Hong Kong businessman Herbert Chow, the outspoken founder and CEO of Hong Kong children’s clothing retailer Chickeeduck who voiced support for protesters during the anti-extradition movement, has left Hong Kong with his wife for the United States after suffering “unprecedented harassment by unidentifiable malicious forces.”
While he has been forced to end his retail business in Hong Kong ahead of schedule, Chow has said he will seek opportunities to expand his overseas business, and plans to one day return to Hong Kong.
Chow told The Epoch Times that pro-Beijing media tracked his whereabouts one week before his departure. He said he suspected that spies from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were surrounding him.
As reported by pro-CCP media Da Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po on May 26, as Chow and his wife were checking in to depart from Hong Kong Airport, he was asked by reporters where he was going, whether he was worried about the National Security Law, and whether he would come back to Hong Kong. Chow did not respond to any of their questions.
After arriving the United States on May 28, Chow told The Epoch Times’ Chinese language “Precious Dialogue” program that he had disclosed his departure only to people who should know, such as his employees. But somehow, the reporters found out and messaged him on Facebook, saying that they knew he was leaving Hong Kong. Chow said he was “really flattered” to have been tracked by the pro-CCP media, although he believes it reveals that there have been CCP spies around him.
Why did Chow leave Hong Kong? He told The Epoch Times that he usually travels aboard every summer for vacation, although he hadn’t been in recent years due to the pandemic.
He added that it was quite absurd for the pro-CCP media to ask whether he would return to Hong Kong. “We should always say ‘no’ to any absurd harassment. I will start expanding my business overseas, and I will come back to Hong Kong, Hong Kong is my home,” he said.
During the Occupy Central movement in 2014, Chow used to criticize protesters and lean more in support of the CCP in Beijing as his business was hindered by the disruptions. It was after the anti-extradition protests in 2019 that he realized the CCP and Hong Kong authorities did not listen to all members of the public that they are meant to represent. He then turned his support to the anti-CCP and pro-democracy groups and individuals who were suppressed by the regime.
In May 2020 during the anti-extradition movement, Chow arranged for a statue of Lady Liberty holding a “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Times” flag to be displayed in a new store in Tsuen Wan. The shopping mall management asked him to remove the statue and refused to renew the lease with him.
After that, he believes he was targeted for harrassment by the authorities. His peers and family members were also constantly harassed and followed, and his company smeared by some media, leaving some business partners and manufacturers daring not to partner with him.
Chow continued to open street shops and display artworks and products with slogans supporting the anti-extradition movement. By that time, Beijing’s so-called National Security Law had been enacted by the Hong Kong legislature.
Only three days after a new store was opened, dozens of national security personnel and policemen came to search the store. All employee and customer information was recorded, and he was warned by the police not to sell or display any products that violate the CCP’s National Security Law.
In addition to the pressures facing his Hong Kong stores, he said that several Chickeeduck suppliers in Guangdong had been threatened by mainland police demanding that they stop doing business with Chow. Some suppliers complied with the pressure and ended cooperation with him.
Chow found an Indonesian supplier, but after they delivered the second batch of goods, the supplier told Chow that they had received “very terrible information about your company.” The supplier feared that Chickeeduck would be suspended at any time, like Apple Daily. They then asked Chow to pay in full for the products before they would be shipped, creating difficulties for Chow’s business capital.
The businessman also said that he now covers any Chickeeduck labels on his goods to make sure they arrive in Hong Kong.
On Nov. 18 last year, Chow announced that he would end all local business by the second half of 2022. “I would rather take one step back and exit,” he said.
Chickeeduck had as many as 18 branches across Hong Kong in 2019. Chow said he plans to transform the business while adhering to the identity of a Hong Konger.
