‘Unprecedented’: Trash From China Swamps Hong Kong Beaches
Mountains of garbage are meters high at a popular beach....
Hong Kong’s Brexit Ambitions
Could the city ever be independent from China?
Hong Kong Leader Vows Action After Bookseller Recounts Ordeal in China
The incidents have raised concerns that Chinese authorities violated the “one country, two systems” formula.
China Imposes Blackout on Hong Kong Bookseller’s Revelations
With one fleeting exception, media consumers in mainland China were left in the dark.
Protests Erupt After Hong Kong Bookseller Breaks Silence on China Detention
Lam Wing-Kee has described how mainland authorities held him isolated for months. He said Hong Kong would become helpless if he “remained silent.”
L’Oreal Is Setting A Dangerous Global Precedent By Bowing to China Over Free Speech
Lancome cancels concert to appeal to the mainland, sacrificing freedoms for their parnerships....
Viewpoint
05.24.16
“It’s Time for Us To Set a New Political Agenda for Hong Kong”
Last month, midway through a whirlwind tour of United States universities, Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong took a break for a crab cake and mac-and-cheese lunch at a Manhattan brasserie. Wong, 19, came to international...
China Official Leaves Hong Kong With Assurances of Autonomy
The timing of his presence is viewed against the backdrop of upcoming elections to the Hong Kong legislature.
Massive Security Operation Underway in Hong Kong as China's No. 3 Pays a Visit
Zhang Dejiang began his visit by promising to listen to all sectors of society's views.
Missing Hong Kong Bookseller Goes Back to China after Brief Home Visit
65-year-old British citizen Lee Bo is already on his way back to China from Hong Kong after disappearing in December.
China Investigating Hong Kong Bookseller over Mail Sales
Chinese police are investigating a detained bookseller for allegedly selling books by mail illegally in mainland China.
Hong Kong Clashes as Police Clear Food Stalls
Over 90 people have been injured, and 61 arrested, following clashes in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district.
Hong Kong Riot Police Fire Warning Shots in Bloody Street Clashes
In the worst violence since 2014 pro-democracy protests, clashes erupted in Hong Kong when authorities tried to remove illegal street stalls.
European Parliament calls for release of HK booksellers detained in China
The disappearances of five booksellers prompt fears that mainland authorities may be using shadowy tactics.
Q. and A.: Bei Ling on the Missing Hong Kong Booksellers
The disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers in recent months has attracted international attention
Viewpoint
01.07.16
What Is Disappearing from Hong Kong
The recent disappearance of publisher Lee Po—allegedly kidnapped from Hong Kong and rendered to Mainland China—has prompted widespread alarm about the state of Hong Kong’s autonomy, both within the city and internationally. In a widely-shared...
Conversation
12.15.15
Can an Alibaba ‘Morning Post’ Aid China’s Image Overseas?
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is buying the Hong Kong media group of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the leading independent English-language newspaper in the former British colony where freedom of the press has resisted control by the...
Hong Kong-China: A Growing Football Rivalry or Just Politics?
Around the world, there are legendary, dynastic rivalries in football.
One country, two cisterns as Hong Kong, China fans get separate toilets
Hong Kong and China fans will be kept completely separate at their crunch World Cup qualifier Tuesday, using different entrances and even different toilets.
A Year on, Mixed Views on What Hong Kong Protests Achieved
"Has the Umbrella Movement accomplished anything? If so, what?"
HK Fined By Fifa For Fans Booing Chinese Anthem
The Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) has been fined $40,000 Hong Kong dollars ($5,160; £3,400) by Fifa.
Q. and A.: Johannes Chan on Academic Freedom in Hong Kong
The governing council of the University of Hong Kong rejected this week the nomination of Johannes Chan.
On China’s National Day, Hong Kong Protesters Say That They Are Not Part of China
Small groups of protesters waved the blue colonial flag.
Conversation
09.30.15
The Future of Autonomy in Hong Kong
Yesterday, the governing board of Hong Kong University, one of the territory’s most esteemed institutions of higher education, voted to reject the promotion of Johannes Chan, a former law school dean, over the objections of the faculty and...
Rights Group Demands Chinese Supporters of Hong Kong Democracy Be Freed
Amnesty International called for the release of eight mainland Chinese activists.
Top Hong Kong Judges Defend Rule of Law in Face of China Pressure
Two top Hong Kong judges on Friday defended the rule of law in an apparent rebuke of China's top official.
China National Security Law Won’t Apply to Hong Kong
Hong Kong has a provision on national security law-Article 23, stating that it can enact laws to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, or subversion.
Conversation
06.17.15
Has China’s ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Experiment Failed?
As Hong Kong’s legislature began debate this week on the reform package that could shape the future of the local political system, the former British colony’s pro-democracy lawmakers swore again they will reject electoral reforms proposed by the...
Media
06.05.15
Hong Kong’s Long-Standing Unity on Tiananmen Is Unraveling
June 4, a day that changed mainland China forever, has become a cross that the city of Hong Kong bears. Each year, thousands of the city’s residents gather on an often steamy night and share anxious memories of 1989, when tanks rolled by bloodied...
