Hong Kong Localism, Exile, and Cultural Memory

The Hong Kong Studies Hub held an innovative seminar on 5 May 2026 that revisited Hong Kong localism a decade later through political analysis, cultural reflection, and an AI-assisted poetic experiment.

The seminar traced the trajectory of Hong Kong localism from the 2016 “Fishball Revolution” to its contemporary diasporic formations. After a clip from the documentary Black Bauhinia introduced competing understandings of localism, Dr Wai-man Lam mapped how localist activism moved from the margins to the mainstream before being constrained by disqualification, the National Security Law and intensified repression. In the discussion, she coined the term “diasporic localism” to describe its current dispersal. From Melbourne, poet Dr Mei Kwan Ng read and reflected on her poem Cicada, using the cicada’s life cycle to meditate on censorship, exile, and the impossibility of silencing Hong Kong’s democratic aspirations. Professor Stephen Chan then examined “localism beyond place,” analysing film, literature and media to show how estrangement, memory and everyday affect sustain Hongkonger identities abroad. With over 35 participants, the event culminated in the co-creation of an AI-assisted poem based on audience responses. This poem, tentatively titled Beneath the Lion Rock, is to be edited and reflected on by Dr Ng, who will ponder the limits and ethics of “artificial intelligence”. The event prompted rich discussion on international solidarity, the ethics of AI, and the persistence of localism when “the local” itself has been scattered.