Winnie, a UC Davis undergraduate student, participated in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong this summer before returning to UC Davis. She wears a mask to conceal her identity and covers one eye to honor a Hong Kong protester who was allegedly shot with a projectile by police. Caleb Hampton/Enterprise photo
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Hong Kong-Beijing conflict hits UC Davis
A chalk drawing of a flower and a few dozen sticky notes spelling out “Stand with Hong Kong” sparked a fight over free speech that quickly engulfed the UC Davis campus last week. Within hours, the symbols of support for Hong Kong’s ongoing pro-democracy protests were scrubbed off and removed. Then, on Wednesday night, a video appeared online showing UC Davis students from mainland China tearing town flyers outside the Memorial Union.
On Thursday, a group of students set up a table on the quad to collect signatures urging members of Congress to pass a bill in support of human rights in Hong Kong. The students displayed a board covered in supportive messages and hung a large black flag bearing a pro-democracy slogan. Around 1 p.m., a Chinese student ripped the flag off its pole and stuffed it into a trash can. “That is rubbish!” the student shouted. “Hong Kong is a part of China!” A video of this incident was also posted online, prompting further debate about free speech on campus.
In June, people in Hong Kong — a semi-autonomous city in southern China — took to the streets to protest a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. Critics of the bill feared it would allow the Communist government in Beijing to arrest anyone in Hong Kong it saw as a dissident. A British colony until 1997, Hong Kong operates as a democracy under a “one country, two systems” deal with China, and Hongkongers have civil liberties, including due process, they wish to protect.
Over the summer, clashes between police and protesters escalated, with activists storming parliament, vandalizing buildings, and stabbing a police officer, and police firing teargas into subway stations, attacking idle civilians, and eventually shooting a protester. While the extradition bill was withdrawn last month, activists continue to protest. They are demanding an independent inquiry into police brutality, amnesty for arrested protesters, and a more democratic system of government in Hong Kong.
As recently as a few weeks ago, Winnie, a UC Davis sophomore who went home to Hong Kong this summer, participated in the protests. “Democracy and human rights have already been eroding in Hong Kong,” Winnie said. “If the demands are not met, they will only erode more.” She said she was happy to find a group of students at UC Davis willing to advocate with her for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.
Kimberly, a UC Davis undergrad with family in Hong Kong, said the protests are personal. Her grandparents fled to Hong Kong from mainland China as refugees when the Communist Party took control in 1949. “Our family remembers that history,” Kimberly said. “They don’t want their rights taken away.”
Allison, another UC Davis undergrad from Hong Kong, helped organize a table on the quad to educate students about the protests and collect signatures. She said finding other students on campus who support the protests gave her the confidence to voice her opinions, even though “there are so many mainlanders here that might not like it.”
On Friday, the UC Davis Chinese Students and Scholars Association set up a table on the quad and displayed a large Chinese flag about 30 feet from the Hongkonger students’ table. Students from mainland China gathered at the table and shared their perspectives. “Hong Kong is part of China,” one student said. “What they’re doing is a sign of disrespect.”
Many of the students criticized the vandalism and violence of the Hong Kong protests. “Everyone has their own demands. That’s OK. But the way they’re doing it is unacceptable,” said Grace, an undergrad from China.
Grace and other students also criticized the actions taken by UC Davis students last week, like hanging flyers, tabling on the quad, and making chalk drawings. “Their behavior is kind of interrupting,” said Jack, a student from mainland China. “It’s not allowed to write those kinds of things.”
University rules state that political advocacy is allowed on campus, though chalk drawings are not. Liang said he reported the chalk drawing to campus authorities, who issued a statement reminding students that “chalking is not permitted.”
UC Davis professor Eddy U, who studies social and political movements in China, said the Communist Party’s “heavy-handed approach” to anyone sympathetic to the protests has likely hardened Chinese students against the movement. There were reports that people who supported the protests “were punished one way or another,” U said.
State-sponsored media may also be a factor. According to studies, most overseas Chinese students get their news from platforms like WeChat, which is censored by the Chinese government. Much of that media promotes unity and nationalism, values that many Chinese students may prioritize over freedom of expression or information. Those differences heightened tensions on campus.
