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She is just 23, but has been on the protest front several times already
Agnes Chow, a 23-year-old pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong, has been given a new nickname.
Her followers began calling her “the real Mulan” – referring to the legendary Chinese heroine who fought to save her family and country.
Ms Chow was one of a handful of activists and media figures arrested this week under a controversial new security law imposed by Beijing. She was arrested on a charge of ‘collusion with foreign troops’ – if convicted, she could face life in prison.
She has now been released on bail, but her arrest prompted an outcry of support, with much tweeting from the hashtag #FreeAgnes.
Why Mulan?
Mulan is an ancient Chinese legend, but became popular worldwide through the 1998 Disney animated film.
The story involves a young woman who disguises herself as a man so she can fight to save her family and country.
A live-action remake of the film would be released this year, the title role played by Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei.
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Liu Yifei was seen as a support policeman in Hong Kong
But for much of last year, Hong Kong protesters were calling for democratic reforms engaging in increasingly violent clashes with insurgent police, who were accused of using excessive force.
Pro-Beijing groups accuse protesters of attacking Hong Kong police and anti-protesters.
During one burst of unrest, Ms. Liu shared a Weibo post from the government-run Beijing newspaper People’s Daily that read in Chinese: “I also support Hong Kong police. You can defeat me now.”
Protestants of pro-democracy soon began beating Liu, accusing her of supporting police brutality.
The film soon became a political symbol – with Chinese citizens expressing their support for Mrs Liu and Hong Kong pro-democracy supporters demanding a boycott.
Disney recently announced that Mulan would only have a limited cinema release, but would instead be streaming to its Disney + service, citing pandemic charges.
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An increasing number of people began to ask for a boycott of the Disney movie
Many began to contrast with Liu and Ms Chow – saying that the activist was the true representative of a heroine who rose up to fight.
Memes then started popping up on social media.
“Agnes demonstrated what true bravery looks like,” one user said on Twitter. “Agnes is my Mulan.”
“Agnes Chow should be the real Mulan. She’s much better than Liu who is [supports] Hong Kong police brutality. “She is brave and ready to … fight for freedom,” said another.
Ms Chow – who is fluent in Japanese – also has a large following in Japan, with some Japanese media companies referring to her as the “Goddess of Democracy”.
What else do we know about Agnes Chow?
Ms Chow has been active in Hong Kong politics since a young age, joining a youth-led movement at just 15 years old.
The movement had protested against plans to implement ‘moral and national education’ in public schools. Students were then worried that it signaled the introduction of the kind of heavily censored education used on the Chinese mainland.
They set up large sit-ins and the plan was eventually scrapped.
It was during these protests that they met a well-known activist Joshua Wong.
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Agnes Chow and Joshua Wong in 2016
Both went on to become key figures in the Umbrella movement – a series of sit-ins in protests in 2014 that required the city to elect its own leader.
The protests were not successful – but created a whole new generation of young political leaders.
Ms Chow, Mr Wong and Nathan Law, another activist, joined the pro-democracy party Demosisto in 2016.
In 2018, Ms Chow tried to run in local elections – she gave up her British citizenship to do so and postponed her university final.
But her nomination was rejected because officials said she supported “self-determination” for Hong Kong.
“The main issue was not whether I could run for future elections, it was whether the most basic rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people could be protected,” she said at the time, according to an SCMP report.
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The showdown between Protestants and police bureaus has become increasingly violent
In 2019, mass protests erupted in Hong Kong, with many speaking out against an extradition bill that could visit suspects in Hong Kong on mainland China.
In August of that year, Ms Chow was arrested for allegedly attending and encouraging an unauthorized meeting at Hong Kong Police Headquarters earlier in June.
Other prominent figures of pro-democracy, including Joshua Wong and Andy Chan, were also arrested.
She later pleaded guilty.
Then on June 30 this year, the new security law came into force.
Some political activists, such as Mr Law of the same party, chose to flee Hong Kong for fear of being taken prisoner by Beijing.
Ms Chow along with Mr Wong announced that they were withdrawing to Demosisto – which was later disbanded – but chose to stay in Hong Kong.
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Agnes Chow was arrested earlier this week
Earlier this week, Ms Chow was arrested in a national security operation that saw other prominent figures such as media mogul Jimmy Lai detained.
It was later revealed that Ms Chow was arrested for ‘collusion with foreign troops’ under the new National Security Act.
“I would say that it is very clear that the regime and the government are using the national security law to suppress political dissidents,” narrators said after they were bailed out.
Many had feared before the passage of the law that it would be used to punish Protestants and reduce the autonomy of the city.
Under the new law, incitement to hatred against the central government of China and the regional government of Hong Kong is illegal.
It criminalizes any act of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign or external forces.
Ms Chow later said in a statement on Facebook that her latest arrest had been the ‘most’ horrific ‘so far.
“Arrested four times, this is the scariest. But even in the police station I can still hear from my lawyers the love and care that everyone has for me,” she said.
“The road [ahead] is difficult. Take care of yourself. “
