This is an autoethnographic account of the performative practices in the Umbrella Movement (2014, Hong Kong), a struggle that I myself and some fellow artists participated in. Instead of making a discursive analysis of postcolonial identity, this thesis focuses on performative practices and the performativity of artists and their activist counterparts in the Umbrella Movement. This thesis starts with an overview of the political situation in Hong Kong before relating it to the social turn in contemporary art practice and the performative turn in art and research practices. Instead of using performance as a metaphor for understanding cultural phenomena, I persevere with the notion of performance per se, of artists taking part in activism and examining the performativity involved in the process. As an artist/researcher, I have been seeking a research methodology that is compatible with the means and ends of activism being studied and can nourish a reflexive account on the performative practices of resistance in postcolonial Hong Kong. I propose a methodology of 'performative autoethnography' which accentuates the co-performative and intersubjective process as well as the non-textual aspects of embodied experience and of performing struggle in activism. Reviewing the performative practices on macro- and micro-levels, I borrow the term 'microutopia' to depict the imaginary space created by micro-performances used to cope with the discrepancies between utopian ideals and reality. Specifically, I examine the transformative power of some performative tactics employed in the Umbrella Movement: parodic performance of 'over-identification,' improvisation accomplished by collective connectivity and kinetic responsiveness of the performers, and the artist as an intersubjective mediator. Among these tactics, there are recurring claims and recurring forms that add up to a repertoire of protest. Through microutopian interventions staged at the site of protest, the identities of the multitude are constructed through critical engagement. I suggest that we use the concept of 'critical identities' to study how identities are constructed within an open-ended network of social relations, using a critical reflexive lens of performance studies at a precarious moment in which Hong Kong finds itself at a crossroads.

CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Political Studies MASTER'S THESIS 2016 Marlene Breier CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Political Studies MASTER'S THESIS HONG KONGERS ADDING OIL A Critical Analysis of the SAR's Pro-Democracy Movements Author Marlene Breier Subject: International Security Studies Academic Year: 2014/15 Supervisor: PhDr. Vít Střítecký, M.Phil., Ph.D. Date Submitted: 29 July 2016 Bibliographic note BREIER, Marlene. Hong Kongers Adding Oil: A Critical Analysis of the SAR's Pro-Democracy Movements. Prague, 2016. 73 p. Master's thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies, Department of Security Studies. Supervisor: PhDr. Vít Střítecký, M.Phil., Ph.D. Abstract Since its transition from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong has undergone extensive developments, resulting in the emergence of a vibrant civil society. With thousands of agitated people, mainly students, taking to the streets, voicing their dissatisfaction with the governments' continued disregard of the demanded direct elections by universal suffrage, 2014 marked a turning point in Hong Kong. Whilst most citizens supported the pro-democracy movements, the...

This paper demonstrates how the Cantonese language can simultaneously serve as a threat to the Beijing government and a counter-hegemonic articulation of Hong Kong protesters against the Beijing government by applying the theory of hegemony and the method of critical discourse analysis to Hong Kong newspapers during the Umbrella Movement. Focusing on how the Cantonese language is used to communicate messages of protest leads to a more thorough understanding of the significance of the language in a Hong Kong identity context.Thus, while Cantonese plays a larger role in the Umbrella Movement protests than scholars give credit for,newspaper discourse also plays a large part in obscuring the connection between Cantonese and the protests. By addressing four research questions regarding Cantonese, I conclude that the three studied newspapers largely conceal the Cantonese discourse in relation to the Umbrella Movement protests. However, when Cantonese is discussed it is mainly along the lines of the political affiliation of the newspaper. Though some newspapers do hint at the counter-hegemonic abilities of Cantonese, this aspect is often undervalued and underappreciated. Likewise, when Cantonese issues are brought up they often converge with issues of national identity, but in a manner to downplay the Cantonese identity.As such, Wen Wei Po makes no effort to detail a Cantonese nation, but instead uses the concept of “Zhong hua min zu” (Chinese nation/Chinese race) to negate any differentiation. Meanwhile, Apple Daily and the South China Morning Post do insinuate the differences of Cantonese and Hong Kong, but keep the dialogue firmly within the “one country, two systems” setup to avoid angering Beijing. The analysis reveals that while newspapers sometimes use the voice of Hong Kong Cantonese,this generally takes place through a small amount of direct quotations and images of signs rather than a large-scale showcasing of the Cantonese identity and Cantonese vernacular.

中國在香港的一國兩制以高度自治為治理基礎,香港在1997回歸中國後已過了18個年頭,中國政府當初在中英聯合聲明中所給予香港的承諾如：高度自治,資本主義,以及人權自由,然而,這些承諾在今日的香港發展的如何為此論文的研究目的。研究方法採取文獻分析法以及次級資料分析,並且運用官方文件和香港大學的民意調查來做為研究基礎。研究結果發現,香港的高度自治尤其是在民主發展的進程,中國政府依然扮演著重要的角色,另一方面,除了新聞自由在近年來備受波及外其他方面的人權自由皆沒有明顯受侵害的趨勢。香港繁榮在回歸之後雖然幾度陷入全球蕭條的影響但在和中國快速經濟整合的背景下,香港的經濟得以維持在一定水準,但貧富差距等問題造成香港政府及社會的隱憂。 / This research is an attempt to conduct a preliminary assessment of one-country two systems in Hong Kong since the handover of sovereignty from British government back to China in 1997, particularly on the aspects of high degree of autonomy and economic performance. As promised in Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 that China pledged to be committed to sustain high degree of autonomy and way of life, capitalism in Hong Kong and this policy would remain unchanged for 50 years. This research draws heavily on secondary data and documentary analysis to answer the research questions, and the research found out that high degree of autonomy, way of life, have in some parts been enchroahed upon. On the other hand, the prosperity of Hong Kong has been ensured.