Photo: Asiapix

Shortly before the 1997 handover, Fortune magazine brazenly predicted “The Death of Hong Kong”: the dark hand of Beijing was poised to send capital, businesses and expatriates fleeing as the People’s Liberation Army strolled the streets.

Twenty years after the transfer of sovereignty, the expectations and reality of the handover are again in the spotlight. Aspirations, assumptions and wild prophecies that flew off the editorial pages in 1997 have been put to the test.

It wasn’t just Fortune magazine that missed the mark. Other news sources said Hong Kong would change China; that ‘One country, two systems’ would ensure Hong Kong’s autonomy; and Hong Kong people don’t care about politics. There were also themes that emerged that the media never anticipated. Growing patriotism. A new generation of democracy activists. The ‘mainland-isation’ of Hong Kong.

At a recent FCC panel event, “Looking back at the Hong Kong handover coverage 20 years on’’, panelist Keith Richburg, director of Hong Kong University’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre, conceded, “there are a lot of myths that have been shattered over the last 20 years.’’ At the time of the handover, Richburg was bureau chief for Hong Kong and Southeast Asia at the Washington Post.

One of the more popular themes at the time in the Post was how Hong Kong would spread liberalisation and democracy across the border. “Hong Kong was going to change China more than China was going to change Hong Kong,’’ Richburg recalled. “The word they were using at the time was convergence.”

Steve Vines, who in 1997 was a correspondent with Britain’s Independent newspaper, referred to an “era of immense optimism,’’ although admitting at that time his publication was sceptical. British readers were more interested in the end of Colonialism than the possibility of reform within the Communist Party.

One development which seemed to eclipse the foreign media at the time, he noted, was the growing sense of political awareness. The events of Tianamen were still relatively fresh in people’s minds. A large immigrant society was forming political views. A host of civic organisations was growing. “That was missing in the coverage,’’ he said.

The mainland-isation of Hong Kong is something I never anticipated.

It is an opinion shared by the new generation of journalists in Hong Kong. Karen Cheung, a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, believes a fixation on how Hong Kong could change China was not unreasonable, but lingered too long. “Perhaps we wished things could be a bit more aggressive, going in the right direction, rather than hanging on to the hope that Hong Kong was going to change China.’’ Cheung was four years old at the time of the handover.

An affront to Hong Kong’s autonomy was the trigger that shifted this focus, according to Adam White, a freelance journalist who was almost 10 at the time of the handover. “I remember telling people Hong Kong was a testing ground for democracy in China,’’ Adam White recalls. “But when people started asking me if anything had changed, I always gave a standard response: ‘not really.’ The flag’s a different colour, but that’s all really.’’

The controversy over Article 23 legislation changed this perception, he explains. “Article 23 was a sea change in the way Hong Kong sees itself. It was the first time I realised or thought about the potential impact [of Beijing on Hong Kong affairs] and realised there was a large proportion of the city that wasn’t happy.’’

The idea that Hong Kong people don’t care about politics was another myth debunked, according to Richburg. “The idea that this was not a political city was something that was shattered.’’ Vines disagrees: “There was more politics going on than most of us reported,’’ he said, pointing out that political confrontation today is less than it was 50 years ago.

My view is that they are on the wrong side of history. This is what worries me.

Dominic Ziegler of The Economist – who also covered Hong Kong for that publication during the handover – stressed that the general political balance has not shifted post-97. Those fighting for a more democratic approach are still up against the entrenched establishment. However, Ziegler continued, one thing that has changed is the growth of Hong Kong patriotism. “I don’t think Beijing understands Hong Kong’s people’s sense of their own identity,” a problem Beijing is going to continue to have.

Vines agreed, citing an ‘enormous swell’ of goodwill and patriotic fervour  around 1997. “I remember on the night of the handover, going to the border and people standing in the pouring rain cheering the PLA coming in,’’ he said. “Now you have to mobilise them, give them meal tickets. They pissed away an enormous swell of patriotic pride.”

Another unforeseen trend has been the growth of the Mainland population in Hong Kong. “The mainland-isation of Hong Kong is something I never anticipated,’’ Richburg said. This presence has also grown within the Liaison Office and Beijing’s activities in Hong Kong, according to Ziegler. “They now run deep. Not just in politics but in society.’’

