2019 was an important year in Hong Kong's history, especially in terms of its protest history. The protests were triggered by the amendment to the Extradition Bill prompted by the murder of a Hong Kong woman in the Republic of China. This paper discusses the developments of Hong Kong's protests and society from 2014 to 2020, from the Umbrella Movement to the protest against the Extradition Act. To better understand the protests, this thesis focuses on the emotions - the melancholy, powerlessness, guilt, sadness, and anger among the protesters. This focus takes place in the historical and cultural background of Hong Kong. Studies on (post)colonialism and Judith Butler's theories on body politics are used as the supporting material. In this research, the phenomenological method is applied and this functions as an empirical investigation, using interviews conducted from 2014 to 2019; newspaper articles from Hong Kong and other countries; videos, as well as a documentary film as research materials. The paper tries to find out the role of emotions in Hong Kong's society and protests, or how different emotions influenced the demonstrators' reactions and the effect of the length and the intensity of the protests. The transformations and dynamics of the protests between 2014 and 2019 will be compared and analysed.
More in details: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2432-4604.2023.10