After the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, the population has dropped for three straight years. From July 2020 to the end of 2022, at least 400,000 Hong Kong citizens have emigrated to other countries, accounting for around 5 percent of the city’s population. Many residents chose to leave Hong Kong.
Most of them want the next generation to grow up in an environment free of lies.
Some Hong Kong people chose to stay in Hong Kong, believing that only by staying in Hong Kong is the only way to maintain Hong Kong’s values and avoid being replaced by the Chinese mainlanders who have immigrated to Hong Kong under CCP arrangements.
The two different views have created a conflict among Hong Kong people. Those who chose to leave were described as “deserters,” and those who chose to stay were described as “numbness.”
In Wong’s post, he reflects on how the meaning of “stay or leave” has changed over the past three years. Initially, it was only a political issue within the Democratic camp, debating whether to stay in or resign from the Legislative Council for the extended term of one year. “Leave” means to refuse to accept the extension and resign to draw a clear line with the Provisional Legislative Council 2.0; “Stay” means to stay in the system that has always had a lot of restrictions and to fight for every inch of land. The debate focused on electoral politics’ role, positioning, and function in developing civil society.
Later, as the crackdown on dissents expanded to “certain industries,” the “stay or leave” debate extended from strategic discussions in the Legislative Council to personal career planning in the private sector. It involved whether to “stay” in a rapidly shrinking workspace under a repressive atmosphere and continue pursuing career aspirations or to “leave” and seek another career and set aside the professional field after years of hard work and dedication. Joshua Wong believes that the implications of staying or leaving vary at different levels, but they are all interconnected.
Wong also cited lyrics from several Cantonese songs such as “Ciao,” “For those who stay, For those who had left,” “Li San Xu,” and “Letter” to discuss the issue of staying or leaving. He felt that most popular songs express the hope for a reunion between those separated by distance but do not delve further into what happens next. He particularly likes the lyrics of Nowhere Boys’ song “Signal from Home,” which talks about the process of waiting for a reunion.
Wong said he understands that no one can tell exactly when they will return to Hong Kong and, or return to the team (to regain their Hong Kong identity). However, recently when he looks at both sides of Victoria Harbour from the prisoner car almost every day, he recalls the lyrics of “Signal from Home,” which is “I’m still here when you come back... to maintain your love before / careful irrigation / I'll wait for you / to come back and look at this sea.” He believes that one can be open-minded when deciding whether to stay or leave and that there is no need to judge if it is right or wrong to stay or leave.
Joshua Wong was one of Hong Kong’s most prominent democratic activists in the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement and one of the leaders of Hong Kong’s 2014 democracy protests. Charges like sedition, secession, terrorism, and colluding with foreign forces were pressed against Wong, and he was eventually jailed for charges related to the protest. Joshua and other leaders were nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Price.