Several Chinese students said the real reason they were angry was because the protests are actually a separatist movement, a narrative Chinese media has pushed. They read their Hongkonger classmates’ gestures as a message that they don’t want to be Chinese. Students advocating for democracy in Hong Kong said that was a misunderstanding. “We are just trying to get support for the human rights bill that’s in Congress,” Kimberly said. “It’s frustrating to be met with this much anger.”
UC Davis Global Affairs Director Wesley Young said he was coordinating with other offices on campus to address students’ concerns. “We know it’s a sensitive situation and it’s difficult for a lot of students,” he said.
Students from Hong Kong are concerned these photos will end up in the hands of Chinese authorities or state media. “I’m worried it could have an impact on my family in Hong Kong,” Allison said. Steve, another UC Davis student from Hong Kong, said he recently attended a demonstration in San Francisco with a man from mainland China who sympathized with the Hong Kong protesters. Shortly afterwards, he said, “officials in China went to the house of the man’s family and told them their son is doing wrong.”
This is not the first time student activists at UC have been informed on with malicious intent. In 2018, UC Davis’s student government passed a resolution condemning Canary Mission, a pro-Israel website that has doxed — or outed — thousands of students advocating for Palestinian rights at U.S. colleges, including UC Davis.
Students profiled by Canary Mission have faced serious consequences, including being denied entry to Israel and Palestine. The UC Davis student resolution noted that the threat of being doxed created an “atmosphere of fear and paranoia, thus infringing upon students’ ability to freely express their opinions.”
Nora Abedelal, a UC Davis student and board member of Students for Justice in Palestine, met with UC Davis administrators multiple times over the past year to discuss the harassment and doxing of student activists. She said administrators told her the tactics used against the students were “legally protected” and there was nothing they could do.
“If someone is conducting a protest in a public place, there are no policies that prevent people from photographing or video recording them,” UC Davis spokesperson Andy Fell said Friday. “Similarly, sharing publicly available information about someone would not by itself be a violation.”
Students supporting the Hong Kong protests, who are in the process of registering their organization with UC Davis, plan to present letters to Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, at a town hall meeting at 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, at the Veterans Memorial Center in Davis.
— Reach Caleb Hampton at 530-747-8082 or champton@davisenterprise.net.
On Thursday, a group of students set up a table on the quad to collect signatures urging members of Congress to pass a bill in support of human rights in Hong Kong. The students displayed a board covered in supportive messages and hung a large black flag bearing a pro-democracy slogan. Around 1 p.m., a Chinese student ripped the flag off its pole and stuffed it into a trash can. “That is rubbish!” the student shouted. “Hong Kong is a part of China!” A video of this incident was also posted online, prompting further debate about free speech on campus.
In June, people in Hong Kong — a semi-autonomous city in southern China — took to the streets to protest a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. Critics of the bill feared it would allow the Communist government in Beijing to arrest anyone in Hong Kong it saw as a dissident. A British colony until 1997, Hong Kong operates as a democracy under a “one country, two systems” deal with China, and Hongkongers have civil liberties, including due process, they wish to protect.
Over the summer, clashes between police and protesters escalated, with activists storming parliament, vandalizing buildings, and stabbing a police officer, and police firing teargas into subway stations, attacking idle civilians, and eventually shooting a protester. While the extradition bill was withdrawn last month, activists continue to protest. They are demanding an independent inquiry into police brutality, amnesty for arrested protesters, and a more democratic system of government in Hong Kong.
As recently as a few weeks ago, Winnie, a UC Davis sophomore who went home to Hong Kong this summer, participated in the protests. “Democracy and human rights have already been eroding in Hong Kong,” Winnie said. “If the demands are not met, they will only erode more.” She said she was happy to find a group of students at UC Davis willing to advocate with her for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.
Kimberly, a UC Davis undergrad with family in Hong Kong, said the protests are personal. Her grandparents fled to Hong Kong from mainland China as refugees when the Communist Party took control in 1949. “Our family remembers that history,” Kimberly said. “They don’t want their rights taken away.”
Allison, another UC Davis undergrad from Hong Kong, helped organize a table on the quad to educate students about the protests and collect signatures. She said finding other students on campus who support the protests gave her the confidence to voice her opinions, even though “there are so many mainlanders here that might not like it.”
