• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

A good story persuades people to act. The mobilizing power of a story, however, does not necessarily rely on informational fidelity. During political unrests, word-of-mouth can intermix facts with unverified claims and emotional outrage, often transforming reality into convincing rumor stories. This rapid communication article discusses how rumor publics (dis)approve and participate in 2019 Hong Kong Protests. This survey study finds that police injustice and brutality were the predominant themes of the collected rumor stories, although some stories contained mixed views or anti-protest claims. Rumors of police injustice and brutality were associated with less negative attitudes toward the protests, especially when respondents believed the story. The relationship between rumor stories and protest participation was less obvious, except for rumors about an individual protester's whereabout. This study discusses the ways in which rumor is embedded in contentious political processes.

• 분석과 대안
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.59-85
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• 2019

The Hong Kong's Anti-Ordinance Amendment Movement is the most serious radical social movement since the 1997 return, which has served as the promotion of the 2014 Occupy Central Movement and broken through the violence baseline. The movement came from a criminal case committed in Taiwan,which gave a good reason and motivation for the HK government to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. The HK government has responded to the protests by strictly limiting the legal scope and transfer procedure, even giving up the legislative motion. But the protests still say no and develop into the constantly violent activities. Many of the protests have committed the crimes in HK laws,part of whom have been arrested,prosecuted and under judicially judged. It is necessary for the offenders to be punished to protect the authority of rule of law in HK. Two different paths for HK have fought against each other since the 1997 return: one is the "democratic-welfare" path taken by the Pan-Democratic Camp, the other is the "Legal-development" path taken by the Pan-Establishment Camp. The second path shares some nuclear characteristics of the so-called The China Model mainly shaped from the 40-years Reforms and Openness. However, the HK people can't understand the China Model very well and show great fear and distrust on the judicial system of Mainland China. The foreign powers such as US and UK have illegally interfered the HK issues which are deemed to be the domestic affairs of China. The so-called Sino-UK Joint Declaration can't serve as the legal basis for the interference. Taiwan, as a part of China, also plays a negative role in this movement for its electoral and political interest. Up to now, the movement has gone down and the HK government has the legal capacity to solve the problems under the supports from the central government and the HK people. The HK people love its rule of law and order under the constitutional framework of One Country Two System. After the movement,One Country Two Systems will be go on, and the integrated development under the policies of the central government will be the main stream. However, the relevant problems exposed by this movement muse be checked and solved legally and strictly,especially concerning the social inequality and youth development.