The Post-80s Boom

At the end of the noughties, a new species of protester was born in Hong Kong. They’re young, they care about society a lot more than their predecessors, they’re intellectual and they’re not afraid of criticism. They’ve dominated the news headlines but they’re not after their 15 minutes of fame. Who are they? They’re the Post-80s Generation.

For the past month, these so-called Post-80s protesters have dominated the news because of their involvement in the series of protests against the construction of the controversial Hong Kong-Guangzhou high-speed railway (XRL). On the weekend of January 15, while the legislators were debating whether to green light the $66.9 billion budget for the infrastructure project, more than 10,000 members of the Post-80s protesters surrounded the Legco building overnight as a last-ditch effort. The images echo that of more than 20 years ago, on that eventful week when the Legco building was surrounded by close to one million people in support of the students in Tiananmen Square. The XRL protest was mostly peaceful, with a group of protesters fasting, while others chanted slogans, sang songs and there was even a bit of cooking going on. Unlike their predecessors, there was no cardboard coffin burning to catch the limelight. Toward the end the police used pepper spray claiming the protesters were becoming violent, but bystanders said it was only a minor scuffle.

What has followed is an explosion of the label’s usage. Pick up any random newspaper and you’ll find the words Post-80s in virtually any section, from the local news section to Post-80s food and travel features (we’re not making this up), to the tabloid pages, where the sassy three-member girl group Freeze have recently been named the Post-80s singers (yes, seriously). Also a bit over the top is the unlimited analysis of these protesters. Everyone is trying to figure out who these people are (including yours truly), as if we have never ever met them, as if they are really this new, alien species. Has your 20-something neighbor, who just participated in a XRL protest, really become such a stranger to you? Do you really need a magnifying glass to understand him or her?

Unsurprisingly, people have interpreted the Post-80s label differently. To the XRL protesters themselves, the label represents their passion toward social issues and the future of our city. It reflects their willingness to take action and speak out against injustice. In his blog, Financial Secretary John Tsang famously linked the frustrations of the Post-80s generation with their own quality of life and not the future of Hong Kong saying they care more about having a swimming pool in their clubhouse, while Chief Executive Donald Tsang has referred to the XRL protesters as “violating the core values of our society.” To a selected few, the label Post-80s does not represent anything good at all.

Originally a term used on the mainland to describe a generation that’s insensitive to current affairs and jaded by selfishness, the label Post-80s has been adopted in Hong Kong for the opposite reason—young people in Hong Kong have started to feel like they should care about social affairs, and should get involved and try to make a difference. Those who participated in the Star Ferry Pier and Wedding Card Street protests have been the first to step out, but most eventually got a wake up call last year, when the then president of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) student union Ayo Chan said people of his generation (those born after the 1980s) have little memory of the June 4 massacre in 1989, and that they should focus on the economic development of China instead. According to Christina Chan, the HKU student who has become the face of the Post-80s protesters in the press, the emergence of the Post-80s generation is related to Ayo Chan’s outrageous remark. And that was the first catalyst, according to Chen Yun-chung, a professor of social science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (UST) who has been following the civil actions initiated by young activists. “Growing up in Hong Kong, these young people have been surrounded by an environment where people around them talk about social injustice and current affairs a lot,” Chen says. “And now these people have grown up, they feel like they have the power and should be doing something about things happening around them. They feel the strong sense of belonging to Hong Kong.”

If anything should be called the second—and the biggest—catalyst, one should have no doubt about pointing the finger at the XRL construction, which will lead to the destruction of Choi Yuen Tsuen village in Sheung Shui. Chan King-fai, a leader of the Post-80s protesters at the XRL protests and one of the hunger strikers at the Queen’s Pier protest two years ago, admits that if the infrastructure project didn’t result in the demolition of any villages, and if people’s livelihoods and homes weren’t being threatened, there wouldn’t be as many young protesters supporting their cause. Chen at UST says the protests have shown how these young protesters, unlike their predecessors (veteran politicians and activists), are not so much into the so-called “big issues.” “All the issues that first touched these young people’s nerves are local issues related to livelihood and communities, but not subjects like democracy or universal suffrage,” he says. Renowned author Dung Kai-cheung believes this has shown that the young people have adopted a new set of values on how they envision Hong Kong in the future, and the XRL protests have further focused their vision, making them a strong voice in society. “These young activists have clear goals. You can see they do not come out for personal interests,” Dung says. “In the past activists stepped up because eventually they would like to enter the political system and make a difference through being a politician. These young people right now, they only do it for the sake of justice.”