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Charley Lanyon

Music has emerged as a potent force over the nearly three months that Hong Kong has been gripped by unrest.
Protesters have turned to song to express both their frustration and solidarity and to literally sing out their identity as Hongkongers.
These songs have run the gamut from Broadway anthems and Christian hymns to television themes and hits from the golden era of Canto-pop. And now, artists in Hong Kong have begun crafting their own anthems to the city.
Do you hear the people sing?
Glory to Hong Kong


Called the Hong Kong national anthem, Glory to Hong Kong is the most recent and most popular of the movement’s protest songs.
Thousands of spectators drowned out the Chinese national anthem with this song during the recent football match between Hong Kong and Iran.
Not much is known about the composer, “Thomas”, a full-time musician in his mid-20s who asked to be identified only by his first name.
A video of this song put together by “young creatives” and attributed to the “Black Blorchestra” shows musicians clad in black and wearing gas masks playing as clouds of tear gas roll through their ranks.
Sing Hallelujah to the Lord


This Christian hymn, composed in 1975 by Linda Stassen-Benjamin from the US, has become one of the movement’s most popular and most ethereal anthems.
When sung by thousands of protesters, the song turns the city into a kind of cathedral and inspires silent awe in onlookers wherever it is performed.
Spiritual songs have been a mainstay of protest movements for centuries and most famously provided the soundtrack for the American civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Do You Hear the People Sing


Do You Hear the People Sing, the centrepiece of the 1987 Broadway smash hit Les Misérables, gained notoriety as a Hong Kong protest song when videos of it being sung at the first major airport sit-in were broadcast all over the world.
The song references the French Revolution, but its lyrics – “Do you hear the people sing?/ Singing a song of angry men/ It is the music of a people/ Who will not be slaves again” – as well as its bombast and theatricality have made it a rousing protest anthem for a whole new generation of Hongkongers.
Below The Lion Rock


Before the composer of Glory to Hong Kong was even born, Hong Kong had an unofficial anthem in Below The Lion Rock, the theme song of the television show of the same name.
The song made famous by Hong Kong singer Roman Tam continues to unite Hongkongers – especially those of certain age – in admiration for the “the Lion Rock spirit”, the specifically Hong Kong can-do attitude that is said to set this city apart from others around the world.
Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies


This power ballad from legendary hitmakers Beyond took on a greater poignancy when the group’s lead singer died in 1993. In that time, the song has become something of a unifying call to arms for Hongkongers and has been present at every demonstration, protest and commemoration of the bloody Tiananmen crackdown since.
With lyrics like “Many times I’ve faced the cold shoulder and ridicule / But I’ve never given up the hopes or ideals in my heart”, and “Still I am still free/ Still I am independent/ Forever loudly singing my song”, it is the perfect fit for pro-democracy demonstrations of all kinds. Think of the song as Below the Lion Rock for a younger crowd.
Raise the Umbrellas


Before the anti-extradition protests there was the Umbrella Movement, another fertile ground for home-grown protest anthems that still resonate with the city’s activists.
In the early days of the Umbrella Movement, the city’s famous entertainers stayed relatively quiet. That changed with Raise the Umbrellas, a song penned by activist Lo Hiu-pan and composer Lin Xi – who also wrote the theme song for the Beijing Olympics – and performed by stars Denise Ho, Anthony Wong Yiu-ming and Deanie Ip.
For many Hong Kong youngsters, that song represented their first exposure to peaceful civil disobedience and still manages to inspire to this day.
Add Oil


The most recent pop song to address – cynics would say “capitalise” – on the anti-extradition movement is Add Oil by Hong Kong DJ, singer and comedian Jan Lamb.
The bouncy, almost frothy, pop trinket still manages to inspire as it extols Lamb’s countrymen to “add oil”, the defining phrase and ethos of the movement.
The release of Add Oil coincides with Lamb’s new tour, so depending on how that goes, we may see more new “protest hits” coming down the pipe.


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Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong protest songs: 7 anthems of the anti-extradition movement – do you hear the people sing?

Protesters gather and sing at the New Town Plaza mall in Sha Tin. 11SEP19 SCMP / Sam Tsang

A protester handing out the lyrics to ‘Do You Hear The People Sing?’ ahead of the football match between Manchester City and Kitchee at Hong Kong Stadium on July 24. Photo: Winson Wong

Hong Kong protest art: meet the student leading the defiant design team

Illustrator Katrina calls out police with a Pinocchio-inspired poster after additional devices seen on the baton of a special tactical force officer were described as cable ties used to fasten a piece of rope.

