[2 Years after CUHK Conflict] Graduates Commemorate the Event, Mourn Over Humanity Spirit Disappearing

[Translator’s remark: CUHK or CU, stand for the Chinese University of Hong Kong]

One morning in November 2019, a voice on the radio said, “We have gone through a non-peaceful night yesterday.”

In the previous night, the hilly campus in Ma Liu Shui was filled with clouds of black smoke. Even from Ma On Shan on the other side of the harbour, one could see a “mushroom cloud” lingering midair. The surrounding highways and roads were packed with long queues of vehicles. Red lights blazed throughout Tolo Highway and Tai Po Road. Hundreds of “CU folks” had to leave their stuck vehicles. They rushed towards their campus on foot, carrying bottled water, bags of food, helmets and facemasks. The alumni said ”we need to defend CU”, breathing heavily.

Earlier that afternoon, the campus of CUHK became the first university battlefield since the outbreak of the Anti-Extradition-Law-Amendment-Bill (Anti-ELAB) movement. The police aimed at the campus and shot over 2000 rounds of tear gas canisters.

Two years went by. The same hilly campus still bears a hint of autumn in the same month of November, with some clouds in the blue sky. The tear gases disappeared long ago, road rails were reinstalled, surfaces of roads levelled. The only observable traces are the subtle differences in the colours of paints on the walls, and the barely recognizable phrases behind the patch up paints.

To the CUHK alumni, defending Number 2 Bridge, Chung Chi Gate and the “Four Pillars” is about defending the humanity spirit of their campus. However in 2021, the freedom of entry and exit, freedom of academy and freedom of speech of this hilly campus have all been wiped out together with the graffiti, banners and posters.

“CU was an ideological place. It is no longer.”

Shatin (CU) folks

Back in 12 November 2019, when the first tear gas canister exploded in the CUHK campus, alumnus H (pseudonym) decided to rush back there.

As a teacher after school but still in neat shirt and trousers, holding his briefcase, H set off from the town centre of Shatin with a friend. They were heading back to support CU, not knowing what they could do.

During that period the traffic in Shatin was paralysed and walking was the only choice. Those who are familiar with the landscape of CUHK would know, the road back to the campus is all the way uphill and it will take at least two hours on foot.

Their first stop was a bicycle track near Shing Mun River. Along their way they constantly see blue or green bicycles passing by in a direction towards CUHK. One uncle on a bike shouted to them, “Take the bikes! They are unlocked! Go to CU!” Later we found that an Internet bike sharing company had unlocked all their bicycles in Shatin.

They could find any available bicycle. Instead they met a lot of locals of Shatin. There was an aged lady, carrying bags of things who actively told them, “Are you heading to CU? Take care! Don’t lose!” Another ‘auntie’, with a shopping trolley on her way home, insisted to give them money to get a taxi.

After passing Shung Mun River, they walked along the track parallel to Fo Tan Road. When they reached a tunnel which is usually empty, it was packed that night. Alumni H saw a few youths in black with facemasks and helmets. He also saw many in neat clothing who apparently went off work, as well as many youngsters in casual wear and flip-flops.

H and his friend joined the few dozens of folks and walked through the tunnel towards Ma Liu Shui.

After passing Fo Tan Railway Station, they approached a round-about along Tsun King Road. It was packed with private cars and lorries all with their luggage compartments open. The ground was filled with resources. When H lifted his head he saw further in their way up hill, the road was jammed with many vehicles, big and small while the pedestrians on both sides were also full of people.

H says the scene felt like what Hongkongers did to help the “East China Flood of 1991”.

Some were doing stock-taking, some issuing commands like “Stop the [bottled] water. We have enough water… No need for soda biscuits”. Suddenly there was uproar ahead. An ‘uncle’ in a white vest looked emotional confronting a big tattooed guy sitting in a lorry. H thought it was a dispute between different political camps. Surprisingly he heard the ‘uncle’ said, “Just tell me and I will go and buy whatever you guys need.”

When he looked closer, H realized everyone heading towards CUHK was carrying resources with their hands. Some have biscuits, cakes; some with petrol, bottled water and boxes of helmets. “It looked like a progression, but also like ants when everyone has something to carry… like an endless queue.” He estimates there were over a thousand.

At around 11pm, he finally arrived at Chung Chi Gate, dragging his exhausted body with his feet full of blisters in his worn-out shoes. The queue of vehicles and people did not disperse and continued to block the whole of Tai Po Road. “Going up we take resources; going down, students.”

“When I reached Chung Chi Gate I wanted to cry,” he says. What touched him was not only meeting his alumni but also, and deeper, was seeing locals of Shatin.

"Even non-alumni also wanted to defend CUHK"

“A lot of senior locals helped transporting resources. They won’t go out to Mong-kok or Hong Kong Island to fight, but it felt that the students are their bottom line. Everyone wanted to go and ‘help the students’. I realized even non-alumni also wanted to defend CU.]

