Hong Kong in 2020: Pandemic, Protest and Great Power Rivalry

This talk explores the convergence of Hong Kong's dramatic protest cycle, the Hong Kong government's pandemic control measures, and mounting tensions in the U.S.-China relationship. How is the geopolitical, in a semi-colonial setting, inflected through patterns of urban governance, infrastructure, and public space? How do protestors strategically deploy within urban spaces to leverage their relative lack of power vis-à-vis the state, to make claims at local, national, and global scales? What happens when states counter-mobilize to restrict protestors' access to public space? This talk addresses these questions with reference to contemporary Hong Kong, and with comparative references to another case of convergent protest, pandemic, and power rivalry in Asia a century ago: that of Shanghai in 1918-9.

This event will be held via Zoom. Registration is required: http://bit.ly/APSI-HK2020