More than a week after the huge fire in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court complex, the death toll is still rising and questions are piling up over why it happened and how it might have been prevented.
But for the authorities in Beijing, the tragedy presents another question of how to manage public expressions of grief, anger or discontent in a city where, unlike in mainland China, the internet and social media remain free.
Thousands of people formed a queue two kilometres long to lay flowers and notes at the scene of the fire in a spontaneous display of grief that was the biggest uncertified gathering in Hong Kong since the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations. When volunteers organised on social media platforms to offer help or shelter for survivors, the authorities for the most part let them get on with it.
But as more information emerged of warnings about dangerous materials in the buildings that went unheeded and the contracts for a large-scale renovation in the complex came under scrutiny, Beijing was alert to the risk of where the public discourse was going.
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“A small handful of external hostile forces are exploiting a disaster to stir up trouble and taking advantage of a crisis to create chaos,” a spokesperson for the Beijing government’s national security office in Hong Kong said this week.
“The national security laws of Hong Kong have already set a dragnet and are waiting. All words and deeds disrupting Hong Kong will be recorded and pursued for life; all conspiracies to disrupt Hong Kong will have nowhere to hide and will go completely bankrupt.”
There have been some reported arrests for alleged sedition in relation to comments about the fire, and a planned press conference by civil society groups was cancelled after a “notification” from the authorities. But Hong Kong’s leaders, including chief executive John Lee, have subjected themselves to questioning from journalists over the past week in a way that would be inconceivable in mainland China.
Yan Zhihua, a research fellow at Nanjing University’s Zijin media think tank, noted in the business daily Caixin that Hong Kong officials went before the cameras immediately after the fire to give updates, fulfilling a core public expectation in a crisis.
“This is a world away from the mainland, where after a major incident, officials are rarely seen. Communication is typically mediated through sterile, text-based bulletins – the public sees words, but not the people in charge,” he wrote.
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“On the mainland, public events almost invariably start and end on the internet. Online information shapes public opinion, while the offline world becomes secondary. A scene can be devoid of reporters, observers, and recorders, yet a verdict will have already been delivered online, complete with a moral judgment and a sentence.”
Yan suggested that Hong Kong’s well developed civil society played a role in keeping the public informed after the fire as community groups co-ordinated with the government but were not directed by the authorities. Because Hong Kong is less online than the mainland, social media rumours gained less traction.
“The mainland, by contrast, is increasingly a society of netizens. The online world has all but supplanted the physical one as the main arena for public life, with hundreds of millions of people whose feet may be on the ground but whose heads and nervous systems are wired to the web,” he wrote.
“In any mainland crisis involving loss of life or property, public sentiment almost instantly boils over into a tidal wave of rage. Conspiracy theories flourish, and demands for accountability become the central, non-negotiable demand. Before the facts are established, an online trial has already reached its verdict.”
Hong Kong’s authorities have decided to go ahead with elections to the Legislative Council next Sunday “out of respect for the constitutional order”. Out of 90 members of the council, 20 will be directly elected by voters in 10 geographical constituencies, 40 will be chosen by a 1,500-strong election committee and 30 will be indirectly elected by industry groups.
Only “patriotic” candidates loyal to Beijing are allowed to seek election and almost all of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy parties have in any case wound themselves up or been shut down. Some high-profile incumbents with sound “patriotic” credentials have been pressured to step down in favour of younger, more anonymous and biddable candidates.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s stock exchange has had a record-breaking year as capital has flooded back into the city after a few anxious years following the crackdown on pro-democracy protests and the imposition of a draconian national security law. Political dissent has been effectively extinguished in the city but personal freedoms survive, along with an almost untrammelled licence to make money.