Vines likewise referred to a window of opportunity that probably closed within five years of the handover “when we could talk to the leftist camp. Even China officials were quite chatty.’’ He believes “practically all of that has been switched off.’’ Ziegler laments the loss of access to government and mainland officials. “We had all the intimacy of a small community government…and we could go from top to bottom in a day.” At the same time, he notes, journalists were also dealing with weighty issues about a return to authoritarian power.

Jeff Pao, China editor at Asia Times, believes the Liaison Office makes its opinions known nevertheless. Pao, who was at university at the time of the handover, describes the Liaison Office as being active in the local media. “The Liaison Office will make contact directly with some local media and tell them their stance. It’s not illegal. It’s not improper. But it’s something journalists need to consider more.’’ In general, he notes, the closer the publication is to government, the greater access they get. “If you are a friend of the government officials, you will get a lot of information,’’ he said.

As for the future, the next 20 years in Hong Kong will inevitably be about China, according to the panel. “Will Hong Kong suffer more under powerful, arrogant but comfortable China leaders in power, or more from a Chinese leadership that feels deeply insecure? I think the latter,’’ said Ziegler.

This was echoed by Steve Vines. “My view is that they are on the wrong side of history. This is what worries me. I think if something terrible happens in China the vulnerable parts will be the bits around the periphery. Hong Kong is around the periphery.” Keith Richburg likewise does not anticipate China loosening its grip. “We just keep hoping, hoping against hope, one day we will get a new generation of leaders who will change things.”

For the current generation of journalists, the next 20 years provides a unique story. “I think a lot of people in my generation have this feeling that we are counting down in a way,’’ says Cheung. The promises made by the Western world in 1997 seem a distant dream, international support today is lacking. “And we’re almost at the half-way mark.” Cheung ended by saying, “As a journalist, it’s a very exciting time. Because of all the uncertainty, all the political conflict. It’s a very special time to be documenting our history.’’

Clockwise from top left: Bhavan Jaipragas, Malcolm Johnston, Ernest Chi, Silver Kung, Michael Connelly, Alex Williams, Marian Liu, Jean-Charles Viens.

The latest group of members to join the FCC is, as always, an interesting bunch. The membership committee meets regularly to go through the applications and are always impressed by the diversity of the prospective members. As you would expect there’s a healthy mix of Correspondents and Journalists as well as Diplomats and Associates – and all have interesting tales to tell – so if you see a new face at the bar, please make them feel welcome. Below are profiles of just some of the latest ‘intake’.

Jean-Charles Viens: At 25 I established my first company in Hong Kong and for the past 20 years I have witnessed, first as an entrepreneur in import and export and now as an expert in wine communications, the unprecedented growth of the wine industry in Asia. I am deeply passionate about wine and other pleasures of the table and am always looking for quirky and unusual wines. I regularly travel to various wine regions around the world to learn the stories behind the labels. I am a Vinitaly Academy Italian Wine Ambassador and creator of a popular 30-part wine workshop series “How to Taste like a Pro”. When not talking about wine, I am writing about it. As Deputy Editor of Spirito di Vino Asia, a bi-monthly magazine I am dedicated to promoting a Culture & Quality “Wine-Style”. The magazine is widely distributed across Asia.

Ernest Chi: I graduated with a BA degree from the University of Winnipeg, Canada and began my career in journalism when I joined the Hong Kong Economic Journal in 1995 as a financial reporter. In 1999, I moved to Ming Pao, where I was promoted to finance news editor in 2003 before joining its general news desk in 2007.

In April 2011, I formed an investigative news team and soon after, we broke a story on the rigged purchase of Henderson Land’s luxurious residential 39 Conduit Road. Other investigations followed – notably one on voter rigging in 2011 and the following year two ‘illegal basement’ stories. The first led to the leading Chief Executive contender Henry Tang losing the 2012 election while the second report a few months later found an illegal structure in the Peak home of the newly-elected CE, CY Leung. I have often wondered whether the Chief Executive would be a different person if we had broken both stories at the same time.

I left Ming Pao in 2013 and joined HK01 as Executive Chief Editor in charge of the News. The publication was launched with a mission to drive social change, restructure social values and drive media reform. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

Michael Connelly: I have lived in Chicago, Beijing, and New York City before relocating to Hong Kong in May 2016 to assume the role of Editor in Chief at digital magazine Lifestyle Asia. My past experience includes colourful stints roaming the globe as online editor at Fodor’s Travel, reporting on the arts for New York magazine, and interning for the fiction editor of Playboy magazine. A speaker of Mandarin and Spanish, my passions include languages, cooking, 35mm photography, gardening and gin.

