TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The first magazine published by (overseas) Hongkongers for Hongkongers is now being distributed around the world.
The name of the publication — 如水 Flow HK — recalls "Be water," a slogan immortalized by Bruce Lee and given form through the many leaderless hit-and-fade demonstrations seen in Hong Kong throughout 2019. The inaugural issue, given the theme "Entanglement," considers the "various fetters on Hong Kong from past to present, from individuals to society," according to the initial editorial statement.
The authors declared that even though many Hongkongers who were active in the pro-democracy movement have scattered in the aftermath of the national security law and Bejing's ruthless crackdown on freedom of expression in the city, they are determined to carry on the spirit of community — as well as the "fire of resistance" — from freer soil.
They intend the publication to become a "medium for public discussion of Hong Kong" featuring "discourses on its political, social, and cultural aspects" for readers both in the once-autonomous region and abroad. "We hope to connect everyone involved, the sons and daughters of Hong Kong in this revival movement will empower them," according to the statement.
The magazine's editorial board is comprised of young Hong Kong activists-in-exile and supporters who rose to prominence in the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the more recent "Water Revolution."
They include Alex Yong-Kang Chow (周永康), former secretary-general of the Federation of Students; Roy Wang (黃台仰), founder of Hong Kong Indigenous; activist Sunny Cheung (張崑陽), former spokesman for the Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation; Brian Leung (梁繼平); Sanho Cheung (鍾燊豪); activist Glacier Kwong (鄺頌晴); Singaporean student politician Billy Fung (馮金根); and Taiwanese activist Jiang Minyan (江旻諺).
Jiang Minyan honed his political chops when he joined the editorial board of a student association at the University of Hong Kong during the wave of protests in 2014. He is now a co-organizer for Taiwan Citizens Front, a grassroots coalition of non-profiteers, lawyers, scholars, students, and citizen activists pushing for economic, social, and environmental reform in addition to opposing the "one-China policy" that China seeks to impose on Taiwan. The organization also assists Hongkongers seeking asylum in Taiwan.
People in Hong Kong and Taiwan can purchase a copy of Flow HK for NT$350 (US$12.50), while those living elsewhere can expect to pay NT$600. As of Tuesday (Feb. 9), the magazine can be found at select shops around Taipei, including Causeway Bay.
Causeway Bay Bookstore owner Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) with copy of Flow HK. (如水 Flow HK photo)
Due to the increasingly precarious situation in Hong Kong, subscribers wishing to err on the side of caution can fill out a pre-sale form first and confirm the details of their purchase at a later date. An electronic version is available for those who are unable to receive a physical copy.
Over 1,000 physical copies have been ordered so far, Minyan told Taiwan News, and digital subscribers are expected to account for half of the magazine's readership. He emphasized that every effort would be taken to safeguard the identity of subscribers in Hong Kong.
The politically minded among the Hong Kong diaspora feel it has fallen to them to take up the torch of the pro-democracy movement "for future protests that resist the CCP with global alliances," Minyan said. With this in mind, the editors met several times to determine what topics to feature in the magazine and "what the next stage of the movement is."
The group decided that the articles of the first issue would be to contextualize "the different aspects and social effects of the whole water revolution in 2019" in order to understand its effect on Hong Kong identity and provide a foundation for that movement as it enters a new phase, according to Minyan.
In the piece he authored, he delves into the social conditions Taiwanese must share with their Hong Kong counterparts to maneuver against the Chinese threat. He also draws a parallel between the underground nature of the Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement's present and the not-so-distant Taiwanese past in which dissidents living abroad defied the Japanese occupation and subsequent martial law period under the Kuomingtang (KMT).
Jiang Minyan (right) on Jan. 8 co-hosting Taipei press conference on arrest of 53 Hong Kong democrats. (Taiwan News photo)
