Liberalism in Hong Kong
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Liberalism |
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Liberalism has a long tradition as an
Hong Kong was established as a free trading port by Britain in 1841 and has been strongly influenced by the
The emergence of the contemporary liberalism took root in the rapid democratisation in the final years of the colonial years in the 1980s and 1990s, which the pro-democracy camp was united under the banner of an autonomous Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. The liberals consolidated their popular support from the
The liberals suffered from internal crises and fragmentation over the approaches on fighting for full democracy and safeguarding Hong Kong's liberal values against Beijing's increasing encroachment on Hong Kong's autonomy, which led to the
Liberal roots in the 19th to early 20th century
Laissez-faire liberalism
The cession of Hong Kong under the
Sir John Bowring, the Governor of Hong Kong from 1854 to 1859 and a disciple of liberal philosopher Jeremy Bentham for instance was a chief campaigner of free trade at the time. He believed that "Jesus Christ is free trade and free trade is Jesus Christ."[3] In 1858, Bowring proudly claimed that "Hong Kong presents another example of elasticity and potency of unrestricted commerce."[2]
The free market tradition lasted throughout Hong Kong history, and the city was rated the world's freest economy for 25 years, from 1995 to 2020,
Political liberalism
Compared to
One of the earliest revolutionary organisations, the
There were very few liberal reforms carried out by the colonial government towards the end of the 19th century. For instance, Sir John Bowring proposed that the elections to the
Sir
There were sporadic voices for political liberalisation in Hong Kong during the late 19th and early 20th century. One of the examples was the
Post-war liberal trends
Young Plan
The liberal movement experienced a resurgence following the return of British rule in 1945, after a three-year long Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Governor Mark Aitchison Young announced the plan for constitutional changes on the day of the return of the civil government in 1946, as "an appropriate and acceptable means of affording to all communities in Hong Kong an opportunity of more active political participation, through their responsible representatives, in the administration of the Territory."[18] It proposed to set up a municipal council which would give Hong Kong a limited degree of representative government.[19]
The Young Plan generated debates in the local community. Several political groups were set up to participate in the debate over political liberalisation, such as the
Self-government movement
The call for political liberalisation and
The self-proclaimed "
There were also the Hong Kong Socialist Democratic Party and the Labour Party of Hong Kong, which took a more left-leaning and democratic socialist approach to Hong Kong's independence and decolonization.[25][26]
In 1966, Urban Councillor
Positive non-interventionism
Economic liberalism and free-market capitalism remained the dominant economic philosophy in Hong Kong throughout its history. In 1971,
The economic philosophy was highly praised by economist
1970s student movements
The 1970s in Hong Kong were the prime years of liberal student movements. Although the student unions were all dominated by the
Waves of liberalisation in the 1980s and 1990s
Sino-British agreement and drafting of the Basic Law
In the late 1970s, the
While the Beijing authorities insisted China shall resume its sovereignty over Hong Kong after 1997,
The
During the period, many liberal political groups were formed to contest the electoral politics in different levels. By the late 1980s, the Meeting Point led by Yeung Sum, the Hong Kong Affairs Society led by Albert Ho formed in 1985, and the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (HKADPL) led by Frederick Fung became the three major liberal political forces active in elections. The liberals also formed the Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government (JCPDG) to demand a faster pace of democratisation and to introduce direct elections in the 1988 Legislative Council.[34] It was led by the two most prominent liberal icons, Martin Lee and Szeto Wah, who were elected to the Legislative Council and were also appointed by Beijing into the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC), to draft the provisional constitution of the Hong Kong government after 1997.
To counter the liberal emergence, the business elites formed a
Tiananmen protest and the liberal zenith
The liberals supported the democratic cause of the
Prominent liberal leaders Martin Lee and Szeto Wah resigned from the BLDC as an act of protest against the Beijing government after the massacre and the warm relationship between Beijing and pro-democrats have broken off since. The democrats have held the
The arrival of the last governor
In response to the Patten proposals, the Beijing government set up the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) which was seen as unconstitutional by the pro-democrats. The pro-democrats, except for the HKADPL, boycotted the PLC and stepped down as legislators during the last days of colonial rule. The pro-democrats ran again in the first legislative elections of the SAR period. Although the pro-democrats continuously received about 55 to 60 per cent of the popular vote in every election held since 1997, their influence was contained and hampered by the indirectly elected trade-based functional constituencies.
