Then & Now | Critical political commentary is flourishing in Hong Kong, but it is not without risk

No names are necessary; the general public, who followed various journalists and their work over time, can readily discern this sudden shift. Equally, the resounding public silence from usually oh-so-reliable pro-Beijing cheerleaders has been starkly obvious in recent months. Without clear direction, they have little to say.

Historical analogies – and a fearful warning – exist between Hong Kong’s recent explosion of brutally frank, mostly fair, constructively critical public com­ment­ary and a similar outpouring that the Communist Party encouraged in late 1956. This campaign was partially initiated in response to growing unrest among China’s intellectuals and the urban bourgeoisie. These groups had initially supported the Communist assumption of power in 1949 – whatever their reservations – as they reasoned that nothing that followed could have been much worse than the rampant corruption, adminis­trative inefficiency and overall societal decline that character­ised the collapse of the Nationalist govern­ment in 1947-48.

“Let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred schools of thought contend!” proclaimed Mao Zedong poetically, as the campaign kicked off. Open discussion of the party’s shortcomings and honest pub­lic exploration of possible improve­ments could only lead to the general betterment for society, and political regeneration for the regime, after the initial challenges of estab­lishing overall power had been achieved. Or so the public were led to believe.

By the summer of 1957, the “Hundred Flowers Campaign” was getting out of hand, as wide-ranging criticism acceler­ated all over China. Party leaders became alarmed when they could no longer control the narrative, especially when the emerging story was not one that suited their pur­poses. And so they backtracked, cracking down hard on those they had previously encouraged to speak up.