Bhavan Jaipragas: I’m the not-so-new Asia Correspondent for the South China Morning Post. I came on board last September, after spending a year at the LSE pursuing a postgraduate degree in politics and communication. I was previously a correspondent for Agence France-Presse in Singapore, my home country. At the Post, I work mainly with the newspaper’s This Week in Asia team and write about the politics, economy and foreign policy of the 10 ASEAN countries. I’m a wannabe polyglot and am ever endeavouring to polish my command of Tamil, my mother tongue, and Malay, my national language. I speak and understand (very) basic Mandarin.

Malcolm Johnston: Originally from Northern Ireland, I arrived in Hong Kong in 1992 for a two-year contract and decided to stay. I am a Chartered Surveyor, specialising in major transport infrastructure projects, and have worked on projects in the UK, China, Hong Kong and the Middle East. I am head of quantity surveying with Arcadis Hong Kong / Macau. Married with two teenage daughters, I am a keen hill walker, whisky taster and novice beer brewer.

Silver Kung, Ph.D: I consider myself a poetic traveller exploring life through space and time. I am a constant and enthusiastic student of world history and hope to travel to every corner of the world.  I have an academic background encompassing engineering, finance and economics and have been working on cross-border and cross-fields projects for the past decade.  I am an active environmentalist doing my best to preserve our planet to help make it a better place for our children.  I was born in Taiwan but have lived in the US and Italy, I am currently based in Hong Kong and active in the Greater China region.

Marian Liu: On a whim, I quit my job with American newspapers to take up my first overseas post with CNN in Hong Kong. As a Chinese American, I hope to bridge the gap between countries and cultures. I cover Asian entertainment with stories about K-pop, J-pop, Canto and Mando pop and Bollywood. I manage the sites and social media for CNNMoney International, Media, Tech, Travel and Entertainment. I will also be teaching multimedia journalism at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at The University of Hong Kong. Previously, I covered entertainment as an editor, critic and writer for the Sun Sentinel, The Seattle Times, San Jose Mercury News and Source Magazine. I have an Executive MBA from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Biology and Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley.

Carlos Tejada: Nora and Carlos Tejada may have downed a few drinks at the FCC before. We are returning members after a smoggy five-year detour through Beijing, where our children learned Chinese and discovered that the line between pets and food can get blurry fast. We have also lived in Kansas, Dallas and New York. Nora, a freelance photographer, is from Towanda, Kansas. Carlos, the Asia business editor for The New York Times, is from southern Arizona. Like so many country people, we prefer life in the big city. We are both graduates of the University of Kansas.

Alex Williams: Now 38, I have spent most of my adult life working in Asia – firstly in Beijing and Shanghai and now more recently living the dream in Wanchai. My early career penning bar and restaurants listings and selling advertising at That’s Beijing transitioned seamlessly into that of a commodities trader. I currently focus on trading large quantities of specialised sand around the world; life’s a beach! As a Brit with an American wife and a couple of ankle biters, we holiday in England and New England, or make the most of short breaks to Japan, Cambodia or Vietnam.

The one piece of the jig-saw that still needs to fall in place is setting up an AC/DC cover band here and thrashing out some foot-stomping tunes!

The instant-messenger app Sina Weibo has been redefined by media as a bellwether of popular opinion. Martin Choi looks at its influence with a study of a University of Hong Kong project that tracks the censorship of microblogging posts.

With the proliferation of Internet access in China, authorities are increasingly hard-pressed to prevent the spread of sensitive content before it gets blocked or removed.

One of the largest Internet-based platforms for sharing ideas publicly in China is the microblogging service Sina Weibo. It is the country’s answer to Twitter, which is officially blocked in the Mainland.

Weibo is so widely used in China that journalists, experts and China observers look to the platform as a gauge of the pervading public sentiment. By looking at what type of information is censored on Weibo, insight may be gained into the limits of free expression.

The Weiboscope project at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong, tracks and produces annual and quarterly reports on the most important censored Weibo posts of the year.

Looking at the first quarter of 2017, the most recent at press time, the top five posts relating to current affairs were selected in descending order of the reposts generated per “survival time”, or the time between which they were posted and taken down. Each post has been translated into English and includes relevant background information to provide context and insight into China’s online media environment.

