Blank Walls on Hong Kong Campuses
As panels were erected earlier this month around the public student message board at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) that has long borne the words “Democracy Wall” (民主牆), the university insisted to local media that it was “progressively digitalizing notice boards in common areas on campus,” and that students would still be permitted to post content in accordance with university guidelines.
But the message could hardly have been clearer. Hong Kong’s free spaces for student expression are disappearing.
Once a free and vibrant space, just beside the entrance to the university’s main library building, where pro-democracy posters could be posted by students, the “Democracy Wall” had largely fallen silent by July 2021, one year after the implementation of Hong Kong’s national security law. It was at that time that HKU, facing pressure from Hong Kong’s top official, stopped recognizing its politically active student union, revoked its management rights over the wall, and stripped the board of its messages and posters. The city’s Ming Pao newspaper and other local media reported that the clearance had been overseen by HKU Dean of Student Affairs Samson Tse, who reportedly indicated the materials should be preserved after removal.
Min-yen Chiang (江旻諺), the former deputy editor-in-chief of the now-defunct student magazine Undergrad (學苑), which for decades was published by the union, told the Hong Kong exile media Pulse HK this month that the “Democracy Wall” was a rich space for expression before 2020, allowing the posting of diverse viewpoints. The university’s statement that a digital replacement is on its way is cold comfort, he said, amounting to another level of restriction. “The digitization of the ‘Democracy Wall,’” said Chiang, “only means the school side might be able to directly control it from the backend.”
Tearing Down the Walls
A decade of vanishing space for student expression
on Hong Kong’s university campuses
“Give Us Back Our Wall”
Posters Test the Line
A Wall Rebuilt, Warily
A Lease Lapses, a Wall Comes Down
The Board Goes Blank
Chinese University’s Wall Falls Silent
A Farewell, Then a Demolition
Boarded Up, Bound for a Screen
The enclosure of the HKU “Democracy Wall” is just the latest move in Hong Kong campus actions against public spaces for student expression. When its 50-year-old student union ceased operations in October 2021, the Chinese University of Hong Kong cordoned off its iconic “Democracy Wall” and commandeered the space. Months later, in early 2022, City University demolished its own “Democracy Wall” located near the main library.
For student public expression in Hong Kong, the HKU action seems for now to mark the true end of an era. The only question remaining this month was whether the university will retain the name “Democracy Wall” at all for the space. The school, Pulse HK reported, has not replied.
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