In 2014, Hong Kong protesters used umbrellas as a form of passive resistance to the city police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray as they demanded a more transparent election.
The protest movement was known as the “Umbrella Revolution.”
10 years later, five Hong Kongers reflect on their roles during the protests, and how their lives have changed after Beijing’s crackdowns.
The protest movement was known as the “Umbrella Revolution.”
10 years later, five Hong Kongers reflect on their roles during the protests, and how their lives have changed after Beijing’s crackdowns.
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00:00In 2014, protesters took to the streets demanding a more transparent election in Hong Kong.
00:07They carried umbrellas as a form of passive resistance
00:13and occupied major roadways for 79 days.
00:19The 2014 Umbrella Movement was followed by the 2019 anti-extradition law protests.
00:30Ten years ago, I was a student activist, a student leader.
00:34So now I'm a political exile, mostly based in the U.S.
00:38My name is Ivan Ngo. In 2014, I am the vice chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.
00:46My name is Leo. 2014 is like an enlightenment to me.
00:52In 2019, I assisted in building roadblocks.
00:56Then I became a driver to transport those protesters.
01:00I'm Jackie Chan. I've been a social worker for about 20 years.
01:05I was arrested and charged with violence on 31 August 2019.
01:12I'm Lawson Chan. I'm a journalist in Hong Kong.
01:16Many protesters were motivated by an expectation
01:20that the former British colony was supposedly guaranteed political autonomy for 50 years
01:26following its return to China in 1997.
01:30This arrangement was called One Country, Two Systems.
01:36But the crackdown from Beijing was severe
01:39and life has changed for many involved in the movements.
01:43My active participation in encouraging my fellow students,
01:47in taking part in a referendum,
01:50in different kinds of political campaigns,
01:52in different kinds of educational initiatives.
01:54I was then persecuted and put behind bars in jail in 2017
02:00for my involvement in the Umbrella Movement.
02:04I was pretty much mentally tortured,
02:08being physically separated with my family,
02:10seeing my mom coming into prison, visiting me,
02:13seeing them crying, being half-broken, coming out from prison,
02:19seeing people in support of the political prisoners going to the street,
02:23and also the Dine Down movement.
02:26Those are also moments for me to reflect on
02:29how much personal toll and social toll we will have to bear as an individual of Hong Kong.
02:35So I myself moved away from Hong Kong in 2018
02:39in pursuit of a doctoral degree in the U.S.
02:42so that one day I might return to Hong Kong
02:44to support my fellow citizens in recapturing the government
02:48in a more sustainable way.
02:49I was a nursing student back in 2014.
02:53The point that I changed my road is because
02:56when 2019 happened, I saw someone very young who was injured.
03:01I'm already a nurse at that point.
03:03When I was off duty, I would try to go out and do some first aid work.
03:10You'll be shocked by how young they are.
03:12It's quite traumatized when you're seeing some young people being beaten.
03:18University campuses became a battleground between the police and protesters.
03:24Riot officers tried to clear bunkered students and protesters.
03:28Most of them were young people.
03:31The Beijing government called the protesters thugs
03:34and accused them of attempting to turn Hong Kong
03:37into an independent or semi-independent political entity.
03:43Then we're trying to basically form up a union.
03:48In 2021, we received a letter from other unions
03:54that they got a single letter from the committee in the union
03:57that they got arrested.
03:59At that point, I decided to leave.
04:03When you decided to leave, it's a decision like
04:07abandon all the friends that are still fighting or staying.
04:11The city has experienced a pronounced exodus.
04:15Estimates range as high as 500,000 people.
04:19The Hong Kong government has placed million-dollar bounties
04:22on political activists who have fled overseas.
04:26If I have to sum up the past four years since I left Hong Kong,
04:30it would be I hit the rock bottom.
04:33I came to the US in 2020 to seek political asylum.
04:40And the hardest time was the waiting for a work permit.
04:45I couldn't find a job.
04:47I couldn't find a proper place to live.
04:49I feel like I betrayed my friend back in Hong Kong.
04:55And I started to blame myself.
04:57Eventually, I realized that it's just depression.
05:01I received counseling.
05:04I was able to connect with other exiles.
05:07And I was able to start to heal myself.
05:10We had a group of social workers.
05:13We call us battle social workers.
05:16Because in our usual work field,
05:19we always handle different kinds of crisis case.
05:25After 12 June 2019, we found that the emotion of police,
05:32some police are out of control.
05:34Therefore, we hope that to alert the police
05:39not to use the exodus force to the people.
05:43I was arrested and charged with riot on 31 August 2019.
05:50If I lose the case this time, I will go to jail.
05:54The government's response seems to be increasingly punitive.
05:58Chan says she's seen many cases of people charged with rioting
06:03merely because they showed up at the scene of protests.
06:08They are more influence on my career.
06:11I've seen the social worker registration board
06:14have helped my renewal of social worker license.
06:20And no non-governmental organization would employ me.
06:25This is a winter for the local journalists
06:29because the Apple Daily closed.
06:32Jimmy Lai and the senior management of Apple Daily had been arrested.
06:37And then the trolls of the Stan News,
06:42including two editors-in-chief, were arrested.
06:45It's really, really a high risk for the Journalist Association at that moment.
06:50Chan burned many of his reporter notebooks.
06:54And I burned all away.
06:57Because if I keep it, I'm afraid that they will be collected by somebody.
07:02Chan stepped down as head of the Hong Kong Journalist Association in 2024.
07:08His successor, Selena Chang,
07:10says she was fired from the Wall Street Journal for her role with the organization.
07:15Dow Jones, which publishes the newspaper, refused to comment on individuals.
07:22The Hong Kong story is also a global story.
07:24The diaspora's efforts across different host countries
07:28are critical in defending democracy.
07:30And those collective efforts would also, like,
07:33channel back to the future policy-making and institution-building,
07:37the form of government that will be taking, inheriting, like, well, in Hong Kong,
07:42where we might be able to return home one day.
07:44There was one time a friend visited me in New York and I told them that
07:51if I were passed away in a foreign country,
07:55I would like them to bring back my ashes to Hong Kong.
08:00Because I would like to die in Hong Kong.
08:03I can't travel overseas.
08:05Yeah, because my passport was taken away by the courts.
08:09I also need to prepare my mother to accept that if I am lost in the reach out.
08:16But I'm lucky that I have five years to help her to prepare.
08:22People who are actively involved before will have lots of trauma.
08:27We may need to explore some healing.
08:31For me, actually, to live a normal life,
08:34you're kind of hiding those memories and hiding those emotions.
08:40I have phobia on pepper spray.
08:44For example, I may dream I was in my secondary school
08:49and I saw my students that they're trying to protest on the road
08:56and got the attack from the THS.
09:10To be honest, I don't have any views on the future.
09:13Honestly, I don't have it.
09:15I'm just trying to survive day by day.
09:18I still hope that when we cover the news,
09:20we can also cover what happened.
09:23And trying to make people don't forget it.