As protests have swept Hong Kong in the last few weeks, we begin an occasional series on the British Empire with a double episode on a previous wave of demonstrations, riots, strikes and bombings in the city, then a British colony. We speak with three people who were there about what happened, and learn new revelations about one of Hong Kong’s most notorious unsolved murders – of radio commentator Lam Bun.

We interview to Zhou Yi (Chau Yick/周奕), Leung Po Lung (梁寶龍) and Chui Yat Keung (徐日強) who were in Hong Kong at the time, as well as Lala, an activist and historian who interpreted for us and spoke about her research.

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Part 1

Part 2

Media

A gallery of photographs of the events: click to see captions.



The original flower factory strike in San Po Kong A worker beaten by police – photograph by Zhou Yi Workers put up big character posters A student demonstration in Central. Many were later arrested – photograph by Zhou Yi Protesters wave Mao’s Little Red Book at police Police beat people attempting to deliver a petition A protester hurls a rubbish bin at police More big character posters Police fired teargas at a crowd A bomb disposal expert tackles a “home-made pineapple” A police barricade Armed police Police clash with protesters Hong Kong residents confront police Riot police on Nathan Road Police after clearing a barricade A “pineapple” bomb placed on a tram track – photograph by Zhou Yi Riot police with tear gas advance Lam Bun, left and his car after the attack, right

These are photographs of our interviewees (click for captions):

Chau Yick/Zhou Yi in 2018 Chau Yick/Zhou Yi is pictured six from right, behind the gate, outside the Government House in 1967 Lala, right, at a recent Hong Kong Pride Leung Po Lung, recently

Related reading

Through our online store we are now making available a curated selection of books with further and related reading on numerous topics related to our content. This week we are happy to make available Maoism and the Chinese Revolution: A Critical Introduction by Elliott Liu. This helps fill in some of the background information about the Chinese revolution, the PRC and the leftist movement. We are also making available as well as the two-volume work of George Katsiaficas on other little-known rebellions in the region, called Asia’s Unknown Uprisings. All books are published and printed by independent workers’ cooperatives, and proceeds help fund our work.

More information

In addition to our interviews and existing knowledge, here are some of the sources of information used in the episodes

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2016/01/18/rhodes-must-not-fall retrieved 11/06/2019 retrieved 13/06/2019

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/07/26/britain-proud-its-empire retrieved 11/06/2019 retrieved 13/06/2019

A social history of industrial strikes and the labour movement in Hong Kong,, 1946-1989 Benjamin Leung and Stephen Chiu – https://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/42557/1/03.pdf?accept=1 retrieved 13/06/2019

George Orwell essay: https://libcom.org/library/freedom-press-george-orwell

Underground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 2010

Hong Kong (Border Incidents), Hansard, HC Deb 10 July 1967 vol 750 cc93-7 http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1967/jul/10/hong-kong-border-incidents retrieved 13/06/2019

Justice in Hong Kong, Carol A. G. Jones, Routledge-Cavendish, 2007

Revealed: the Hong Kong invasion plan – Michael Sheridan – the Sunday Times 24 June 2007 – https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-the-hong-kong-invasion-plan-b0xpm60xd2h (paywall) retrieved 13/06/2019

Whose Sound and Fury? The 1967 Riots of Hong Kong through The Times – Haipeng Zhou – http://www.globalmediajournal.com/open-access/whose-sound-and-fury-the-1967-riots-of-hong-kong-through-the-times.php?aid=35130 retrieved 14/06/2019

Reports: Hong Kong – Maynard Parker – The Atlantic Monthly, November 1967 – https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/67nov/hk1167.htm

Police rewrite history of 1967 Red Guard riots – Kris Cheng – 14 September 2015 14:07 – https://www.hongkongfp.com/2015/09/14/police-rewrite-history-of-1967-red-guard-riots/

Fifty years on: The riots that shook Hong Kong in 1967– https://www.fcchk.org/correspondent/fifty-years-on-the-riots-that-shook-hong-kong-in-1967/ Retrieved 14/06/2019

Holes in our history: today’s students could learn much from the 1967 riots – 16 June 2018 13:00 Kent Ewing – https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/06/16/holes-history-todays-students-learn-much-1967-riots/ retrieved 15/07/2019

Leung Po Lung’s workers’ history website: leungpolung.blogspot.com/

Acknowledgements

Thanks very much to our patreon supporters for enabling us to produce this podcast

Theme music for this episode is a 1966 Chinese recording of The Internationale

Thanks also to our friends at Chuang, a journal and website chronicling the development of capitalism in China and struggles against it, for connecting us with our interviewees. They have also recently published an analysis of the current anti-extradition protest movement, as well as this informative interview about it with local activists.

Corrections

Apologies for our host mispronouncing Aotearoa early in part 1

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