--- title: 10 Years Later: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution | TIME description: In 2014, Hong Kong protesters used umbrellas as a form of passive resistance to the city police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray as they demanded a more transparent election. The protest movement was known as the “Umbrella Revolution.” 10 years later, five Hong Kongers reflect on their roles during the protests, and how their lives have changed after Beijing’s crackdowns. canonical: https://time.com/video/mJiAIFw1/ og:title: 10 Years Later: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution og:description: In 2014, Hong Kong protesters used umbrellas as a form of passive resistance to the city police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray as they demanded a more transparent election. The protest movement was known as the “Umbrella Revolution.” 10 years later, five Hong Kongers reflect on their roles during the protests, and how their lives have changed after Beijing’s crackdowns. og:url: https://time.com/video/mJiAIFw1/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mJiAIFw1/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Years Later: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution twitter:description: In 2014, Hong Kong protesters used umbrellas as a form of passive resistance to the city police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray as they demanded a more transparent election. The protest movement was known as the “Umbrella Revolution.” 10 years later, five Hong Kongers reflect on their roles during the protests, and how their lives have changed after Beijing’s crackdowns. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mJiAIFw1/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # 10 Years Later: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 10 Years Later: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Years Later: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mJiAIFw1.m3u8) (9:34)  _Published 2024-09-30. In 2014, Hong Kong protesters used umbrellas as a form of passive resistance to the city police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray as they demanded a more transparent election. The protest movement was known as the “Umbrella Revolution.” 10 years later, five Hong Kongers reflect on their roles during the protests, and how their lives have changed after Beijing’s crackdowns._ --- Oct 7, 2024 10:35 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Jailed Along with Other Umbrella Revolution Leaders](/video/LtWQelb6/) ### Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Jailed Along with Other Umbrella Revolution Leaders [Hong Kong's New Political Generation](/video/lI7NABM9/) ### Hong Kong's New Political Generation [Hong Kong Protesters WIll Carry on the Umbrella Revolution in Other Ways](/video/FiUgNjz4/) ### Hong Kong Protesters WIll Carry on the Umbrella Revolution in Other Ways --- ## Transcript In 2014, protesters took to the streets, demanding a more transparent election in Hong Kong. They carried umbrellas as a form of passive resistance. And occupied major roadways for 79 days. The 2014 umbrella movement was followed by the 2019 ti extradition law protests. Ten years ago, I was a student activist a student leader. So now I'm a political ex, like mostly based in the US. My name is Sif. In 2000 fe, I am the vie Chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. My name is Leo. 2014 is like a enlightenment to me. In 2019, I assist in building broad box, then I become a driver to transport those protesters. I'm Jackie Chan. I've been a social worker for about 20 years. I was arrest and chart with while on first a August 2 oh 19. I'm Ronson Chan. I'm Journalist in Hong Kong. Many protesters were motivated by an expectation that the former British colony was supposedly guaranteed political autonomy for 50 years following its return to China in 1997. This arrangement was called One Country two systems. But the crackdown from Beijing was severe, and life has changed for many involved in the movements. F my active participation in encouraging, like my fellow students in taking part in like a referendum, in different kind of pol campaigns, and different kind of educational initiative, I was the like while persecuted and being put like while behind bar in jail in 2017 for my involvement in the umbrella movement. I was pretty much like, pretty much, like mentally tortured, being physically separated with my families, seeing my mom, coming into prison, visiting me, seeing them crying, being half broken, coming out from prison, seeing people in support of, like, the political prisoners going to the street, and also, like the dying down of the movement. Those are also moments for me to reflect on, like, well, how much personal toll and social toll, we will have to we will have to bear as an individual of Hong Kong. So I myself move away from Hong Kong, 2018, I pursued a doctor degree in the US, so that one day I might return to Hong Kong to support my fellow citizens in recapturing the government in a most sustainable way. I was a nursing student back in 2014. The point that I changed my road is because when 2019 happened, I saw someone very young who injured. I'm already a nurse at that