HK protest

Anti-violence poster on Chinese social media

Protest Art

Handout image shows protest art A trending meme after Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the extradition bill is dead [POST MAGAZINE]

HK protest artwork

Handout image shows protest art a poster supporting the anti extradition movement in Hong Kong.[POST MAGAZINE]

Handout image shows protest art One poster for the strike makes clever use of McDonaldÕs catchy advertising jingle, whose ÒbaÓ sounds the same as ÒstrikeÓ in Cantonese.[POST MAGAZINE]

Handout image shows protest art A Star Wars themed poster.[POST MAGAZINE]

Handout image shows protest art Local illustrator Katrina's take on the common rhetoric that it's okay to protest, but don't disturb the lives of others.[POST MAGAZINE]

An advertisement supporting the "righteous police" in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Protest

How Pepe the Frog became face of Hong Kong protests – despite cartoon being a symbol of hate in US

Pepe the Frog has become the symbol of Hong Kong’s summer of unrest. Many protesters don’t realise the frog is a symbol of white nationalism and an icon of hate in the United States. Photo: Matt Furie/Tumblr

Handout image shows French cartoon frog Pepe has become the face of the faceless revolution. He's been popular for some time as a Whatsapp sticker with many different (often dirty) incarnations, but since the protest has begun he's been rendered as many different figures within the protest landscape, from riot police to protester to Carrie Lam etc. [21AUGUST2019 TRAVEL FEATURES]

Pepe the Frog has become the symbol of Hong Kong’s summer of unrest. Many protesters don’t realise the frog is a symbol of white nationalism and an icon of hate in the United States.

Ai Weiwei says Hong Kong protests part of global freedom struggle, which he’ll reflect in opera production

Ai Weiwei. Photo: John MacDougall/AFP

DJFW5J Beijing, CHINA, China. 25th April, 2009. Ai Weiwei, 53, one of China's most prominent avant-garde artists and human rights activists, stands in front of a list of missing and found children he has compiled during the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake in his Beijing studio on April 25, 2009. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China to free dozens of government critics rounded up this year including Ai Weiwei and said Beijing's human rights record was worsening. © Stephen Shaver/ZUMAPRESS.com/Alamy Live News

Anti-government protestors throws tear gas canisters back at the police, Harcourt Road, Admiralty. Protest continues regardless of police refusing permission for a mass march and rally by the Civil Human Rights Front. 31AUG19 SCMP / Sam Tsang

CORRECTION - The work called "Law of the Journey" of Chinese conceptual artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, a 70-metre-long (230-foot-long) inflatable boat with 258 oversize refugee figures, is pictured at the National Gallery in Prague on March 16, 2017. Refugees are the focus of the biggest installation of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei which goes on display on March 16 at the National Gallery in Prague. / AFP PHOTO / Michal Cizek / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION / "The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by Michal Cizek has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION] instead of [---]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If

Berlin-based Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei gestures as he speaks to AFP reporters in Berlin on August 15, 2019. - The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sees no other way out of the Hong Kong crisis than a violent and massive repression of demonstrations by Beijing, according to the influential dissident in exile in an AFP interview. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)

Lifestyle

Arts & Culture


From Christian hymns to Canto-pop hits, Hong Kong protesters have been expressing their frustration and solidarity through song
Lyrics like ‘Still I am still free/ Still I am independent/ Forever loudly singing my song’ embody a movement that shows no signs of slowing down



From Christian hymns to Canto-pop hits, Hongkongers protesting against the extradition bill and for other key demands have been expressing frustration and solidarity through song. Listen to them here.


Music

K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop

Hong Kong protest songs: 7 anthems of the anti-extradition movement – do you hear the people sing?

From Christian hymns to Canto-pop hits, Hong Kong protesters have been expressing their frustration and solidarity through song Lyrics like ‘Still I am still free/ Still I am independent/ Forever loudly singing my song’ embody a movement that shows no signs of slowing down

From Christian hymns to Canto-pop hits, Hong Kong protesters have been expressing their frustration and solidarity through song

Lyrics like ‘Still I am still free/ Still I am independent/ Forever loudly singing my song’ embody a movement that shows no signs of slowing down