Hong Kong’s Struggle of Decolonization and Democracy: A Conversation with Ching Kwan Lee

Sep 25, 2025

Ching Kwan Lee, a UCLA sociology professor and author of Forever Hong Kong, dives into the complex narrative of Hong Kong’s decolonization struggle. She explains how the 2019 protests were not just a quest for democracy, but the result of two decades of identity redefinition. Lee contrasts British and Chinese colonialism, highlighting the tension between integration and control in Beijing's approach. Drawing parallels to Tibet and Taiwan, she emphasizes the broader implications of Hong Kong's fight against authoritarianism for global resistance movements.

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INSIGHT

Double Colonization And Racial Logic

Lee argues Hong Kong experienced 'double colonization' under Britain and then Beijing, both race-based but with different logics.
British rule used racial difference; Beijing enforces a coercive sameness based on racialized nationalism.

INSIGHT

Why British Rule Was Largely Accepted

Hong Kongers largely accepted British rule for historical reasons: refuge from mainland turmoil, later social reforms, and a sense of powerlessness.
These factors combined to focus civic energy on economic opportunity rather than politics until later generations shifted sentiment.

INSIGHT

Grievances Built Over Time, Not Instantly

Resistance to Beijing grew over decades as promises of autonomy and electoral reform were abrogated, with 1989 and later stalled reforms as turning points.
Ambivalence toward China persisted early on due to cultural ties and economic opportunities.

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In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Ching Kwan Lee joins us to discuss her newly released book Forever Hong Kong: A Global City’s Decolonization Struggle. She reframes the 2019 Hong Kong protests not merely as a fight for democracy, but as the culmination of a two-decade decolonization struggle that sought to redefine the city’s identity, economy, and society. Dr. Lee first explains how Hong Kong experienced double colonization - first under Britain, then under Beijing - each system of rule justified through race, from colonial difference to China’s coercive sameness. Dr. Lee also explores Beijing’s contradictory impulses toward Hong Kong—wanting the city open enough to serve as a global hub yet controlled enough to prevent it from inspiring resistance on the mainland. She explains how this tension led to the imposition of the National Security Law and draws parallels to China’s approaches in Tibet and Xinjiang, while reflecting on what Hong Kong’s experience means for Taiwan and the fading credibility of “One Country, Two Systems.” Her insights in the book challenge familiar narratives and place Hong Kong’s struggle within the wider global conversations about authoritarianism, resistance, and decolonization in the 21st century.

Dr. Ching Kwan Lee is a professor in the department of Sociology at UCLA. She is a sociologist working at the intersection of global and comparative issues, including labor, political sociology, global development, decolonization, comparative ethnography, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Africa. She has published three multiple award-winning monographs on contemporary China, including Gender and the South China Miracle, Against the Law, and The Specter of Global China. The trilogy of Chinese capitalism was written through the lens of labor and working-class experiences. Her most recent publications include a short format book titled Hong Kong: Global China’s Restive Frontier, and two co-edited volumes — Take Back Our Future: an Eventful Sociology of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement and The Social Question in the 21st Century: A Global View. Forever Hong Kong: A Global City’s Struggle for Decolonization is her newest monograph.