Deeply held differences
UC Davis students from mainland China reacted strongly to other students’ gestures of solidarity with the Hong Kong protests. While Allison spoke, a student standing nearby reading the letter to Congress turned around and tore the paper to pieces. A few students walking away with him laughed and smirked. The student who ripped up the letter, Owen Liang, said he wanted to send a message to students supporting the protests. “We will not stay silent,” he said. “We will do something back to them.”On Friday, the UC Davis Chinese Students and Scholars Association set up a table on the quad and displayed a large Chinese flag about 30 feet from the Hongkonger students’ table. Students from mainland China gathered at the table and shared their perspectives. “Hong Kong is part of China,” one student said. “What they’re doing is a sign of disrespect.”
Many of the students criticized the vandalism and violence of the Hong Kong protests. “Everyone has their own demands. That’s OK. But the way they’re doing it is unacceptable,” said Grace, an undergrad from China.
Grace and other students also criticized the actions taken by UC Davis students last week, like hanging flyers, tabling on the quad, and making chalk drawings. “Their behavior is kind of interrupting,” said Jack, a student from mainland China. “It’s not allowed to write those kinds of things.”
University rules state that political advocacy is allowed on campus, though chalk drawings are not. Liang said he reported the chalk drawing to campus authorities, who issued a statement reminding students that “chalking is not permitted.”
UC Davis professor Eddy U, who studies social and political movements in China, said the Communist Party’s “heavy-handed approach” to anyone sympathetic to the protests has likely hardened Chinese students against the movement. There were reports that people who supported the protests “were punished one way or another,” U said.
State-sponsored media may also be a factor. According to studies, most overseas Chinese students get their news from platforms like WeChat, which is censored by the Chinese government. Much of that media promotes unity and nationalism, values that many Chinese students may prioritize over freedom of expression or information. Those differences heightened tensions on campus.
Several Chinese students said the real reason they were angry was because the protests are actually a separatist movement, a narrative Chinese media has pushed. They read their Hongkonger classmates’ gestures as a message that they don’t want to be Chinese. Students advocating for democracy in Hong Kong said that was a misunderstanding. “We are just trying to get support for the human rights bill that’s in Congress,” Kimberly said. “It’s frustrating to be met with this much anger.”
UC Davis Global Affairs Director Wesley Young said he was coordinating with other offices on campus to address students’ concerns. “We know it’s a sensitive situation and it’s difficult for a lot of students,” he said.
Free speech on a globalized campus
While students from Hong Kong resented having their flyers taken down and flags stuffed in the trash, they were most worried about having been photographed. While they were tabling on the quad, every few minutes a different group of Chinese students sidled over and surreptitiously took photos of them. When asked what he planned to do with the photos, one student shook his head and walked away.Students from Hong Kong are concerned these photos will end up in the hands of Chinese authorities or state media. “I’m worried it could have an impact on my family in Hong Kong,” Allison said. Steve, another UC Davis student from Hong Kong, said he recently attended a demonstration in San Francisco with a man from mainland China who sympathized with the Hong Kong protesters. Shortly afterwards, he said, “officials in China went to the house of the man’s family and told them their son is doing wrong.”
This is not the first time student activists at UC have been informed on with malicious intent. In 2018, UC Davis’s student government passed a resolution condemning Canary Mission, a pro-Israel website that has doxed — or outed — thousands of students advocating for Palestinian rights at U.S. colleges, including UC Davis.
Students profiled by Canary Mission have faced serious consequences, including being denied entry to Israel and Palestine. The UC Davis student resolution noted that the threat of being doxed created an “atmosphere of fear and paranoia, thus infringing upon students’ ability to freely express their opinions.”
Nora Abedelal, a UC Davis student and board member of Students for Justice in Palestine, met with UC Davis administrators multiple times over the past year to discuss the harassment and doxing of student activists. She said administrators told her the tactics used against the students were “legally protected” and there was nothing they could do.
“If someone is conducting a protest in a public place, there are no policies that prevent people from photographing or video recording them,” UC Davis spokesperson Andy Fell said Friday. “Similarly, sharing publicly available information about someone would not by itself be a violation.”
Students supporting the Hong Kong protests, who are in the process of registering their organization with UC Davis, plan to present letters to Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, at a town hall meeting at 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, at the Veterans Memorial Center in Davis.
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Several students interviewed for this story asked to be identified by their first names only, citing fears of retaliation by the Chinese government.— Reach Caleb Hampton at 530-747-8082 or champton@davisenterprise.net.
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