fredag 4. september 2020

As Hong Kong's academic year begins, it's unclear what can legally be said in a classroom -- and whether student activism is a thing of the past

In the heart of the leafy, mountain-top campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong stands a replica of a giant statue erected by protesting students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, before a bloody crackdown by Chinese troops. A monument to freedom, the "Goddess of Democracy" has long been a symbol of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, and a testament to the freedoms the semi-autonomous city has enjoyed compared to the rest of China. 

During anti-government, pro-democracy protests last year, when CUHK itself became a key battleground between demonstrators and police, the statue was topped with a yellow helmet similar to those worn by protesters, and bedecked with a placard reading "Hong Kongers, resist."