A response to Nicholas Gordon’s review of Generation HK

Ben Bland
Ben Bland
Aug 23, 2017 · 3 min read

It has been fascinating to read the reviews of Generation HK, my first book, including Nicholas Gordon’s effort for the Asian Review of Books and the South China Morning Post. He raised some important questions. I would like to respond to some of his points in order to give a more well-rounded understanding of my book.

  1. Nicholas focused on the student activists interviewed in the book and they do a play an important role. But they are only one group of the many to which I talked. In fact, of the six chapters, only two (The Student Leaders and The Would-Be Revolutionaries) are dominated by student activists. The other four chapters (The Super Tutors, The Professional Democrats, The Rich Kids and The Banned Artists) are based on interviews with members of Generation HK who work in education, the professions, business and the arts.

2. He described the subjects in my book as “self-styled” opinion leaders but I think that is an inaccurate characterisation. Here is some evidence that these young people are genuine leaders in their respective fields (this is not an exhaustive list of all those I interviewed):

  • Joshua Wong twice helped lead mass movements that brought perhaps 100,000 people on to the streets each time and won the sympathy of many more.
  • Nathan Law was elected to the Legislative Council by the people of Hong Kong island, with more than 50,000 votes.
  • Baggio Leung, who was an internet marketer before turning to politics, was elected to LegCo with nearly 38,000 votes.
  • YY Lam, who has taught Chinese to tens of thousands of young Hong Kongers, is the best-paid and best-known super tutor in the city.
  • Lau Ming-wai is the government’s commissioner of youth, as well as a trained lawyer, financial analyst and adviser to Carrie Lam.
  • Jevons Au has directed the last two best-movie winners at the annual Hong Kong Film Awards (Ten Years and Trivisa).
  • Sampson Wong was selected by Hong Kong’s Arts Development Council to create one of the biggest art installations the world has ever seen.

3. Generation HK does incorporate establishment voices, such as the second and third generation tycoons in The Rich Kids chapter, including Lau Ming-wai, as well as Gary Wong of the middle-of-the-road Path of Democracy party. Lau, in fact, provides one of the clearest explanations for the emergence of Generation HK to fill the “identity vacuum” in which he and his cohort came of age. But the book is not meant to be an opinion poll, which have their own flaws in any case, as we have all seen lately.

4. As Nicholas noted in his review, I do not claim that Generation HK is a work of political science. But I believe it offers important insights into the thinking and experiences of young Hong Kongers who help set the tone of the conversation across a wide range of fields. I have cited survey data that supports my thesis about the emergence of a new and different Hong Kong identity among young people. But, of course, I believe there is far more research to be done on this issue. Individual studies, whether based on interviews, surveys or other types of analysis, cannot on their own hope to answer the complex questions that I raise. Rather than offer the last word, I hope that Generation HK prompts a deeper debate about the incredible political and social changes that are roiling this great city.

As always, it’s best to make up your own mind. You can read an exclusive extract of Generation HK at the South China Morning Post, pick it up in Hong Kong bookstores like Swindon, Kelly & Walsh or Bookazine or download the Kindle version. The print edition will be available in the US, UK and globally from November 1 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon or Book Depository.

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Ben Bland

Written by

Ben Bland

South China correspondent for the Financial Times, via Indonesia, Vietnam & Singapore. Author of Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China’s Shadow.

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