Public Lecture
Friday, 20 September 2019, 3:30–5:30 pm
“The Force is No Longer with You”: The Police and Hong Kong Protests
Randy Shek (Barrister-at-law)
Room 104, Allard Hall, UBC
1822 East Mall, Vancouver

A City in Protest event
RSVP: cals@allard.ubc.ca

The Hong Kong Police Force has, for a long time, been deemed by the city’s residents as “Asia’s Finest.” But this reputation on the part of the Hong Kong Police as an efficient, disciplined, and impartial force has clearly taken a deep dive since the Umbrella Movement of 2014. A practising lawyer with a particular focus on criminal law, human rights, and civil liberties, Randy Shek will examine in this talk not only the evolution of this transformation but also its implications for Hong Kong and beyond.

Randy Shek 石書銘 is a practising barrister at Denis Chang’s Chambers, which is particularly well-known for their public law practice. His main areas of practice include criminal law, human rights and civil liberties, public law, and constitutional law. His recent notable cases include: defending for Joshua Wong in the Civic Square unlawful assembly case; representing Andy Chan Ho Tin when he was disqualified from running in the 2016 Legislative Council election and the subsequent banning of his separatist Hong Kong National Party; and acting for the defence in a Mong Kok Riot case as well as in the National Independent Party conspiracy to manufacture explosives case. He has also been directly involved in providing frontline legal support and representation to those who were arrested and charged in the recent civil unrests arising from the Hong Kong Government’s proposed amendments to extradition of fugitives law.

Mr. Shek is formerly a spokesperson for the Progressive Lawyers Group and is now a member of the Bar Council, which is the governing body of the Hong Kong Bar Association. He was responsible for preparing the Hong Kong Bar Association’s responses to the proposed amendments to the Fugitives Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance. Because of the intense controversies surrounding the Hong Kong Government’s proposed amendments, he has frequently been requested by the media to provide comments and analysis on the Hong Kong extradition regime and the impact of those amendments.

This public lecture is co-organized by the Centre for Asian Legal Studies and the Hong Kong Studies Initiative and is co-sponsored by: Department of Asian Studies, Centre for Chinese Research, and Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society.

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Community Talk
Sunday, 22 September 2019, 2:00–4:00 pm
Human Rights in Hong Kong? 香港《基本法》還能保障人權嗎?
Randy Shek (Barrister-at-law)
Performance Hall, Richmond Cultural Centre
7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond

A City in Protest event

Program in Cantonese
RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2019-human-rights-in-hong-kong-tickets-70319642945

While fundamental human rights and civil liberties are given protection under the region’s constitutional instruments, both the authorities and residents often resort to the law and the courts when issues of great political significance and impact arise. This talk will focus on the experience and observations by a lawyer practising in criminal law, human rights law and civil liberties law who is frequently involved in cases caught at the crossroads between political controversy and human rights challenges.

香港《基本法》及《香港人權法案》只回歸以來是香港人權保障的法律根源。但回歸二十多年的香港經歷了數次的社會動盪及釋法的衝擊後，法律及法庭能否仍然能夠及時和有效地根據《基本法》保障香港市民的權利嗎？本講座由一位在香港主攻刑事法、人權法、及公民自由法的執業大律師分享香港過去十年有關人權及公民自由的案件及事件，從而談論香港現在的狀況及面對的挑戰。

This community talk is organized by the Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society and co-presented by the Hong Kong Studies Initiative.

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Public Lecture
Thursday, September 26, 5:30–7:00 pm
Chinese State Capitalism in Hong Kong
Prof. Ho-fung Hung (Johns Hopkins University)
Harbour Centre 1900, Simon Fraser University
515 W. Hastings Street, Vancouver

A City in Protest event
RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/chinese-state-capitalism-in-hong-kong-tickets-68215284753

This presentation discusses the role of Hong Kong as China’s offshore financial market amidst the rise and faltering of the China Boom, as well as its implications to the local politics and society of Hong Kong. After China’s accession to the WTO in 2001, mainland China and Hong Kong remain to be two separate members in the organization with different terms of membership. While China continues to maintain a lot of restrictions on foreign financial capital, Hong Kong’s financial sector has been fully open to the world. In the meantime, US and other developed countries treat Hong Kong as a separate entity on import-export control and capital control, offering Hong Kong free access to their markets with privileges close to those enjoyed by any OECD country. This special status of Hong Kong, conditional upon international recognition of its autonomy from Beijing under “One Country, Two Systems,” lures Chinese state companies to use Hong Kong as an offshore platform for capitalization, investment, RMB internationalization, and importation of sensitive technologies from Western countries that are banned for China. One consequence of this special status of Hong Kong is the rising economic dominance and political influence of Chinese state companies and the princeling elite associated with them. Such domination, ironically, could erode Hong Kong’s autonomy from Beijing and jeopardize Hong Kong’s special status in the world economy.

Ho-fung Hung is the Henry M. and Elizabeth P. Wiesenfeld Professor in Political Economy in the Department of Sociology and in the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of the award-winning Protest with Chinese Characteristics (2011) and The China Boom: Why China Will not Rule the World (2016). His articles have appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, Development and Change, Review of International Political Economy, Asian Survey, and elsewhere, and have been translated into nine different languages. His analyses of the Chinese political economy and Hong Kong politics have been featured or cited in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, BBC News, The Guardian, Die Presse (Austria), Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), The Straits Times (Singapore), The South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), Xinhua Monthly (China), and People’s Daily (China), among other publications.

This public lecture is co-organized by the SFU David Lam Centre and the School for International Studies and co-presented by the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative.

Community Dialogue
Saturday, 28 September 2019, 12:00–2:00 pm
A Conversation with Anthony Wong 光天化日再嬉戲: 與黃耀明對話
Harbour Centre 7000, Simon Fraser University
515 W. Hastings Street, Vancouver

A City in Protest event

Program in Cantonese
RSVP: http://sfu.ca/itcr/events/wong.html

Celebrated Hong Kong singer-songwriter, producer, and activist Anthony Wong will chat with Professor Helen Leung (Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Simon Fraser University) about his long music career, his experience being an openly gay artist, his involvement in LGBTQ and pro-democracy activism in Hong Kong, as well as his thoughts on creativity and artistic experimentation.

著名音樂人黃耀明會與西門菲莎大學性別研究系梁學思教授深入對談，分享其個人音樂歷程、同志身份及參與平權與民主運動的經驗，並從中對其藝術創意及獨立風格作出反思。

This community conversation is co-organized by the Hong Kong Studies Initiative (UBC), the Institute for Transpacific Cultural Research (SFU), and the Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society.

See information for Anthony Wong’s concert in Vancouver.