Pro-democracy activist and Cantopop star Denise Ho has announced an online performance this month after being unable to get a venue in Hong Kong to agree to a booking, highlighting the chilling effect of stringent security legislation on the city's once-vibrant arts scene.
“It’s hard to do a normal show in this abnormal place,” Ho, an outspoken supporter of Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy movement, wrote in an April 29 Facebook post.
“Actually I should say it’s impossible, as I can’t book anywhere, and I can’t go on an overseas tour,” wrote Ho, who has surrendered her passport to police pending two charges against her relating to her activism.
In 2022, Ho was arrested alongside outspoken retired Catholic bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen, activist Hui Po-keung and former pro-democracy lawmakers Cyd Ho and Margaret Ng on suspicion of "collusion with foreign powers" after they acted as trustees for a legal defense fund for democracy protesters.
She also faces charges of "sedition" following her arrest alongside fellow board members of the now-shuttered pro-democracy media group Stand News in 2021.
In 2021, Ho had a concert canceled at the last minute by the venue, which cited “public order” concerns, one year into a city-wide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition under the first national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
Ho said she will perform to her fans online on her birthday on May 10, in what she described as a “stripped down” gig, with “no stage effect fireworks, no costumes, no venue, no audience.”
“What’s left is just you and your story ... with your vulnerability, your childhood wounds, the hurts you’ve been ignoring but which haven’t healed,” Ho wrote. “The past and the future you haven’t had the courage to face yet.”
“For better or worse, that gap is where I am now.”
Ho’s move online comes amid concerns of a widespread chilling effect on the arts in Hong Kong in the wake of Article 23 legislation that rights groups say has broadened a crackdown on public forms of dissent and criticism of the government.
It follows an announcement by the city’s Arts Development Council in January that it will no longer be supporting an annual awards ceremony run by the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies after years of funding the event.
‘What is and isn’t forbidden’ is unclear
The Hong Kong Drama Awards went ahead anyway on April 29, financed through donations and the sale of merchandise, its president Fung Luk-tak told local media.
“We are pretending that nothing has happened and are going ahead as planned,” Fung said. “We won’t be doing anything to break the law, and it’s best not to second guess anything.”
Plays and producers have also run into trouble booking venues, which can be held responsible by the authorities for any violation of two stringent national security laws that performers are deemed to have committed.
The theater troupe Fire Makes Us Human dissolved earlier this year after it had two venue bookings rescinded by a school in January following pressure from the Education Bureau, the Hong Kong Free Press reported.
A theater industry insider, who asked to be identified only as E for fear of reprisals, said it’s getting harder and harder to book venues for plays, with venue management demanding to see an outline of the story before they will even consider an application.
“They don’t make clear what is and isn’t forbidden, so that they can shift the goalposts any time they like,” E said. “They may only target certain people.”
He said some writers and producers may try to work within the system and only write content that would please the authorities.
“They may have more latitude,” he said. “But in future, maybe all of the stage performances we’re allowed to see could be very similar.”
In a visual demonstration of the authorities’ current insistence on security, four members of the League of Social Democrats group staged a brief protest outside government headquarters to mark International Labor Day on Wednesday, carefully watched by more than 20 police officers.
Chairwoman Chan Po-ying said police had filmed the protest and continued to record her remarks to journalists at the scene.
The group were petitioning for the rights of workers, and calling on the government not to favor big corporations, as well as for a raise in the minimum wage, which currently stands at HK$40 (US$5.11) an hour.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie .