Hong Kong activist, writer ‘Kong Tsung-gan’ confirms that’s only a pen name; website says he’s really Brian Kern, an American
- Prolific writer of columns, tweets, books on social unrest concealed true identity for five years
- Former Amnesty International staffer Kern taught at Hong Kong school, took part in protests
For more than five years, Kong Tsung-gan was a name that turned up regularly as a Hong Kong protest activist and writer quoted frequently by foreign media.
Now, the revelation that “Kong” is in fact a pen name of possibly an American named Brian Kern has ignited debate over the legitimacy of using a pseudonym in Hong Kong’s highly charged political environment.
The controversy was sparked recently by an American alternative news website that accused Kern of adopting a fictitious identity as an ethnic Chinese grass roots activist as a “deceptive ploy” to “disseminate anti-China propaganda”.
“Kong” later responded to the article by admitting he had been using a pen name all along, but did not confirm his true identity. His defenders claimed he had to operate incognito for his own safety. He had 32,000 followers on Twitter, with a photograph of a Chinese man accompanying his anti-government tweets, and “Kong Tsung-gan” has appeared in reports on Hong Kong by CNN, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Agence France-Presse and Guardian, among others.
A columnist for the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP), he also wrote books and his most recent, about last year’s social unrest, was praised by the last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten.
On August 8, news website The Grayzone reported that Kong was in fact Brian Kern, an American who worked with human rights group Amnesty International before moving to Hong Kong to teach.