REBEL CITY: HONG KONG'S YEAR OF WATER AND FIRE(平裝)

SCMP's reporting team looks back at Hong Kong's most wrenching political crisis since its return to Chinese rule in 1997. Anti-extradition bill protests that morphed rapidly into a wider anti-government movement in 2019 left no aspect of the city untouched, from its social compact to its body politic to its open economy. The demonstrations which continued well into 2020 have tested every institution of the city, from the civil service to the police to the courts and even its rail transport operator, and from offices and businesses to universities and schools, and from churches to families and even friends.

This book is for anyone seeking to understand not just what Hong Kong has gone through but also the global phenomenon of increasingly leaderless protest movements. Fueled by profound angst about the place of millennial youth in society, widening income inequality, and the speed of digital communications, Hong Kong was in retrospect ripe to be the laboratory for a new-age protest movement, nearly a decade after the Middle East's Arab spring.

The essays in the book collectively compose a picture of a society in trauma, bent and broken, but showing signs of an uncanny ability to bounce back. What shape it will be in a few years from now, however, is much harder to predict.

The South China Morning Post is a leading global news media company that has reported on China and Asia for more than a century. Founded in 1903, SCMP is headquartered in Hong Kong and is the city's newspaper of record. To serve its global readership, its network of correspondents spans across Asia and the US reporting on issues relevant to its mission, which is to lead the global conversation about China. Its digital reach makes it one of the region's biggest publications, providing readers with accurate, credible and compelling content. SCMP became the first news organization in Asia to join the Trust Project in 2020, a consortium of top news companies developing global transparency standards for credible journalism.



Zuraidah Ibrahim is Deputy Executive Editor of the South China Morning Post, overseeing local Hong Kong coverage and Asia and International news. Previously the deputy editor of The Straits Times in Singapore, she was a key author of the bestselling memoir Lee Kuan Yew, Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going (2011). Her most recent publication is The Opposition in Singapore (2017).



Jeffie Lam is a correspondent and leads the Hong Kong politics team at the South China Morning Post. An award-winning political journalist, she started her career as a reporter in 2009 and joined the Post in 2013, covering the city's legislative affairs, social movements and party politics. Jeffie reported on the Occupy movement in 2014 and the protests of 2019.

「《南華早報》(South China Morning Post)是香港歷史悠久與具相當公信力的英文報紙，這本書收集的議題相當廣泛，大部分的文章都是詳實的報導，也對於反送運動的國際面向有不少深入的分析。編者也儘可能秉持中立與超黨派，為這一場已經創造歷史的香港人運動留下了見證。」 －何明修（國立臺灣大學社會學系教授）

評《南華早報》記錄的香港反送中運動

何明修
國立台灣大學社會學系教授

自從2019年六月以來，一場因為逃犯條例的爭議已經在香港引發場了前所未有的抗爭運動，一年以來已經有超過九千人被捕、好幾百人流亡海外，十幾起的自殺、疑似「被自殺」以及與抗爭相關的死亡案件。從今年以來，大規模的衝突減少許多，儘管有武漢肺炎的疫情、香港政府乘疫打壓、港版國安法的威脅，和平的抗爭行動仍是持續發生。更由於中國共產黨強行加諸國安立法，直接修改一國兩制的制度設計，美國也揚言取消香港的特殊地位，並且懲罰違反人權的相關官員。如今，隨著中美各方面對抗的升級，香港已經不再是貿易談判上的籌碼，這座城市的未來可能是新的引爆點。

《南華早報》(South China Morning Post)是歷史悠久與具相當公信力的英文報紙，其編輯部在2020年4月出版了Rebel City: Hong Kong’s Year of Water and Fire（造反城市：香港的水火之年），收錄了去年中以降的深度報導與評論。由於香港政治局勢仍是持續演進，大部分的報導都有試圖更新，至少在2020年五月港版國安法消息出現之前，這本書收集的議題相當廣泛，包括林鄭與香港政府的決策過程、重大的衝突事件、抗爭者的組織與策略、商業大亨、外籍移工、警察等人的角色。

與反送中運動有關的媒體報導集結之書籍，已經有相當的累積了。其中比較值得注意的是台灣「報導者」出版的《烈火黑潮：城市戰地裡的香港人》、香港「端傳媒」的《2019香港風暴》，兩本書都對於運動的參與者有深入的記錄，這也反映兩家台港媒體是比較同情反送中運動。相對於此，《造反城市》編者宣稱要提供一份不具黨派偏見、基於新聞專業的報導(p.x)。南華早報的團隊曾被警察的催淚彈與抗爭者的汽油彈攻擊，他們的編輯部主張逃犯條例的設計有問題，支持獨立調查警方行動，也認為真普選在當下情境是不可行的(p.xvii)。擺在香港已經藍黃兩極化的政治光譜中，本書所宣示的立場是屬於中間派的。

除了「反思」(reflections)一節是收錄記者與編輯的主觀評論，本書大部分的文章都是詳實的報導，也儘可能符合新聞專業所要求的平衡報導之原則，有幾篇文章是筆者閱讀之後感到比較深刻的。林鄭月娥從小追求考試第一名，這種好勝的個性也影響了她強硬推動逃犯條例的態度，因而釀下不可收拾的政治風波(pp.3-17)。顏武周曾在大學期時參與學生運動，他後來帶領公務員站出來表達反送中，打破了公務人員向來不碰觸政治爭議的禁忌(p. 157)。不斷上演的街頭警民衝突，使得菲律賓家庭幫傭不敢出門，喪失了週日與朋友相處的美好時光(p. 172)，帶來了清潔人員巨大的工作負擔(p. 177)等。這些報導呈現了抗爭運動若干容易被忽略的片段與人物。

也由於是英語媒體，這本書也對於反送運動的國際面向有不少深入的分析，例如引發美國人關注的NBA與South Park事件(pp. 375-380)、香港運動者在美國的遊說(p. 370)、印尼、印度、智利等國抗議者如何運用香港人的抗爭手法(pp. 381-386)、為何與香港有歷史親近性的新加坡人不同情轉向暴力的香港運動者(p. 388)。

儘管本書編者宣示中立與超黨派的立場，但是自從2015年阿里巴巴集團的馬雲入主南華早報以來，其編輯方向頗受質疑，其收購案更被視為中國政府的大外宣手段之一。有些報導是明顯採取親建制派的觀點，例如陳同佳曾一度宣稱要向台灣投案，但是卻沒有提到在民進黨政府取得勝選之後，這項充滿政治性的提議就不了了之。本書記錄了香港人對於講普通話的大陸人越來越不信任，但是卻忽略了中國政府透過微信所傳播的假消息，並且特意煽動愛國、撐警的言論。南華早報記者同情香港警方的處境，認為他們面臨了不利的公關處理情境，但是一系列的報導卻沒有提到新屋嶺、一系列被指控的性暴力與疑點重重的自殺事件。

儘管有上述的偏頗，《造反城市》一書仍是具有參考價值，為這一場已經創造歷史的香港人運動留下了見證。

-Foreword
-Acknowledgments
-Introduction
-Path to a Firestorm
-Water and Fire
-The Mobilized and The Marginalized
-In The Crossfire
-Law and Disorder
-Beyond Borders
-Reflections
-Scanning The Horizon
-Recommended Videos
-Glossary
-Index