19-year old activist and founder of “We the Hongkongers” (Excerpt)

The beginning of the story — Humiliation on the Bus

During her secondary school years, Frances Hui Wing-ting joined the Scholarism (Note 1). She studied in the United States after Form 5, spent time in Seattle, and then went to Boston to study journalism. Boston, where this article originated, has been the scene of multiple events supporting Hong Kong since then. “At my school, a number of students came from international schools in Hong Kong, many of them were wealthy. Most students were from China, with 70% of the international students being mainland Chinese. There were only two to three Hong Kongers, even fewer were born and raised in local schools.”

“In such an environment, I was certainly isolated so I socialised with the other Hongkongers. It was inevitable having to work on projects with the Chinese students, who looked down on me when they heard the words Hong Kong. Whenever Hong Kong was mentioned, the school would highlight “Hong Kong, China”.

“Once I was on a bus, an Asian sitting near me asked where I was from. I said I was from Hong Kong, but the person kept trying to convince me and emphasized that Hongkongers are Chinese. At that time, I felt my identity and dignity being trampled on, so I cried on the bus all the way home feeling helpless. Later, when I became an editor of the school newspaper, I did some features on the neglected minority. I suggested to my supervisor that we should talk about Hongkongers in the next issue. Even my boss was worried that the topic was "too radical", but he encouraged me to do it. In fact, the article only talked about the opinion polls, saying that many people identify themselves as "Hongkongers", and explained the differences between us and the [mainland] Chinese. I also knew that outside the schools, some students from Taiwan and Tibet encountered the same situation.”

The article was published. Then, Hui was attacked by “Little Pink” (Note 2) and received death threats. Yet, the article reached many foreigners. “Once I went to a bar and someone said he was from Hong Kong, the bartender said, ‘I’ve heard of this article’.”

Do foreigners understand the issue between Hong Kong and China?

“Generally, foreigners understand, but they are more sensitive to the issue of discrimination. They know that the concept of “China” is huge and contradictory, but they also know that “Taiwan can help”, knowing that at least Taiwan is different.”

What do foreigners in their teens and twenties know about Hong Kong? “They do not know as much about this as the middle-aged and the elderly, so I will explain to them one by one. Of course I am not bothering them proactively, but when it comes to similar situation, I explain to them the reality.”

The Reaction of “Little Pink”

After publishing the article, how did the Chinese react?

“Some Chinese students studying journalism can be considered civilized, and some of them have written articles to debate; Some of the Chinese students in the WeChat group said nasty words to me, usually body shaming and tagged me on social media. The worst thing was when I saw a male Chinese student from the same school make fun of my family on Facebook and say things threatening my safety. It was night time, and I had a panic attack. I was so scared in late hours that I went to seek help from a teacher. The school didn't take care of it, so I brushed it off.”

After the outbreak of the Anti-ELAB movement, pro-Hong Kong rallies blossomed all over the world. She said, “We had an assembly in Boston on 18 August, where Little Pinks were causing trouble. People had physical altercation and the tire of a volunteer's car was intentionally punctured. At the end of the assembly, a volunteer was followed on leaving and had to call the police.

What arguments did the ones causing trouble have then?

“They usually call us ‘Hong Kong independence dogs’, but the assembly was actually very mild and peaceful. They kept shouting ‘Hong Kong, China’, and we kept shouting ‘one country, two systems’ to counter them, which was very mild. However, before the assembly, someone from WeChat said they wanted to bring a gun to the assembly, causing the volunteers to call the police and some said they wanted to shoot me as well. The night before the assembly, I wondered if it would be dangerous to stand on stage. At the end, some 600 people attended. Some of them even carried guns and even though they sensed the danger, they still came out to support Hong Kong.”

After the battle of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hui felt compelled to return to Hong Kong. 

“It was hard to see CUHK like this. It was Thanksgiving break so I came back to Hong Kong for the week of holiday. I felt the pain from watching the live broadcast and wanted to go back to Hong Kong. As soon as I arrived, the battle of the Polytechnic University (PolyU) began. I felt conflicted. As a student of journalism, I continued to keep in touch with some online media. But at the beginning of the campaign, I was in the United States and absent from the scene, so I did not feel mentally prepared to participate in PolyU as a journalist. 

Sometimes, I think that I am a protester if I don't have a press pass, which means I am sometimes the former and sometimes the latter, but I felt I should not abuse the freedom of having a press pass and change my identity at will. Having returned to the US, I thought for a long time. Maybe it's a personality issue, I felt I couldn’t be a mere observer. My superior at the school newspaper thought that I would be biased as I had already been involved in this case, so they reassigned me to the commentary section. Actually, I didn't often comment on things. I did argue against the decision but it was not reversed, so I just resigned.”

To fight for recognition of “Hong Kongers” in the US

After the "I'm from Hong Kong" incident, she said she kept her distance from her family as she did not want to get her family involved in another attack. After that, she launched another American front (of supporting Hong Kong).

“We then set up an organization called 'We The Hongkongers' to promote Hong Kong culture and values, and to establish the ethnicity of Hongkongers overseas. A revolution needs support from overseas, a team working from both inside and outside to respond and support when necessary. The kick-starting campaign is to encourage the Hong Kongers in the US to participate in American affairs, and to put ‘Hongkongers’ in the nationality column of the census in an open and honest manner, tell the US government that the Hong Kong community exists and is important to the American society.”

“The census is not mandatory but we will encourage them to do it. We have already achieved our goal of raising funds through advertisement, and we hope to reach out to American Cantonese speakers so that they will remember their own identity. I believe many Hongkongers in the US have seen this advert before.”

“In the US census, there are only a few options for Asians: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and ‘other Asians’, where one can fill in the identity themselves. Generally speaking, the Hong Kong population  will be classified as ‘Chinese’, and we hope that there will be ‘Hongkonger’ afterwards. There is actually a reference to Taiwanese in the US, who have been campaigning for more than 40 years. Starting in 2000, the US finally listed the population of ‘Taiwanese’. Even a large population may still not be recognized, so we have to lobby officials in the relevant departments in hope that one day, the status of Hongkongers in the US will be recognized.”

Source: The Stand News

https://www.thestandnews.com/politics/專訪-19-歲已激嬲億萬小粉紅-we-the-hongkongers-許穎婷的國際戰線/

Note 1: Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracy group formed by student activists. It was founded in May 2011 and known for its stance on defending the autonomy of Hong Kong’s education policy from Beijing’s influence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholarism

Note 2: https://supchina.com/2017/11/15/chinas-little-pink-are-not-who-you-think/