Hong Kong youths

Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong has said that Hong Kong should only be governed by “patriots”. Zaobao journalist Tai Hing Shing asks: How do we tell apart the patriots and the pseudo-patriots?

The last time a Nobel Peace Prize was given to a Chinese dissident, China-Norway relations took a great tumble. This year's nominees include Hong Kong’s “Father of Democracy”, Martin Lee. Tai Hing Shing takes a look at his nomination and that of other Hong Kong activists. How likely are they to win and how high exactly are the stakes involved?

Following the anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and the passing of the national security law last year, Hong Kongers are migrating abroad or thinking of migrating in record numbers. One major destination is Taiwan, with its banner of freedom and democracy. But for these migrants pushed out of their home city by circumstance, is Taiwan a temporary haven, or a permanent home? Zaobao correspondent Woon Wei Jong speaks to Hong Kongers in Taiwan.

Hong Kong political columnist Chip Tsao makes his observations on an emerging group of people who lack sufficient job security and face a sense of uncertainty and precariousness — the precariat. This group is plugged in to social media, which means they have quick access to information, but are also able to make comparisons that might lead to dissatisfaction. Will the civil servants running Hong Kong be able to empathise with this increasingly marginalised group in society?

The new national security law for Hong Kong covering crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion, with possible punishments as harsh as life imprisonment, was passed yesterday. Since then and even before that, opposition camp leaders past and present have been announcing their departure from politics. Does this mean the national security law is having the deterrent effect it was designed to have? And what lies ahead for Hong Kong in such a changed landscape? Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu examines the issues.

Following a recent controversy over a history question in a national exam about whether Japan did more good than harm to China in the first half of the 20th century, Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao asks: "Who gets to decide how history is read?"

With Luo Huining taking over as the director of mainland China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, will there be a change in Beijing’s handling of Hong Kong? Freelance writer and China think tank analyst Zheng Weibin is cautiously optimistic. He says the Sham Chun River, after all, is not as wide as the Taiwan Strait.

When cultural historian Cheng Pei-kai is tasked to use the English language to teach Chinese literature to Hong Kong students, he questions if it is all a ploy to help students improve their standard of English. Such a shame it is then, how gems of China’s precious literary and cultural heritage are withered away in every nuance lost in translation.

Young Hong Kong protesters seem to take for granted that they have the support of other countries and regions. How accurate is that perception? Veteran China affairs journalist Han Yong Hong analyses the recent war of words over the prospect of Taiwan enacting a law to help Hong Kong asylum seekers, and dishes out a dose of realism in her assessment.