June Ng and Winnie Yeung look into the decade’s first phenomenon—the rise of the Post-80s generation—and question if it’s all just hype. Photos by Keith Chan.



At the end of the noughties, a new species of protester was born in Hong Kong. They’re young, they care about society a lot more than their predecessors, they’re intellectual and they’re not afraid of criticism. They’ve dominated the news headlines but they’re not after their 15 minutes of fame. Who are they? They’re the Post-80s Generation.    

For the past month, these so-called Post-80s protesters have dominated the news because of their involvement in the series of protests against the construction of the controversial Hong Kong-Guangzhou high-speed railway (XRL). On the weekend of January 15, while the legislators were debating whether to green light the $66.9 billion budget for the infrastructure project, more than 10,000 members of the Post-80s protesters surrounded the Legco building overnight as a last-ditch effort. The images echo that of more than 20 years ago, on that eventful week when the Legco building was surrounded by close to one million people in support of the students in Tiananmen Square. The XRL protest was mostly peaceful, with a group of protesters fasting, while others chanted slogans, sang songs and there was even a bit of cooking going on. Unlike their predecessors, there was no cardboard coffin burning to catch the limelight. Toward the end the police used pepper spray claiming the protesters were becoming violent, but bystanders said it was only a minor scuffle.

What has followed is an explosion of the label’s usage. Pick up any random newspaper and you’ll find the words Post-80s in virtually any section, from the local news section to Post-80s food and travel features (we’re not making this up), to the tabloid pages, where the sassy three-member girl group Freeze have recently been named the Post-80s singers (yes, seriously). Also a bit over the top is the unlimited analysis of these protesters. Everyone is trying to figure out who these people are (including yours truly), as if we have never ever met them, as if they are really this new, alien species. Has your 20-something neighbor, who just participated in a XRL protest, really become such a stranger to you? Do you really need a magnifying glass to understand him or her?

Unsurprisingly, people have interpreted the Post-80s label differently. To the XRL protesters themselves, the label represents their passion toward social issues and the future of our city. It reflects their willingness to take action and speak out against injustice. In his blog, Financial Secretary John Tsang famously linked the frustrations of the Post-80s generation with their own quality of life and not the future of Hong Kong saying they care more about having a swimming pool in their clubhouse, while Chief Executive Donald Tsang has referred to the XRL protesters as “violating the core values of our society.” To a selected few, the label Post-80s does not represent anything good at all (read the box “Decoding the Post-80s- below).

Originally a term used on the mainland to describe a generation that’s insensitive to current affairs and jaded by selfishness, the label Post-80s has been adopted in Hong Kong for the opposite reason—young people in Hong Kong have started to feel like they should care about social affairs, and should get involved and try to make a difference. Those who participated in the Star Ferry Pier and Wedding Card Street protests have been the first to step out, but most eventually got a wake up call last year, when the then president of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) student union Ayo Chan said people of his generation (those born after the 1980s) have little memory of the June 4 massacre in 1989, and that they should focus on the economic development of China instead. According to Christina Chan, the HKU student who has become the face of the Post-80s protesters in the press, the emergence of the Post-80s generation is related to Ayo Chan’s outrageous remark. And that was the first catalyst, according to Chen Yun-chung, a professor of social science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (UST) who has been following the civil actions initiated by young activists. “Growing up in Hong Kong, these young people have been surrounded by an environment where people around them talk about social injustice and current affairs a lot,” Chen says. “And now these people have grown up, they feel like they have the power and should be doing something about things happening around them. They feel the strong sense of belonging to Hong Kong.”

If anything should be called the second—and the biggest—catalyst, one should have no doubt about pointing the finger at the XRL construction, which will lead to the destruction of Choi Yuen Tsuen village in Sheung Shui. Chan King-fai, a leader of the Post-80s protesters at the XRL protests and one of the hunger strikers at the Queen’s Pier protest two years ago, admits that if the infrastructure project didn’t result in the demolition of any villages, and if people’s livelihoods and homes weren’t being threatened, there wouldn’t be as many young protesters supporting their cause. Chen at UST says the protests have shown how these young protesters, unlike their predecessors (veteran politicians and activists), are not so much into the so-called “big issues.” “All the issues that first touched these young people’s nerves are local issues related to livelihood and communities, but not subjects like democracy or universal suffrage,” he says. Renowned author Dung Kai-cheung believes this has shown that the young people have adopted a new set of values on how they envision Hong Kong in the future, and the XRL protests have further focused their vision, making them a strong voice in society. “These young activists have clear goals. You can see they do not come out for personal interests,” Dung says. “In the past activists stepped up because eventually they would like to enter the political system and make a difference through being a politician. These young people right now, they only do it for the sake of justice.”

