This short book neatly tells the tale of Hong Kong’s history of protest, from the struggle against British colonialism to the resistance against Japan. While Beijing looms large in some recent accounts, Dapiran—who has written on Hong Kong for Foreign Policy—keeps the focus on the city’s own unique identities.
Hong Kong is a city with a long history of civil disobedience. Antony Dapiran explores the historical and social stimuli and implications of public dissident movements from the turbulent 1960s until the most recent wave of protests, which became apparent in the 2014 Occupy Central movement. What emerges from these grassroots movements is a unique Hong Kong identity, one shaped neither by Britain nor China. City of Protest is a compelling look at the often-fraught relationship between politics and belonging, and a city’s struggle to assert itself.
City of Protest: A Recent History of Dissent in Hong Kong, by Antony Dapiran