'Free Hong Kong, Democracy Now' protest banner, Auckland 2019

This banner was created by a Hong Konger who came to New Zealand on a working holiday in 2019. She had intended to take it around the country to promote awareness of the Hong Kong protest movement and eventually gifted it to the We Are Kiwi Hong Kongers group 香港逃犯條例修訂草案紐西 蘭關注組.

The message painted on the banner, 光復香港,時代革命, often romanised as ‘Gwongfuk Heung Gong, sidoi gaakming' in Cantonese and translated as 'Liberate Hong Kong/Revolution of our times', is one of the most iconic and controversial phrases associated with the Hong Kong protest movement (see below). It was crafted in 2016 by political activist and former convenor of the group Hong Kong Indigenous, Edward Leung Tin-kei, as part of his political campaign and subsequently denounced by local authorities and Beijing as promoting the overthrow of the 'One Country, Two Systems' constitutional principle. Leung was jailed later that year for rioting in Mong Kok and given a six-year prison sentence.

Hong Kong protest movement and Aotearoa

The Hong Kong protests were originally incited by the proposed Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019. Also known as the Hong Kong Extradition Bill, the proposed legislation would have enabled Hong Kong residents to be extradited to mainland China to face trial. The protest movement subsequently evolved and continued through much of the first half of 2020, though the Extradition Bill was withdrawn in October 2019. On 30 June 2020, the Chinese legislature approved the controversial National Security Law, bypassing Hong Kong’s own elected legislative council. This law effectively outlawed activities perceived as dissenting or secessionist, including the possession of protest banners and flags carrying slogans associated with the protest movement such as ‘Free Hong Kong/Revolution of our Times’.

The Hong Kong protests have garnered significant international attention due to Hong Kong’s importance to the global economy and the political aspects of China’s increasing prominence as a global player. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the protests have prompted wide-ranging debates, including those relating to democracy and freedom of speech, New Zealand’s relationship to China and the government’s obligations to those connected to Hong Kong but based here, among them international students and temporary visa holders, as well as citizens and permanent residents with familial and cultural links to Hong Kong.