Mission and impact:
The Best of HKFP 2023:
Original features: In 2023, the government completed an overhaul of its electoral systems, bringing local councils in line with Beijing-decreed changes to ensure only pre-approved “patriots” could run as district representatives. We spoke to local councillors dismayed by the decision, went out with candidates ahead of the opposition-free election, and heard from voters who said they had “lost interest” in the process, which saw a record-low turnout of 27.5 per cent.
We also explored how the narrative surrounding the District Council changed from 2019, when the pro-democracy camp’s landslide victory was accepted by the government, to 2023, when officials claimed the local bodies had been influenced by “independence elements.”
Despite the transformations to Hong Kong’s governance being touted as “improvements,” marginalised groups told us how they felt left behind by Hong Kong’s “patriots-only” legislature. Additionally, analysis showed that government spending had faced less scrutiny since the opposition was shut out.
Former Liberal Studies teachers warned that critical thinking had been removed from the curriculum, as the final exams for the short-lived subject were held. And as books disappeared from Hong Kong’s public libraries, we examined some of the titles considered too sensitive for general consumption, and met those committed to keeping track of the “vanished” volumes.
But books were not the only thing to disappear in 2023. We bade farewell to Sham Shui Po’s beloved fabric market, saw countless neon signs being switched off, and documented how Tsim Sha Tsui’s street photographers fell foul of new licensing regulations.
It was also in early 2023 that Hong Kong finally said goodbye to the last of its Covid-related restrictions. We explored how children may struggle to face the world after three years of mask wearing, the pandemic’s lasting impact on the city’s migrant domestic workers, and the first Ramadan since limits on the number of people who could gather were lifted.
Then, when Mpox entered Hong Kong, we heard from one patient how little the city had learned from previous unpopular forced isolation programmes.
The end of Covid curbs heralded the return of tourists, most notably those from mainland China. However, we discovered that visitors in 2023 seemed more interested in taking snaps for social media than spending money, and long-haul arrivals were few and far between. We looked into a scarcity of pilots and low morale at the city’s flagship airline, which exacerbated the matter, and investigated how, despite government efforts, Hong Kong’s evening economy had taken a hit.
HKFP was proud to continue its partnership with The Guardian in 2023, collaborating with the British broadsheet in covering the opposition-free local elections, and the landmark security law trial of Jimmy Lai. We also produced a multimedia feature about the city’s fading neon heritage.
We explored how a similar economic slowdown north of the border had resulted in queues outside Hong Kong banks as mainland Chinese sought higher interest rates and security for their savings. And we spoke to restaurateurs from mainland China who increasingly saw Hong Kong as a “stepping stone” to overseas success, as US-headquartered advisory firms in China were raided and on the receiving end of law-enforcement action.
In Hong Kong, which has a proudly low violent crime rate, high-profile murders grabbed international headlines and shone a spotlight on gender and mental health issues. We explored how women were treated by local media, and why so many reports relied on gore, inaccuracies and sensationalism. We also heard from mental health practitioners, who said staff shortages at public psychiatric facilities failed patients.
Also in the news was Hong Kong’s falling fertility rate and official efforts to boost babymaking. But young couples told us it would take more than a HK$20,000 handout to convince them to have kids. Others simply said they did not want to raise their children in the city, and were thinking of starting a family overseas.
As LGBTQ rights prevailed in court, we looked at how one landmark ruling in favour of transgender individuals had in fact seen some applications to change gender markers on identity cards suspended. We also spoke to several people who had survived conversion therapy programmes run by government-backed groups.
As extreme weather set dubious new records for the city, we heard from climate experts, who warned that such events would become “normal,” while outdoor workers most at risk from rising temperatures told us why a new heat stroke warning system was unlikely to protect them.
We also turned to photography to tell stories in 2023, following Hong Kong’s underground idols as they strove for recognition on the fringes of a subculture, spending time at a stray animal shelter, and turning the lens on the hostile architecture designed to keep homelessness off the streets.
Further afield, we shone the spotlight on Hong Kong journalists documenting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and looked at the ways Taiwan was seeking to come to terms with its painful past under martial law.
