it has become a common see in Hong Kong
to find people on the streets suddenly
stopping in the tracks coming together
to proudly sing a song this song glory
to Hong Kong it's also deemed as the
Hong Kong anthem has made its appearance
in the most unconventional waits it is
sung in protest in graduation ceremonies
and even in shopping malls together by
thousands of Hong Kong is written and
released anonymously this very song
embeds the spirit of our 2019 Hong Kong
movement spontaneous creative
translating passion into quick action
and in this largely anonymous and
leaderless movement it is exactly this
creativity that has sustained us even
differentiates us from other protests
and as someone working in the creative
fields I have been amazed by the way
that we have renewed this embrace of the
music and the arts whereas five years
ago during the pro-democracy umbrella
movement art was labelled as useless
this time round we have seemingly found
a new understanding of the role of the
imagination through our own mistakes we
have come to this realization the soft
power of creativity is essential in this
very difficult fight against
authoritarian regimes as a
singer-songwriter from Hong Kong I have
since 2014 chosen to stand with my
fellow Hong Kong s in our fight for
democracy
it was the moment when I saw the first
tear gas fired into the peaceful crowds
that I decided regardless of all those
so-called consequences that I had to
speak my mind I stayed on the streets
with the people for the 79 days of
occupation and I was arrested in the end
in this era of self-censorship people in
my industry thought I was insane
they would ban you they were censor you
this is career suicide well they were
right fell only partially I was of
course immediately banned in China my
name was censored all my songs were
taken off shelves the authorities made
sure that no brands whether in China or
in Hong Kong would dare to work with me
other celebrities stayed away even
refused to take photos with me and fear
of being associated with me and in
recent days at a rally in Taiwan I was
attacked
splashed by red paint by a pro-beijing
group but in my career end absolutely
not in 2016 when brands avoided me and
would not sponsor me for my concert I
instead created a crowd sponsorship
campaign I chopped up the sponsorship
into smaller sums so it made it
affordable for local companies in the
end we gathered support from 300 local
businesses amounting to more than 3
million Hong Kong dollars which was
actually way over what I would have
expected with a corporate sponsorship I
built my own record label and my own
system with tools on the Internet
with my very small team we improvise
local tours in districts of Hong Kong
since I could no longer tour in China we
sang on trams in local shops on
sidewalks even on mountains and we even
self funded and organised a six-day
music festival all this would not have
been possible had I submitted to the
notion of fear of this notion that there
is only one way to do things all this
would not have been possible had I not
believed in the power of creativity as
of our present movement in Hong Kong it
is also the level of innovation and
flexibility that has wowed and surprised
and inspired the world what started out
as a million people protests morphed
into something that no one not even
ourselves thought was possible
by rethinking the tools that they
already had on hand
the youngsters fully utilized phone apps
online forums and even airdrop to
consolidate and gather people they
improvised new ways to counter the
excessive amount of tear-gassing
by using traffic cones steamed fish
dishes thermos
leaf blowers and even tennis rackets
they built the most impressive and
artistic of road blocks and organized
lunch protests in the financial district
of central the lemon walks which went
from posted memos into two-story high
murrow's and the human chain with people
holding hands covering all corners of
Hong Kong even the iconic lion rock
mountain and let's not forget all these
beautiful illustrations and designs made
anon
which helped people express their
thoughts in very critical moments all
these innovative ways of turning
emotions into art into humor into
protest made detestable moments bearable
for the people so by reconnecting with
our flexibility we created a movement
that brought out the best in Hong Kong's
the bravery and the selflessness of
those in face of police brutality
brought people together in new levels of
solidarity and with that we overcame six
months of challenges we overturned a
district election with more than 85% of
the seats the Hong Kong human rights and
democracy Act was passed in US Congress
and recently signed into law and our
fight is so going strong creativity is
what the tyrants cannot control nor
repress with their very powerful but
slow machine it takes time for them to
react to new ideas whether it is the
protests on the streets that is taking a
new fluidity or the way that people
reinvent themselves the system needs
time to counter it and to find solutions
and well when they do we would have
already moved on to the next idea and
let's face it being in a fight against
tyrants can be extremely draining so by
having diversity in our modes of protest
by injecting creativity we reveal
ourselves we become flexible and with
that we are not only creating
possibilities for ourselves but also
opening up a new world
those who thought it impossible
therefore keeping the fight alive thank
you
[Applause]
so thank you I would like to invite my
very good brother Harris because we want
to sing you a song in Cantonese so do we
know any songs in Cantonese here this is
a song that I wrote two years ago it was
something of a imaginary future it is
about people going onto a mountain
trying to find that very first glimpse
of light in the very dark polar nights
and surprisingly it has become a reality
and so this is for the freedom fighters
in Hong Kong and all around the world
[Applause]
[Music]
before sanity your table oh joy songs
have fun I do the mopping finger see you
Sunday
who done turned her whole hot Sun yoga
no sadly r1 joy time I'm sorry but I'm
talking a lady hurt any of second time
time I tell you take how are we - hey no
[Music]
one's in trouble teaching
[Music]
so T from type off means all done so T
some hunting him down though we love the
bomb satsang how to woods are you
I see gone sick Jensen the student Oh
Sam far from Tony hey Toby Oh God seven
Dayton's like on the game young golfer
[Music]
to
[Music]
[Laughter]
[Music]
you tell me
one games on ice Tom 13 yard line go
[Music]
Hey
[Music]
see sometimes they buy a home
[Music]
engage
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]