Democratic stagnation in the early handover period
Basic Law Article 23 and 2003 pro-democracy wave
Being excluded from the government by the unique design of the electoral system and composition of the
The Democratic Party, the flagship liberal party of Hong Kong, suffered from the intra-party factional struggles in the first SAR years where the more radical pro-grassroots "Young Turks" split from the party after
Between 2002 and 2003 when Hong Kong was still suffering from the
The liberal movement lost its momentum after the 2004 decision of the
Liberal disarray and Umbrella Revolution
In 2009, the radical
Dissatisfied with the traditional liberals' little success in resisting Beijing's growing economic and political influence over Hong Kong, a young generation of
In 2013, legal scholar
Although the Occupy protests ended without any political concessions from the government, it precipitated a generation of galvanised youth and awakening of Hong Kong people's civic consciousness.
Liberals under the national security law
The liberal movement went through a slump after the failure of the
As the protests progressed, activists laid out five key demands including the introduction of universal suffrage.
To curb the protests, the government invoked the
In July, the pro-democrats launched an
List of liberal parties
Meeting Point
- 1983: Formation of the Meeting Point
- 1990: Members of the group formed the ⇒ United Democrats of Hong Kong
- 1994: The party merged into the ⇒ Democratic Party
- 2002: Anthony Cheung of the Democratic Party left and formed think tank ⇒ SynergyNet
- 2015: Tik Chi-yuen of the Democratic Party left and formed ⇒ Third Side
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood
- 1986: Formation of the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood
- 1990: Members of the group formed the ⇒ United Democrats of Hong Kong
- 1996: The radical faction left and formed the ⇒ Social Democratic Front
Hong Kong Democratic Foundation
- 1989: Formation of the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation
- 1992: Leong Che-hungof the group joined the ⇒ Meeting Point
United Democrats to Democratic Party
- 1990: The liberals united in the United Democrats of Hong Kong
- 1994: The Meeting Point merged into the ⇒ Democratic Party
- 2000: The left-wing faction left and formed the ⇒ Social Democratic Forum
- 2008: The Frontier merged into the ⇒ Democratic Party
- 2010: The young Turks left and formed the ⇒ Neo Democrats
- 2015: The moderate faction left and formed the ⇒ Third Side
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
- 1990: Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee formed the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
- 2012: The union formed the ⇒ Labour Party
- 2021: The union was dissolved
Democratic Alliance
- 1994: Pro-Taiwan politicians formed 123 Democratic Alliance
- 2000: The party was dissolved
- 2003: Former members formed Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance
- 2011: The Democratic Alliance formed alliance with the ⇒ People Power
- 2012: The Democratic Alliance broke away from the People Power
- 2021: The party was dissolved
The Frontier
- 1996: The United Antsformed the Frontier
- 2003: Cyd Ho of the group formed the ⇒ Civic Act-up
- 2006: The social democratic faction left and formed the ⇒ League of Social Democrats
- 2008: The party merged into the ⇒ Democratic Party
- 2010: The radical faction re-registered the party
- 2011: The party formed alliance with the ⇒ People Power
- 2016: The party broke away from the People Power
Citizens Party
- 1997: Formation of the Citizens Party
- 2008: The party was dissolved
Article 23 Concern Group to Civic Party
- 2002: Formation of the Article 23 Concern Group
- 2003: The group renamed to the ⇒ Article 45 Concern Group
- 2006: The group transformed into the ⇒ Civic Party
- 2008: Fernando Cheung left the party and later formed the ⇒ Labour Party
- 2015: Ronny Tong left the party and formed the think tank ⇒ Path of Democracy
- 2016: Claudia Mo left the party and represented ⇒ HK First
Civic Act-up
- 2003: Cyd Ho formed the Civic Act-up
- 2012: The group formed the ⇒ Labour Party
League of Social Democrats
- 2006: Formation of the League of Social Democrats
- 2011: Members of the party left and formed the ⇒ People Power
Neo Democrats
- 2010: Formation of the Neo Democrats
- 2021: The party was dissolved
People Power
- 2011: Formation of the People Power
- 2012: Wong Yeung-tat left along with the ⇒ Civic Passion
- 2013: Wong Yuk-man left along with the ⇒ Proletariat Political Institute
Labour Party
- 2012: Formation of the Labour Party
Demosistō
- 2016: Formation of Demosistō
- 2020: The party was dissolved
Liberal figures and organisations
See also
- Democratic development in Hong Kong
- Economy of Hong Kong
Other ideologies in Hong Kong
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