Viewpoint
05.19.15
Hong Kong’s Not That Special, And Beijing Should Stop Saying It Is
As political wrangling in Hong Kong continues over changes to...
Features
04.02.15
Frank Talk About Hong Kong’s Future from Margaret Ng
Following is the transcript of a recent ChinaFile Breakfast with Margaret Ng, the former Hong Kong legislator in discussion with Ira Belkin of New York University Law School and Orville Schell, ChinaFile Publisher and Arthur Ross...
Media
02.19.15
Why 700 Million People Keep Watching the Chinese New Year Gala, Even Though It’s Terrible
The Chinese New Year Gala, which aired live on February 18 on Chinese Central Television (CCTV), is a four-and-half hour variety show with song and dance, comedic skits, magic tricks, acrobatic acts, and celebrity cameos. The show celebrates the...
The NYRB China Archive
11.20.14
‘China Strikes Back’: An Exchange
from New York Review of BooksLetters in response to: “China Strikes Back!” from the October 23, 2014 issue of The New York Review of Books.
...
Media
10.24.14
Hong Kong Documentary Explores the Roots of Dissent
To many observers, Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Movement”—thousands of students and other citizens in the streets demanding to choose their own political leaders—seemed to unfurl, fully formed, out of nowhere. Residents of the former colony were...
Viewpoint
10.21.14
‘We Can Only Trust Each Other and Keep the Road’
Snip. Snip. Snip. The officer’s face shows concentration as he cuts one yellow ribbon after another along a metal fence on Queensway in the Central district of Hong Kong. Next to him, other policemen have just finished dismantling the barricades...
Media
10.01.14
Media Portrays Hong Kong Protests as Either Inspiring or Dangerous
The second and third days of mass protests to demand broader democracy in Hong Kong ended with none of the violence...
Media
10.01.14
They Can Take Our Freedom, But They Will Never Take Our Instagram
When thousands of Hong Kong protesters clashed with police on Sunday, September 28, many residents of the city...
Photo Gallery
09.30.14
The Hong Kong Protests in Pictures
As thousands of people remain on the streets of Hong Kong, even after local police tried to disperse their protests with hoses and tear gas, here is a collection of images of how the protests—that are calling for greater democracy in Hong Kong—...
Viewpoint
09.29.14
The Day that China Came to Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s massive protests should have surprised no one. A bitter debate over political reform split the city. Beijing’s high-handed diktats deepened the anger. Before the protests, the question was whether or not the vast majority of this city...
Viewpoint
09.29.14
‘Against My Fear, I See That You Hope’
A week ago today I sat together with you outside the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s library, a teacher among other teachers, a university member beside students, 13,000 strong. The weeks before had felt quiet: at the three previous all-student...
The NYRB China Archive
09.29.14
Taking Aim at Hong Kong
from New York Review of BooksA surge of emotion washed through me on Sunday night as I watched tens of thousands of protesters fill the streets of Hong Kong on television. It was...
Police Unleash Tear Gas in Hong Kong Protests
In a significant escalation of their efforts to suppress protests calling for democracy, the authorities in Hong Kong unleashed tear gas and mobilized riot police with long-barreled guns Sunday to disperse crowds that have besieged the city...
At least 34 injured as police and protesters clash in Hong Kong
But as Sunday became early Monday, it appeared many of the protesters were set to continue to jam streets of the business district. The sometimes violent demonstrations follow a week of student-led boycotts and protests against what many...
Media
09.18.14
‘What’s So Wrong with Splitting up?’
It reads like an Orwellian threat to all Scots: "The English government needs to immediately commence political thought education, and Scotland needs to be ruled by someone patriotic. Strike hard against separatist forces! Let every department at...
Sinica Podcast
07.28.14
Hong Kong Protests and Suicide in China
from Sinica PodcastThis week on Sinica, we’re delighted to welcome back the stalwart Mr. Gady Epstein, Beijing correspondent for The Economist, to discuss the recent protests in Hong Kong, as well as the flux in China’s suicide rates. And specifically, we’...
The NYRB China Archive
07.16.14
Hong Kong Rising: An Interview with Albert Ho
from New York Review of BooksThe former British colony of Hong Kong reverted to China on July 1, 1997, and on every July 1 since then Hong Kong citizens have marched in the streets asking for democracy. The demonstrations on this year’s anniversary, however, were on a much...
Pro-Democracy Activism Not in Hong Kong’s Interest, China Warns
As potentially hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens prepare to take to the streets in a now-annual display of public disapproval of Beijing’s interference in the city’s affairs, voices in China’s state-run press are warning that the...
A Showdown Looms
Hong Kong, China’s most prosperous city, is becoming dangerously polarized.
Hong Kong Media Worries Over China’s Reach as Ads Disappear
In what may be a major escalation of pressure by mainland China on Hong Kong’s independent-minded news media, two major British banks have stopped advertising with one of the city’s biggest newspapers, a top media executive said.