point. When I was off duty, I tried to go out and do some first aid work. You'll be shocked by how young they are. It's quite traumatized when you're seeing some young people being beaten. University campuses became a battleground between the police and protesters. Riot officers tried to clear bunkered students and protesters. Most of them were young people. The Beijing government called the protesters thugs and accused them of attempting to turn Hong Kong into an independent or semi independent political entity. Then we trying to basically form a Union 2021. We received a letter from other Union, that they got the same letter in the committee in the Union, that they got arrest. At that point, I decided to leave When you decided to leave, it's a decision like abandoned or the friends that is still fighting or staying. The city has experienced a pronounced exodus estimates range as high as 500,000 people. The Hong Kong government has placed million dollar bounties on political activists who have fled overseas. If I have to sum up the past four years since I left Hong Kong, it will be I hit the rock bottom. I came to the US in 2020 to seek political asylum, and the hardest time was waiting for a work permit. I couldn't find a job. I couldn't find a proper place to live. I feel like I I betrayed my friend back in Hong Kong, and I started playing myself. Eventually, I realized that it's just it's just depression. I received counseling. I was able to comet with other excels and I was able to start to heal myself. We had a group of social workers. We call us Battle social worker. Because in our youth field, We always handle different kinds of crisis case after June 2 019. We find that the emotion of police some police are out of control. Therefore, we hope that to alert the police to use the assists to the pupil. I was arrest and chart while on 31st, August 2 o19. I I lose the case that this time, I will go to jail. The government's response seems to be increasingly punitive. Chance say she's seen many cases of people charged with rioting merely because they showed up at the scene of protests. There are more influence on my career. I've seen the social worker registration board had helped my relieval of social worker license. The non governmental organization would employ me. This is a winter for the local journalists because the Apple Day C Gimi and the senior Management of Apple Dad had been arrested and then the cross of the Stand News, including two editors in chief were arrested. I really, really high risk for Journalists Association at that moment. Chan burned many of his reporting books. And I burned all away because if I keep it, I'm afraid that they will be collected by somebody. Chan stepped down as head of the Hong Kong Journalist Association in 2024. His successor, Selina Chang, says she was fired from the Wall Street Journal for her role with the organization. Dow Jones, which publishes the newspaper, refused to comment on individuals. The Hong Kong story is also a global story. The Diaspora effort across different host countries are critical in defending democracy, and those collective effort would also like channel back to the future policy making and institution building, the form of government, that will be taking inheriting like in Hong Kong, where we might be able to return home one day. There was one time a friend visited me in New York and I told them that if I were passed away in a foreign country, I would like them to bring back my ashes to Hong Kong because I would like to die in Hong Kong. I can travel overseas. Yeah, because my passport was taken away by the court. I also need to prepare my mother to accept that if I lost in the ch, but I'm lucky that I have five years to help her to prepare. People who are actively involved before will have a lot of trauma. We may need to explore some healing. For me, to live a life. To kind of hiding those memories and hiding those emotions. I have phobia on hyper spray. For example, I may dream dreamed. I was in my secondary school, and I saw my students that they trying to protest on the round and get got the attack from the tear gas. Okay, be honest, I don't have any views on the future. Honestly, I don't have it. I'm just trying to survive day by day. I still hope that when we cover the news, we can also cover what happened and try to make people don't forget them. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Years Later: Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution","description":"In 2014, Hong Kong protesters used umbrellas as a form of passive resistance to the city police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray as they demanded a more transparent election.\n\nThe protest movement was known as the “Umbrella Revolution.”\n\n10 years later, five Hong Kongers reflect on their roles during the protests, and how their lives have changed after Beijing’s crackdowns.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mJiAIFw1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-09-30T16:43:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mJiAIFw1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/mJiAIFw1/","duration":"PT9M34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/mJiAIFw1/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```