudes do not simply reflect the stances of the newspapers, but are strategically selected and designed to legitimize or delegitimize the event. The pattern of attitudes reflects the ideological divergence in Hong Kong society, and at the same time, the news reports also exacerbate the divergence by reinforcing the attitudes of their readers.

The Rise of Localist Young Activists in Hong Kong

Six pro-independence/pro-autonomy individuals who ran for the Hong Kong elections were successfully elected to Hong Kong’s legislature in 2016, reflecting some public sentiments about the current state of affairs between Beijing and Hong Kong. As they are still young, they may stay on in power until the ‘one country, two systems’ ends. Since the Occupy Central movement, a series of social movements and standoffs such as the “Fishball Revolution” and other political events had taken place.

The Occupy Central (Umbrella) movement and mental health distress in the Hong Kong general public: political movements and concerns as potential structural risk factors of population mental health.

Political tension, as expressed by mass movements such as the Occupy Central movement (2014) in Hong Kong, is a potential but understudied structural factor of population mental health. A random population-based telephone survey anonymously interviewed 344 Hong Kong Chinese adults aged 18-65years during the 2weeks since the termination date of the 2-month-long Occupy Central movement (15/12/2014). Linear regression models were fit using mental distress (depression, anxiety and negative mood) and self-perceived changes in mood/sleeping quality as dependent variables. Prevalence of participation in the movement was 10.5% (self), 17.7% (family members/relatives), and 34.0% (peers); 8.5% had participated for ≥2days. Young age, but not participation, was associated with mental distress. In adjusted analysis, three types of responses to the movement (worry about safety, negative emotional responses to media reports, and conflicts with peers about the movement) and emotional responses to local political situations were significantly associated with all/some of the dependent variables related to mental distress. The variable on emotions toward local political situations was correlated with the three responses to the movement; it fully mediated the associations between such responses and mental distress. Many citizens participated in the movement, which was led by youths and might have increased the general public's mental distress. Negative personal responses to the movement and emotions toward political situations were potential risk factors. As the political tension would last and political pessimism is globally found, politics may have become a regular and persistent structural risk factor negatively affecting population mental health.

Media representations of the Hong Kong police and their mainland counterpart

Media portrayal of the police constitutes an important aspect of policing in a modern society. Thanks to freedom of the press, Hong Kong’s media can deliver a variety of news reports on the performance of police. Under the principle of ‘one country, two systems’, not only the Hong Kong police but also the police in mainland China are constantly represented in Hong Kong’s news media. The present study attempts to examine the media portrayal of the police by investigating how the Hong Kong police are represented differently from their mainland counterpart during the particular period of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement. A content analysis of three major newspapers published in Hong Kong reveals that the media image of the Hong Kong police is not substantially different from that of the mainland police. The findings suggest that the police image tends to remain positive in terms of crime-fighting duties despite the fact that they have been the subject of political controversy in carrying out order-maintenance duties. This article concludes by discussing the theoretical implications for the media portrayal of the police and proposing strategies for extending the study.