Hong Kong: A City Silenced

In 1997, when the United Kingdom handed Hong Kong back to China, it secretly believed that its status as a financial centre with capitalist leanings would protect it from the Communist Party. Three decades on, it’s clear how mistaken that belief was. Hong Kong’s special legal and political privileges have been dismantled, Jimmy Lai imprisoned, the Umbrella Movement activists hunted down. Rebellious Hong Kong has fallen into line and become a Chinese city like any other. Filmed undercover and at great risk to the participants, this film tells the story of how Hong Kong was silenced.

“I’m worth $1 million”, says one activist. “That’s not a metaphor. It’s the price that the Hong Kong government put on my head just for wanting a say in our future.” The people who appear in this film know they are taking a great risk. Even abroad, they are hunted down. But they want their story told. Under English rule, Hong Kong practiced Western-style liberalism: its inhabitants enjoyed universal human rights, the press was free and judiciary independent. Under the “one country, two systems,” agreement, it was supposed to have special status and a high degree of autonomy until 2047. But since 2020 and the introduction of a national security law, the Chinese Communist Party has imposed its own model of society. The city is gradually losing its identity.

In the streets, the Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong is gradually being replaced by Mandarin, the national language, and mainland Chinese are increasingly present in the city. They now represent more than a quarter of the population. In schools and universities, textbooks are being rewritten and curricula transformed to provide a more patriotic education for young people. The once flourishing press has been silenced since the main opposition media outlets were forced to close. Their assets have been frozen and their editors imprisoned. Political opponents are all locked up or in exile.