By looking into the content and circumstances surrounding the censored posts, we hope that some light may be shed on the nature of discussing sensitive issues on China’s most popular microblog.

TOP FIVE CENSORED POSTS

1) Parodying the CCTV New Year’s Gala

Posted on 2017-01-27 at 12:00:47

Generated at least 40,346 reposts in 3 hours and 35 minutes.

Original: #春晚# 大家好，这是今年的春晚节目单吐槽・[bed凌乱] ​

Translation: #SpringFestivalEvening# Hello everybody, here are the rantings about this year’s Spring Festival Gala rundown … [bed messy]

Parodying CCTV New Year’s Gala

The Spring Festival Gala, also known as the CCTV New Year’s Gala, is a highly publicised official event in celebration of Chinese New Year. Broadcast annually by China Central Television (CCTV), the event always generates criticism and is the butt of jokes on the Internet community in China for its unsubtle dissemination of Communist Party values and propaganda themes such as national unity and prosperity.

In this censored post, the whole rundown of the CCTV New Year’s Gala was parodied. For each event, netizens made a crude drawing, poking fun of the performance.

In the screenshot above, the song and dance performance of “Beautiful Chinese Year” was parodied. The drawing for the performance featured the silhouettes of numerous people and words in brackets that specifically said there were “many people”. Without having seen the event itself, it’s not too hard to envision a performance with a lot of performers.

In the image below, netizens made fun of the recital of the song “Happy Night”, sung by Phoenix Legend with a crude drawing of a pole-dancing panda saying “Come on, be happy” and “It’s New Year’s Eve, no need to do homework” in mockery of the officially joyous nature of the occasion.

This post may have been censored for making fun of the CCTV New Year’s Gala, a highly publicised event that the government takes pride in.

2) Recruiting wives for the PLA

Posted on 2017-02-06 at 17:32:20

Generated at least 52,871 reposts in 6 hours and 32 minutes

Original: 说起开放代孕这件事，不知道现在的大家知不知道八千湘女上天山灯。

50年代初，为了让驻疆二十万官兵垦荒屯田，从湖南征招了一大批平均年龄只有十八岁的少女送去，给当兵的一人发一个老婆灯。那些入伍的少女，多是有文化、读过书、满腔爱国热情的女学生，响应的是保卫边疆，建设边疆的崇高号召，以…全文： http://m.weibo.cn/1717321192/4072208135147041

Translation: Speaking of surrogate pregnancy, not sure if you have heard of “The Eight Thousand Girls from Hunan who went to Tianshan”.

In the early 1950s, in order for two hundred thousand troops to reclaim and cultivate the barren land in Xinjiang, a large number of Hunan girls aged 18 were recruited so that each soldier could “each have one wife”. Many of the recruited girls were cultured, educated and full of patriotic enthusiasm, and they responded to the lofty call to protect and construct the borders…

To put this censored post into context, in 1950, Chairman Mao Zedong ordered the 200,000 People’s Liberation Army soldiers stationed in Xinjiang after the 1949 occupation to settle down and cultivate land there to secure China’s borders.

Many of the PLA soldiers were unmarried, so Wang Zhen (1908-1993), who commanded the forces in Xinjiang, requested Mao to send female soldiers from Hunan.

Wang (who would later become vice-president of China and is known as one of the ‘Eight Elders of the Communist Party of China,’ told Mao: “Without a wife you cannot be at ease, without a son you cannot take root.” This quote can be found at the bottom of the image in the Weibo post. Over the next three years, around 8,000 young women from Hunan were sent to Xinjiang to be married to the soldiers.

History is a sensitive issue in China, especially anything to do with the image of the party or its propaganda. In March, the National People’s Congress made amendments to the Civil Code, notably that “encroaching upon the name, portrait, reputation and honour of heroes and martyrs harms the public interest, and should bear civil liability”, according to a Reuters report.

This is a significant amendment in that it restricts discussion of history that the Communist party deems sensitive. Yet this Weibo post not only brings to light history that is sensitive to the party, it also attacks the image of the PLA, which is sacred in the eyes of the Chinese government.

3) Pork or beef for the New Year?

Posted on 2017-01-29 at 13:56:50

Generated at least 13,309 reposts in 7 hours and 27 minutes.