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Explanatory reporting: We continued our monthly explainers on the impact of Beijing’s national security legislation on the city, and looked in-depth into how the first three years of the law had changed Hong Kong in a two-part piece. A second two-parter published to mark the third anniversary of the legislation explored new legal precedents set under it, from non-jury trials to whether overseas lawyers can participate in national security cases.
We explained Beijing’s first interpretation of the law, which addressed that very question, examined what redacted police reports revealed about official views on the Tiananmen crackdown, and asked if it was legal for Hongkongers to publicly commemorate those who died during the crackdown in 1989.
Chief Executive John Lee’s first year in office was reviewed, as was the issue of “soft resistance” – a vague term adopted by authorities and cited with increasing frequency as a threat to national security. And with Hong Kong’s own security law, Article 23, back in the spotlight, we looked at why it failed in 2003 and what we can expect as it is resurrected.
We also explored how, and why, the government was seeking to ban protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong, and published explainers on the District Council electoral overhaul, including how the changes gave new powers to three government-appointed committees.
As one of the city’s last political cartoons was pulled from the pages of Ming Pao, we looked at where the city’s satirists had gone, and with the dissolution of the pro-democracy Civic Party, we looked back over its history.
When Hong Kong became the first Asian city to host the Gay Games, we asked why the inclusive sporting event had attracted such controversy, and rounded-up the legal rulings that have shaped LGBTQ rights in Hong Kong.
Interviews: In 2023, we spoke to Hongkongers who were dedicated to making a difference in their city, from journalist Bao Choy, whose conviction for making false statements linked to a documentary she made about a mob attack in Yuen Long in 2019 was quashed in June, to transgender rights activist Henry Tse, who fought for the right to be recognised as a man without undergoing full surgery – and won.
We interviewed several creatives for whom sustainability was central to their work, including designers Niko Leung, who makes ceramics from Hong Kong construction waste, and Toby Crispy, who is fighting fast fashion and the waste it produces with her “slow stitch” initiative.
We also discussed Hong Kong’s changing media landscape with journalism professor Francis Lee, and caught up with Jon Chiu, the creator of a font designed to help people learn Cantonese.
And ahead of the second Clockenflap music festival of the year, we caught up with Taiwan-based Running Youth, who were making their hometown debut, post-punk duo Gong Gong Gong, and local band Bad Math on making melancholy music to dance to.
Scoops: We revealed that National Day displays of patriotism across the city had cost the government more than HK$31 million. And we broke the news of Clockenflap’s takeover by music concert multinational Live Nation through an exclusive interview with two of the festivals’ founders.
We also dug into the data surrounding District Council candidates, and discovered that 75 per cent of them were on the committees responsible for nominating who could run, and exposed how Beijing had brought in new rules for consulates in Hong Kong, demanding that the job titles, residential addresses and identification details of all locally-employed staff be provided.
Podcast: HKFP launched its first podcast in 2023, hosted by Associate Editor Mercedes Hutton.
HKFP Yum Cha invited a different guest to us each week to discuss their area of expertise, be that fighting for democracy, researching Hong Kong’s history, promoting mental health care, or trying to keep the city’s neon craft alive. Listen on all major podcast platforms…
Apple | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Overcast | Amazon Music | Pandora | RSS
Awards
A Hong Kong Free Press opinion piece won an honourable mention at the prestigious Society of Publishers in Asia Awards in June. Yuen Chan’s op-ed about media freedom competed in the Excellence in Opinion Writing: Regional category.
Published on Press Freedom Day the previous year, Chan’s opinion piece argued that alarm over the “death” of press freedom in the city was premature: “Despite the closures, the arrests, the smears, the sad and reluctant departure of their peers, there are journalists who simply continue to do their jobs,” Chan wrote. “When big gestures become foolhardy, dangerous or impossible, small acts of solidarity with those quietly toiling at the coalface become more important than ever.”
HKFP also won an honourable mention for photography at Asia’s 2023 Human Rights Press Awards, held in the US in May.
A shot by Britt Clennett, which shows a worker rolling up a “Hong Kong Asia’s World City” banner as police officers pass by, won a prize in the Single Image category. “These awards recognise the journalists who are shedding light on some of the most critical issues of our time in Asia,” said executive director of Human Rights Watch Tirana Hassan.
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2023 Ethics Revamp
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2023 Achievements
Impact & Positioning
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