{"id":214711,"date":"2019-08-23T23:28:47","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T06:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=214711"},"modified":"2021-09-14T17:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T00:21:51","slug":"lawyer-chen-qiushis-video-record-of-hong-kong-protest-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2019\/08\/lawyer-chen-qiushis-video-record-of-hong-kong-protest-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer Chen Qiushi’s Video Diary of Hong Kong Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Qiushi confirmed that he has returned safely to mainland China<\/strong><\/a> after visiting Hong Kong last week to observe the protests and broadcast video commentaries<\/a> about them on social media. Chen was forced to end his trip ahead of schedule after receiving pressure from Chinese authorities. South China Morning Post’s Laurie Chen reports:<\/p>\n

While in Hong Kong, Chen uploaded several video diaries and observations about the protests to the Twitter-like Weibo, where his account has more than 770,000 followers. The diaries have since been deleted from his Weibo account but are still available on YouTube.<\/p>\n

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Chen indicated to the\u00a0South China Morning Post<\/em> on Wednesday evening that he was safe, then explained in audio messages on Thursday morning that he had returned to Beijing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNo one sent me or invited me to Hong Kong. I went purely out of my curiosity about what was happening there,\u201d Chen said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIn my broadcast online, I only reported objectively what I saw and what I learned in the city.\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Chen explained that he wanted to see what was happening in Hong Kong for himself since he could not take filtered mainland state media reports at face value<\/strong><\/a>. Mainland coverage of the rallies have focused mainly on violent clashes and official sources have heavily criticized the protesters for disrupting order in the city. Censorship instructions were issued to mainland media<\/a> earlier this week calling for specially curated reports on the protests to be promoted over others. Before his trip was called to an end, Chen was able to share a dozen videos showing a different side of the protests to his mainland followers on Weibo. From Qin Chen at Inkstone:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a mainland agent, nor a journalist. I\u2019m an ordinary mainland Chinese citizen, making a living as an attorney,\u201d said Chen in Saturday broadcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cHong Kong is going through a historical period, I want to come here and bear witness to this history,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Chen\u2019s reporting and analysis put him squarely at odds with the nationalistic reporting from some official state-run media<\/p>\n

In one video broadcast on Sunday morning, hours before a massive crowd of protesters marched in a peaceful assembly, Chen explained that most demonstrators were, in fact, not out for blood.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me explain some concepts to you all. One is \u2018peaceful,\u2019 one is \u2018aggressive\u2019 and one is \u2018no division.\u2019 More than 2 million people have participated in the protests so far. But not all of them are rioters,\u201d he said. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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CDT has translated the last video Chen filmed before leaving Hong Kong:<\/p>\n