Original: “腊月二十六，杀猪割年肉，怎么在中国中央电视台就成了粕二十六，炖牛肉？难道春节也清真了？为了灯民族团结，随意放弃自己几千年民族传统，我相信得到的只能是轻蔑和鄙视，因为你们太无耻太自贱！“ “

Translation: The folk saying is that on the 26^th day of the 12^th month in the Lunar Calendar, you butcher a pig to prepare for the New Year’s feast, but how come CCTV has changed this tradition to braising beef on the 26th? Has the Chinese New Year become a Muslim tradition? Freely giving up traditions spanning thousands of years for the sake of “national unity”, I believe the only thing you will end up with is contempt, for you are shameless and cheap!”

In other words, this post criticised the Chinese government for sacrificing traditions for ethnic and national unity.  Ethnic minority relations are a highly sensitive topic in China, as the Communist Party has been trying to secure harmonious relations between communities. Therefore, it’s not surprising this post was censored for touching on Muslim and ethnic concerns, one of the red line issues for the Chinese government.

4) Protesting against criticism of Mao

Posted on 2017-01-08 at 11:40:14

Generated at least 2,526 reposts in 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Original:【意味深长】济南，那些人打出的标语大书打倒邓贼灯，后面用很小的字写相超灯 。

Translation: [Meaningful] In Jinan, those people held up banners with the words “Down with Deng thief” written on it, then in smaller words “Xiangqiao” was written behind it.

In this Weibo post, a banner is erected in Jinan, with supporters of Mao Zedong condemning criticism of Mao.

Tang Xiangqiao, a professor at Shandong University of Architecture and Engineering, wrote posts on Weibo insulting Mao. As his posts gained more traction and the protest in the Weibo post became publicised, he was dismissed from his teaching position by the Shandong provincial government.

There may be two levels of sensitivity in this post. The first issue is Tang’s criticism of Mao, which could be unwelcome itself. Another issue may be the depiction of collective action, and anything on social media about collective action tends to be censored in China.

A study about censorship in China headed by Gary King, professor of government at Harvard University, claimed that China’s “censorship programme is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilisation, regardless of content.”

The study further concludes that collective action may be a stronger reason for censorship than criticism of the government. Therefore, the idea that people are standing on the streets holding banners may be the most sensitive issue at stake for the Chinese government in this post, even if they are in support of Mao.

5) Muslims take to the streets of Shanghai in worship

Posted on: 2017-02-19 12:04:39

Generated at least 2,900 reposts in 5 hours and 9 minutes.

Original:【上海穆斯林占街朝拜 官方默许】上海回教徒信仰中心的沪西清真寺，一到周五「主麻日」（相当基督教的主日崇拜），就有上千人潮蜂拥占据整条马路。连上海特警、公安都要开道让教徒跪地祈祷，特别的是，这现象周周上演。

从来严禁聚众上街集会，更不鼓励宗教活动的大陆，「默许」回教徒占据上海街头，…全文： http://m.weibo.cn/6030678530/4076836713597066

Translation: [Shanghai Muslims occupy the streets in worship. Authorities acquiesce] Every Friday during “jummah day” (equivalent to Christians’ Sunday worship), more than a thousand Muslims gather outside the Shanghai Huxi Mosque. Even the Shanghai police forces have to clear the way to allow them to pray in the middle of the road, and the most astonishing thing is that this happens every week.

Mainland China forbids assembly, nor does it encourage religious activities, yet it acquiesces to Muslims in Shanghai occupying the road during Friday prayer every week.

This Weibo post criticises Muslims for being able to assemble on the streets of Shanghai during the noon Friday prayer. This takes place outside the Huxi Mosque, a historic building in Shanghai’s Putuo District that was built in 1922. It was the first mosque in Shanghai to be allowed to resume worship after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

As in the post about Tang Xiangqiao, this post may be sensitive on two levels.  First, the post brings up and generates criticism of ethnic minorities – Muslims in Shanghai in this case. In addition, the Muslims assembling on the streets of Shanghai, although behaving peaceably, appear to violate unlawful assembly and demonstration laws. As noted in the title of the post, the authorities appear to “acquiesce” and don’t stop them from gathering on the streets.

The nature of posts like these triggered sensitive issues that send signals of alarm to the party. While the posts shown here depict many issues that worry the party – ethnic minority issues, collective action, historical narrative or even defamation of party officials these are in no way a definitive or exhaustive explanation of online censorship. Much remains to be seen regarding China’s censorship decisions over its expanding online community.