Diaspora formation and mobilisation: The emerging Hong Kong diaspora in the anti‐extradition bill movement

Abstract

Over the years, literature studying stateless diaspora formation through a transborder social movement studies approach is growing. The recent rise of Hong Kong diaspora provides an emerging case of stateless diaspora that introduces new empirical insights into the scholarly literature. Using a mixed‐method research strategy, this study empirically investigates the formation of the Hong Kong diaspora as a ‘historically contingent process’, through which overseas Hongkongers were mobilised during the 2019–20 Anti‐Extradition Bill Movement (critical event) to join global protests (mobilising practices) by diaspora groups and activists (mobilising agents). Achieved transborder outreach across the Global North by mobilising their strong moral and cultural resources, it remains to be seen whether the emerging Hong Kong diaspora will move towards a full‐fledged, sustained identity‐based movement. The case study of Hong Kong diaspora offers new comparative insights and establishes a mixed‐method analytical framework for comparing stateless diaspora worldwide.

Discursive Construction of Hong Kong’s Future Beyond 2047: A Press Media-Based Study

“…What about the building of the “international front” against China’s communist regime? According to some studies (ex., Fong, 2022; Lee, 2023), the 2019 protests have prompted the emergence and development of Hong Kong diasporic communities. The number of overseas activist groups is said to have quadrupled compared to the total amount before 2019 (Fong, 2022, p. 1068).…”

Transnational Activism During Movement Abeyance: Examining the International Frontline of Hong Kong’s 2019 Anti-Extradition Bill Movement

“…While Hongkongers have been settling abroad decades ago, it is only in recent years that the Hong Kong diaspora community organizes and mobilizes as a whole to advocate for their homeland. In examining the timing of the founding of Hong Kong diaspora groups, Fong (2022) notes that the total number of diaspora groups that emerged in 2019 almost quadrupled that of the diaspora groups formed before 2019 (p. 8). This trend, I posit, is in conjunction with the strong cognitive, moral, and emotional connection with a broader Hong Kong community that is becoming more salient since the 2010s.…”

Queer processes of Hong Kong as a global formation post‐2019: LGBTIQ+ Hong Kong migrants and their experiences in Taiwan

“…Within an emerging global Hong Kong framework that is characterized by concerns for the city's future vis‐à‐vis overseas Hongkongers’ political participation (Ku, 2020; Lee, 2023), studies have highlighted the role new migrants played in the development of diasporic activism and their formation of transnational support networks (e.g. Fong, 2022; Ho, 2023; Li & Fung, 2022; Wong, 2021; Yam, 2022). To extend the theorization of long‐distance nationalism (Anderson, 1992), Fong (2022) argued that the Anti‐ELAB Movement was a critical event that mobilized diasporic Hongkongers and contributed to the stateless formation of Hong Kong through trans‐border politics.…”

“…Fong, 2022; Ho, 2023; Li & Fung, 2022; Wong, 2021; Yam, 2022). To extend the theorization of long‐distance nationalism (Anderson, 1992), Fong (2022) argued that the Anti‐ELAB Movement was a critical event that mobilized diasporic Hongkongers and contributed to the stateless formation of Hong Kong through trans‐border politics. This observation is supported by Wong's (2021) research on US‐based Hongkongers’ activism.…”