This can roughly be traced back to the relationship between Shatin and the students of CUHK which started decades ago.

“Both CU students uphill and Shatin folks downhill share the same place.”

The university life circle of H mainly lied within Shatin, the same for his schoolmates in CUHK: Shatin Centre, New Town Plaza, Chan Kun Kee and Fo Tan’s New Taiyuan tea restaurant… while H is counting these landmarks he says, “Students, lecturers of CUHK were the usual patrons of all these local restaurants and shops. CU folks seldom went to Park’N Shop on campus but rather Wellcome Supermarket in Shatin because the latter was open 24 (hours)”; Shung Mun River was the usual place to go for biking or dragon boat university team practising; apart from daily food and apparels, when travelling to and from outside, CU folks must use Tolo Highway and Tai Po Road – the two main roads of Shatin; many secondary school students who lived in Shatin stayed there and study in CUHK; many research students of CUHK chose to live in Shatin.

To alumnus H, Shatin nurtured multiple generations of CU folks.

"Passion of living in CU for four years with numerous footprints"

Contrary to H who travelled to CUHK after work in the evening, alumnus A (pseudonym) went to the campus early in the morning because she, as a journalist, was assigned by her company to standby at the “Four Pillars” (main entrance of CUHK).

After being there for a couple of hours, her superior called and asked her to go to Number 2 Bridge due to the tense atmosphere down there while the police might start using tear gases. Just as she arrived the police had already crossed the bridge and entered the campus. Students, hiding behind bushes or on top of a small knoll, resisted the police by throwing various objects.

Acting according to the usual practice of confrontation between civilians and policemen, the dozens of reporters at the scene squeezed themselves onto the pedestrian near a tennis court. They pointed their cameras at riot policemen in green uniforms, who were holding their guns aiming at many yellow helmets from a distance.

The Sir Philip Haddon-Cave Sports Field behind alumnus A was lit up in an inferno. Tear gas canisters landed like missiles on the athletic tracks. Thick smoke rose to the sky. The students in the sports field kept running amidst choking smell of burning plastics. The scene looked like an “exodus” in disaster movies.

She could smell burnt plastics even when she was wearing a professional smoke-mask. She clearly saw policemen firing shots continuously. She also clearly heard one of them said, “Burn them all!”

This phrase was the final heavy blow to her already shaken emotion. She broke into tears, for the first since she became a journalist.

“I could never imagine a ‘Haddon-Cave on Fire’ scene. In my four years of study in CU, I went there in every PE lesson, 8:30 in the morning. Unlike a bushfire in a random spot in the campus, that place is very iconic, in which you left countless footprints.”

Her tears immediately vapourized into a mist in her smoke-mask and blocked her sight. To A, it felt like a dream.

Before she had a chance to get herself together, a glass bottle landed in front of her. She was surprised to realize the bottle contained corrosive fluid when she saw the front of her sports shoes completely damaged and felt slight stinging pains in her toes. Upon advices from accompanying reporters she went to the hospital.

Her work was abruptly stopped. When she was on the ambulance she never stopped thinking, “what is happening to CU now?”

She longed to stay until the last moment. “I wasn’t there to defend the place. I was doing my news reporting job. However having my root in CU, in such moments I had a special feeling and impulse to go back there to witness.”

Last safe haven invaded

“The university is a safe haven immune to interference from the regime. No matter how many folks are defeated outside, professors and the university will maintain their principles and spirits as educated beings.” In 2019, H was having this belief.

H studied philosophy in CUHK and came across the establishment history of the New Asia College [one of the three founding colleges of CUHK]. From classic literature he learned that the founders TANG Jun-yi and CH’IEN Mu were not there to boost the economic values of Hong Kong - they were upholding the humanistic spirits they inherited. H added, “Keeping memories of June 4th, remembering how the Communist party persecuted the educated.”

The scene of a vice chancellor being surrounded by hundreds of students in the CUHK Forum near University Mall was quite normal in CU – as this was one of the key responsibilities of the heads of the university over the decades – also a unique culture of this hilly campus.

“Vice-chancellors like KING Yeo-chee, LAU Juen-yee and TUAN Sung-jee, whether good or bad, all were willing to sit down, listen and talk to the students. These were things that must be done. You could listen and then ban some views, but you cannot refuse to listen, or refuse to appear.”

Candles lit for June 4th and black flags hung every year at the New Asia College Plaza; Heated debates at the Wall of Democracy; Gatherings discussing Umbrella Movement in 2014; Assemblies for campus protests to support Anti-ELAB movement in 2019 – every time Hong Kong faced big changes, CU always acted as the focal point to pool energies of the education sector.

“The main campus was a place pushing you to assemble. Distributing white ribbons; sit-in; hunger strikes; demonstrations – always happened in the University Mall,” says H.

Alumnus A holds the same firm belief. She graduated from CUHK in journalism. She recalls in 2014 when LAU Chun-to, former Editor-in-Chief of Ming Pao [newspaper], was assaulted, students immediately held rallies in the campus to support him. “(We were) used to speak out when dissatisfied. (We) need to tell others what deeds are wrong.” She witnessed dozens of demonstrations during the Anti-ELAB movement in 2019, but only in CUHK did she hear quotes from CH’IEN Mu and student singing songs of New Asia College, “He wanted to remind himself and others that you are a university student. You have a responsibility, so you have to stand out.”

To both A and H, collision of thoughts could happen anytime. It was a “signature” of CUHK that different political views could all be voiced out loud.

“These are all gone now,” says A with a bitter smile.

Once CUHK was like this

Two years passed. When H returns to the campus as an alumnus, he is stopped by a few fiercely looking guards. The blunt question “where to?” was followed by a security procedure recording identity card information. Then H realized that in front of the statue of the Goddess of Democracy, a security gate is installed.

Right at that moment his illusions about the safe haven of academy completely shatter.

“This is the first time I am questioned about my destination in CUHK. University is a symbol of freedom and openness where you are free to sit in any lecture in any classroom. How come anyone can even be refused from entering the campus?”

From the railway station [after taking the school bus] when one walks to the New Asia Humanities Building, one will pass a few landmarks like CUHK Cultural Ground, University Mall and The Beacon. (H notices that) all banners are removed from the buildings, all graffiti on the ground are removed by power jet water guns, phrases written on wall are covered by layers of paints. The day of interview coincide with CUHK’s graduation ceremony. A few students display a banner saying “Mourn our CU” and hand out white ribbons. They are immediately interrupted by security guards.

This hilly campus which was soaked in humanity spirits for decades is no longer tolerant of any words from its students.

“Why would you wipe out (the phrases)? Would you use bulldozers to demolish the Berlin Wall? These are evidence left in history!”

No more freedom of entry and exit. No more freedom of speech and finally no more voices from the students.

In the beginning of 2021, CUHK ‘censored’ CUSU, requiring them to register with the government separately so as to assume independent legal responsibilities. Under such pressure “Syzygia”, the newly elected cabinet, resigned after only one day in office.  In October, CUSU held a joint committee meeting and voted in favour of a motion to disband (note 1).

“It was so shocking that one could go nuts seeing CU without a student union”, says H.

When H was studying in CU he always went to Benjamin Franklin Building to participate in extra-curricular activities where CUSU office and the student newspaper publisher share the same floor. He describes that space was a common one for discussion of politics. “In the past, folks will gather around near the swimming pool or Pavilion of Harmony, holding beer and discuss national issues. Right next to CUSU was the China Study Society.” However, the Cultural Square, Wall of Democracy, CUSU at Benjamin Franklin Building and other public spaces are now sealed off.

“CU has become a secondary school”, says H because the folks therein changed: students do not have the desire to acquire more knowledge; professors lost their freedom to inspire spirits of humanities. “You have places to study and play (extra-curricular activities), nothing else. They won’t treat themselves as doing research or digging for knowledge. They are there only to listen to orders and lectures.”

“In the past when one enters CU, one will feel their responsibilities, as an educated, to the society. Now it is all gone,” says H, inhaling deeply.

Alumnus A feels sorry that new entrants of CU can no longer enjoy its past freedom.

“They won’t realize in fact once CU was like this: there could be heated debate near the Wall of Democracy; one could hang a banner from the roof of Benjamin Franklin Building; one could put up posters to air dissatisfactions against the university. In the future, they can only look at (past) pictures.”

One night in November 2019, CU folks rushed to the campus from outside in all directions, risking their lives to protect everything inside. It might be in their minds that defending the campus would preserve its values.

Two years later, folks inside the campus are expelled one by one. The hilly fort is lost.

Stand News 立場新聞 : Stand News 立場新聞 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (video link)

Source: The Stand News #Nov11

https://bit.ly/32xX9sE

Author: Amanda Mok

Cameras: Kwan, H.H.

(Editor’s note 1: After CUSU announced to disband, someone applied for a judicial review in the Court of First Instance of the legal committee of CUSU. The court handed down a verdict that the announcement of “disbanding CUSU” was void as it violated the student union’s constitution; that a joint committee meeting of CUSU should be held to reinstate the union’s operations.)

(Translator’s note: Following the publication of the original article, HK Police filed a complaint to “Stand News” for untrue contents, claiming that police actions in the campus of CUHK in Nov 2019 were responding to violence of activists threatening public safety.)

#Anti-ELAB #DefendingCUHK #2019 #CUHKAlumni