The rise of these young protesters has become a stark contrast to the traditional political forces—the political parties in Hong Kong that for the past decade have been trying hard to look for successors to carry on their causes, but with little success. For years, the pan-democratic forces have emphasized the importance of “passing the spirit on” in their annual July 1 rallies and candlelight vigils for the June 4 massacre. And then these Post-80s protesters rise up—without the support of the political parties—and manage to make their voices heard loud across the whole of Hong Kong. Legislator Cheung Man-kwong of the Democratic Party and the Hong Kong Alliance In Support Of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, denies the claim. He says the apparent non-existence of successors to their cause is due to “the media’s ignorance of their existence.” Cheung explains: “We have many young members who can comment on the issues but the press prefer to talk to us instead. It’s just the media tends to focus on the Post-80s generation on the XRL protests.” He adds that he believes it’s “easy to have a one-off thing with lots of youngsters but whether or not it will be sustainable is difficult to say.” Sounding a lot less bitter is politics professor at Baptist University and Civic Party secretary-general Kenneth Chan, who says the young protesters’ choice to organize their own actions, instead of leaning onto political parties, is understandable. “A traditional political party in Hong Kong gives one the feeling that, if you are joining it, you are just doing it to run for elections,” he says. “And because elections are a big part of every party, once you have joined a party, the subjects that you once cared about would be generalized as every party needs one strong main voice.” He adds that because young people see how joining the political system doesn’t get you very far in terms of getting messages across, as Hong Kong doesn’t have a fully democratic system, they have instead looked for more “meaningful ways” to get the message across themselves.

The rise of these young protesters also owes a lot to the mass media. Journalism professor and veteran columnist Tim Hamlett of Baptist University says it is a common trait for journalists to look for useful labels, so they can describe things easier. “Those activists in their 20s are considered to be interesting because they’re different from the activists in the past,” he explains. “So by putting a tag on them, people will understand it better.” He adds that in every generation there is a label, the most famous of all are the baby boomers and Generation X. “It’s just like any other labels in the past, the Post-80s label will eventually fade away, as it will lose its meaning after being overused,” he says.

While the press has been using the term casually to make their jobs easier, so has the government. Chief Executive Donald Tsang’s administration has been using the label to demonize these young protesters. Dung Kai-chung says: “The government can demonize the group easily by giving it a negative image, such as framing them for coming forward because they are angry at the older generation for not giving them opportunities to reach an upper tier of the society.” Civic Party legislator Tanya Chan agrees and thinks the obvious political meaning behind demonizing the Post-80s protesters is to make their job easier. “It’s easier to bad-mouth a group of people when there’s a name attached to it,” she says. Professor Chen believes the demonization also shows the government’s lack of confidence in handling this new, young political force. The government has recently hired HKU sociology professor Lui Tai-lok, who wrote the book “Four Generations of Hong Kong People” that refers to those born after the 1980s as “the fourth generation.” He’s been asked to study the mentality of these young people (which we think sounds as though he will be dissecting an alien on an autopsy table). Professor Chen explains: “The government fears them, therefore they have to label them in one group to separate them from the ‘majority’ of society so that their opinion doesn’t represent most of the people.” And according to veteran political commentator Allen Lee Peng-fei , the government has every right to be scared. “These young people are educated and they are not going to allow you to put them off easily,” he says. “They’ve set their eyes on developing Hong Kong into a fairer society in the long term.”

 Many of the Post-80s protesters, while resenting the fact society is hoping to link them with a negative image, are happy about the labeling. They believe it has raised more awareness in society about social issues and encouraged more people to take part in the protests. Some joined the XRL protests because they felt they shared the core values of the Post-80s protesters and that they should say no to injustice in society. PhD student Yuen Yan, who has been an editor for civic journalism website InMedia for two years, says he first came forward because he was concerned about the redevelopment project by the Urban Renewal Authority in Kwun Tong. “The Post-80s essence is the spirit to think critically against the government and unsustainable development,” he says. “And that’s why we all came forward.”

While it remains unknown what results will come from the robust civil actions taken by the young protesters, it’s comforting to know there is a new species of Hong Konger who dares to confront injustice, regardless of circumstances. Christina Chan has been arrested and detained by the police several times and it is her words which capture the Post-80s spirit. She says: “We see a social issue, and if we think we need to come out and do something about it, we’ll just do it.”

Decoding The  Post-80s

The term Post-80s originated from the mainland and was used to describe kids (now young adults) who were raised under the one-child policy, living in a greenhouse environment created by their parents. They are generally known to be selfish and ignorant of current affairs.

But with the growth of the social movement in Hong Kong, the term has taken on a new meaning. Post-80s activists believe it symbolizes a generation of young people who care about what Hong Kong will be developed into, and dare to take action against injustice. But views on the meaning of the term are wide and varied. Chief Executive Donald Tsang made the government’s opinion very clear with his remark that young protestors “violated the core value of our society.” Financial Secretary John Tsang has written two blog posts on the subject. In one of them, he used sociologist Lui Tai-lok’s discourse, saying the Post-80s are Hong Kongers who feel frustrated because they have fewer opportunities than their precedents. But he also hinted that they have higher expectations regarding quality of life, and that failure to achieve these goals can lead to frustration. Meanwhile, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee says the young activists  “seriously undermined” the rule of law in Hong Kong. It seems that in the eyes of those in power, the term Post-80s is similar to “mob.”

This month sociologist Lui Tai-lok was commissioned by the government to conduct in-depth research on issues related to the Post-80s generation.

Other The Post-80s stories...
An Account of a Happy Protest
Who are the Post-80s Generation?