From Community of Resistance to Community of Suffering: Hong Kong Struggles for Democracy

Professor Kin-man Chan will discuss the development of democracy movement in Hong Kong in the past 40 years in terms of its leadership, strategies, and national identity. A “community of resistance” emerged among Hong Kong people during the 2019 anti-extradition movement as protests took place across different arenas and generations. The ruthless crackdown in the aftermath of the movement, however, silenced the dissenting voices in public domain but is yet to destroy the moral fabrics of the community. Through everyday life resistance, mutual support networks, and exemplary individuals being persecuted, a “community of suffering” is evolving to keep alive the rage and hope of Hong Kong people in the democratic struggle.
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Kin-man Chan received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1995 and is currently a visiting professor at Department of Sociology, National Chengchi University of Taiwan. Before that, he had served as Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of Universities Service Center for China Studies, Founder and Director of Centre for Civil Society Studies, and Research Fellow at Center for Social Innovation Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Chan’s research focus is on civil society in Chinese societies. He is a board member of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR), advisory council member of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and is also on the editorial board of Journal of Civil Society. He published nine Chinese books including Kin-man Chan’s Letters from the Prison, Towards Civil Society and The Difficult Transition: Modernization and the Chinese Society (with Zhong Hua). Dr. Chan is deeply committed to the democracy movement in Hong Kong and was dubbed by the media as one of the “Occupy Trio”. He was sentenced to jail for 16 months due to his involvement in the 2014 Umbrella Movement.