Antony Dapiran

Writer, Photographer, Lawyer

Hong Kong

Antony Dapiran is a Hong Kong-based writer, photographer and lawyer. He is the author of "City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong" (Scribe, 2020). Antony has written and presented extensively on Hong Kong and Chinese politics, culture and business, with his writing appearing in The Atlantic, New Statesman, Foreign Policy, and The Guardian, among many others. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he has resided between Hong Kong and Beijing for over twenty years.

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Inside Story
07/09/2020
Hong Kong's second handover

China’s new security law makes life near impossible for the territory’s pan-democrats.

Quartz
12/20/2019
What do we call Hong Kong's nameless "2019 protests" in 2020?

As Hong Kong’s protest movement passed the six-month mark and the year drew to a close, the question of what name to give a movement that began in June 2019 becomes a vexed one for editors and reporters, academics, and commentators.

Mekong Review
11/04/2019
Hong Kong Burning

A "protest diary" of Hong Kong's Summer of Discontent.

Quartz
09/26/2019
Singin' About A Revolution

The soundtrack of this year's Hong Kong protests marks a somber turn from the Umbrella Movement

Australian Financial Review
08/16/2019
Hong Kong: A city on the brink

Beijing appears set for a war of attrition, a war in which all of the tools of China’s state power are being brought to bear.

Hong Kong

New Statesman
11/19/2019
The week Bejing let Hong Kong burn

In the most chaotic week since the current anti-government protest movement began almost six months ago, the city’s streets were lit with burning barricades, petrol bombs hurled at police lines, and cars torched. Hong Kong this week feels a city balanced on the edge of a precipice.

Foreign Policy
08/22/2019
Beijing Is Shooting Its Own Foot in Hong Kong

As protests continue to rock Hong Kong, Beijing's efforts to contain the unrest and impose its narrative on the unfolding events, both at home and abroad, are beginning to have an impact-but perhaps not in the way that the Chinese leaders intended.

SupChina
06/25/2019
What is Hong Kong for?

Antony Dapiran writes for SupChina that Hong Kong is the only place in the world that is a part of, and yet apart from, China; a place where researchers, analysts, commentators, writers, and artists can be sufficiently close to China to be well informed, to feel the zeitgeist, yet to work in an environment where they can express themselves freely.

Mekong Review
08/05/2019
The pushback - Mekong Review

The current Hong Kong protests represent the vanguard of the global challenge to Xi Jinping’s authority — Hong Kong’s young protesters are positioned at the very front lines of the global backlash described by Richard Mc Gregor in "Xi Jinping: The Backlash" (Penguin: 2019).

Art Asia Pacific
07/01/2017
Culture of Reappearance:

The search for Hong Kong identity 20 years after the handover fuels the city's creativity.

ChinaFile
06/19/2019
Hong Kong in Protest

On June 16, an estimated 2 million people took to the streets to protest the Hong Kong government's handling of a proposed extradition bill. What do the protests mean for the future of Hong Kong? And what do they say about Hong Kong’s relationship with the mainland? A ChinaFile Conversation.

ChinaFile
08/07/2019
Will Hong Kong Unravel?

Beijing's top official in Hong Kong, Wang Zhimin, has called the protests a "life and death war" and compared them to the "color revolutions." What’s next for Hong Kong? And what is the likelihood the protests will end peacefully, or descend into further bloodshed?

ChinaFile
06/30/2017
What Does Xi Jinping Intend for Hong Kong?

Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Hong Kong on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of the July 1, 1997 return of the territory to China from the United Kingdom.

Hong Kong Umbrella Movement

The Australian - Business Spectator
11/13/2014
Hong Kong edges towards an end game

Protest leaders seem to have accepted the inevitability of a forced end to their demonstration, but it's unlikely this will also mean the end of their movement.

The Australian - Business Spectator
11/25/2014
The 'foreign forces' China fears the most

The role of 'foreign forces' in Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests has Beijing deeply worried. But it's not the US or other foreign nations they're most concerned about.

Business Spectator
10/13/2014
Hong Kong's weak leaders threaten business confidence

Questions are intensifying about the long-term impact of the protests on business confidence in Hong Kong but so far the administration does not appear to have any strategy to resolve the current crisis beyond simply hoping it all goes away.

Business Spectator
10/02/2014
The unexpected leaders of Hong Kong's protests

Occupy Central was intended as a well-organised protest beginning on October 1. But a student strike originally meant as a curtain raiser quickly morphed into the main event.

The Australian - Business Spectator
12/03/2014
Taiwanese voters' challenge to Beijing

The view that the Taiwanese election results were primarily a result of the "China factor" has gotten a lot of play in the media, but it's not right.

China Business & Politics

Nikkei Asian Review
05/04/2015
Seeking perspective on Xi's anti-graft campaign

As the anti-graft campaign initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping continues to snare targets big and small, many speculate that the crackdown is going beyond a short-term push to signal a "new normal" in China.

Business Spectator
06/18/2014
Alibaba's benevolent dictatorship

Alibaba's corporate governance arrangements suggest an insecure and paranoid founder, intent on maintaining control of his company at all costs.

Business Spectator
05/07/2014
Alibaba's long road home

Alibaba's decision to list in the US appears to be a loss for HK. But there is a possible 'face saving' resolution that could yet see the online retail giant make its homecoming.

Business Spectator
09/17/2013
China cracks down on foreign business

As China moves from manufacturer to consumer, foreign firms are coming into direct competition with domestic players. Plenty of evidence suggests they're getting treated unfairly.

Art Asia Pacific

Art Asia Pacific
07/01/2019
That Was Then

Four Leading Figures Look Back on Chinese Art in the 1990s

Art Asia Pacific
03/01/2015
The Dilemma Of Illegal Art

Hong Kong authorities face the challenge of "illegal" art, from the King of Kowloon to the Umbrella Revolution.

Art Asia Pacific
11/01/2015
Art Law Self Help

Self-help measures for art market players when a contract is not an option

Art Asia Pacific
09/01/2015
Buyer Beware

Lessons for art buyers from the Perelman and Gagosian case

Art Asia Pacific
11/01/2012
Freeports

As several cities compete for the position of "Asia's art-market hub," one of the strategies adopted by the aspirants has been the introduction of freeport areas.