The Hong Kong Election: What Message Does it Send Beijing?

A ChinaFile Conversation

By David Schlesinger, Melissa Chan & more on September 7, 2016

On September 4, Hong Kong elected a batch of its youngest and most pro-democratic lawmakers yet. Six new legislators, all under 40, won on platforms that called for Hong Kongers to decide their own fate. The youngest is 23-year-old Nathan Law, a veteran of the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests and a co-founder of the new political party Demosistō. What message does the election of these young legislators send to Beijing, and how will China’s leaders react?

Melissa Chan

on September 7, 2016

Melissa Chan is a national and foreign affairs broadcast reporter. She was a correspondent for Al Jazeera America, covering stories on social justice, the economy, the environment, and the rural American West. With Al Jazeera English, she served as China correspondent for five years before her expulsion from the country in 2012 for the channel’s reports. Her work has received a number of awards, including two Human Rights Press Awards, the Asian Television Award, and a nod from the Overseas Press Club. She has also reported from Cuba, Canada, South Korea, North Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mongolia, Moscow, Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Gaza.

Chan is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In the 2012-2013 academic year, she was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She graduated from Yale University and has an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.

Paul Clark

on September 6, 2016

Paul Clark is Chair Professor of Chinese at the University of Auckland. His research area is modern Chinese popular culture, including film and its audiences. He has published books on Maori history, Chinese film, culture during the Cultural Revolution, and youth cultures in China. His current book project is a study of popular leisure in Beijing since 1949. He was educated at Auckland, Peking, and Harvard.