Hongkongers living in mainland China say safety and friendships are on the line amid protests

They fear speaking their minds about unrest in home city, saying differing opinions are no longer tolerated in Hong Kong

Meanwhile, they try to keep mainlanders informed about the real situation

Reading Time:4 minutes

Hongkongers who live and work on the mainland are finding themselves caught in the middle over their city’s political crisis. Photo: Robert Ng

Published: 6:00am, 16 Dec 2019Updated: 12:49am, 17 Dec 2019

Hong Kong’s district council election results were demoralising for “Robert”. The Hongkonger works as a property consultancy executive in Shanghai, and for him, the pan-democrats’ landslide victory was disappointing.

“I feel terribly sad about the results, and some of my [Hong Kong] friends here feel the same, because the winning candidates didn’t denounce the protesters’ violence,” said the 47-year-old, who has worked in mainland China for more than a decade.

He said he could not openly discuss how he felt about the November 24 elections because he feared a backlash, and that Hong Kong – where he was born and raised – was not the place it once was.

“Hong Kong used to be a pretty safe city and inclusive of different opinions. But now if you say you support the police or the Communist Party, you could get beaten up in the street,” the real-estate professional said.

For the past six months, the city has been gripped by protests sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill. These have since broadened into an anti-government movement calling for greater democracy, which has seen increasingly violent clashes with police.

Seen as a de facto referendum on the protests, the polls saw the pro-democracy camp win control of 17 out of 18 district councils, all of which previously had a pro-establishment majority.

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