Nathan Law was on his way to becoming a model Hong Kong citizen in the eyes of the Chinese government. He grew up in an apolitical family living in government housing, raised by working-class parents who immigrated to Hong Kong from mainland China. He attended a pro-Beijing secondary school where teachers never had a bad word to say about China’s authoritarian government and shied away from topics such as human rights and democracy movements. But by his first year of university, Law had committed himself completely to fighting for greater democracy in Hong Kong and challenging China’s ruling Communist party. In September, at 23, he became the youngest person ever elected to Hong Kong’s legislature, part of a wave of progressive politicians swept into office in the wake of mass democracy protests in 2014.
