Activists in the umbrella movement : a phenomenology study of students in the University of Hong Kong

Abstract

Student movement has its historical significance in the context of Hong Kong. It has become one of the major forms of social movement in recent years. Following the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese sovereignty, people has begun to concern their rights to the city, such as democratization, cultural heritage conservation and sexual equality and so on. Meanwhile, the government seems to continue his ruling without any changes and keep economic development. Thus, value conflicts among different stakeholders occur.

It is observed that the political culture of Hong Kong has become more active. The phenomenon of growing socio-political participation and student activism should be analyzed in order to investigate their perceptions and values toward social movement. And, the social movement also reinforce by the presence of social media. Through the influence of social media, mass mobilization of new generation can be easily observed.

The University of Hong Kong, one of the most famous educational institutions in Hong Kong, has played an important leading role in student movement. Therefore, this study attempts to collect HKU activists’ perceptions and values toward Umbrella Movement, which is culmination of Hong Kong’s student movement. It will be a qualitative phenomenological research with interviewing student activists in the University of Hong Kong.