Home and away: after national security law, Hongkongers contemplate a second exodus

With the likes of Britain and the US offering refuge, millions of residents are deciding whether to stay or go as Beijing tightens its grip on the city

But as they consider their futures, those who left Hong Kong before the 1997 handover say starting a new life overseas can be far from easy

Reading Time:10 minutes

The new national security law has raised the prospect of a second mass exodus from Hong Kong. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:00am, 18 Jul 2020Updated: 5:56pm, 18 Aug 2020

Closing the doors on a Muay Thai gym in busy Causeway Bay was a bittersweet moment for Mark and Joyce Lui. The Hong Kong residents had spent the past 14 years building up their business into a well-known establishment with more than 2,200 members, but decided to call time on it and their home to move to Vancouver in September.

“It feels like we lost everything in one go,” said Joyce, 47, who sold the gym to a former trainer. “We love this city, but we have to leave.”

The couple, who plan to open a gym in Canada, began the process of applying for a “start-up” visa for entrepreneurs last June, when anti-government demonstrations triggered by opposition to a now-withdrawn extradition bill swept through the city. The protests morphed into wider demands, including universal suffrage.

Both took part, especially Mark, who took to the streets for months. Their concerns about how Beijing would react were realised when the central government last month imposed legislation on Hong Kong that targets acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with life in prison for those committing the most serious offences.

Authorities in Hong Kong and on the mainland have repeatedly stressed that the law targets only a minority of residents, and that freedoms of speech and assembly will be protected. But the Luis are among those who disagree.

Mark and Joyce Lui are planning to move to Vancouver in September. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

“We are scared that if we say the wrong thing then we might be considered to have broken the law and get arrested,” Mark said. “That clearly shows freedom of expression no longer exists in Hong Kong.”

They are among the estimated thousands of Hongkongers making exit plans as Beijing’s tightening grip raises the prospect of a second mass exodus, following the first great wave of migration that preceded the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. For these residents, the long-standing question of whether their rights and freedoms would endure under “one country, two systems” has been answered in the negative with the passage of a law that critics have decried as draconian and vaguely defined.

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