Every week, Ruby scans social media sites for fun stories and gossip, screenshots the pages, and prints them out on A5-sized papers to send to fellow Hong Kongers jailed for their involvement in the 2019 protests. The 32-year-old nurse also shares the letters on Instagram, as templates for others who write to them. “I hope [the jailed protestors] can keep up with what’s happening outside,” Ruby, who only gave her first name to avoid legal risks, told Rest of World. “So that they know that there are many of us still supporting them.”
More than 10,000 people have been arrested and at least 2,900 charged for their roles in the 2019 Hong Kong protests, which first erupted in June over a government extradition bill and later morphed into a broader movement fighting for democratic freedoms. In 2020, the Chinese government quashed the movement by imposing a national security law that gave authorities expansive new powers to crack down on political opposition. In 2021 alone, 985 people were put into custody for charges related to the protests, including unlawful assembly, rioting, and endangering national security. By the end of 2022, 522 of them remained behind bars.
While public expressions of dissent have dwindled in Hong Kong, some residents continue to support the city’s jailed protestors through small-scale online initiatives. Because inmates are prevented from using the internet, supporters like Ruby update them on news of the outside world through mailed printouts of news clips, memes, and YouTube video transcripts. They send essential items such as toothbrushes and underwear using online businesses, and share handwritten letters from the prisoners on social media to help relay their conditions to the public.
“We want to do as much as we can to help.”
An array of social media accounts help coordinate essential supplies, companionship, and entertainment for inmates. For instance, an Instagram account named “Fung1seon3zi2” — a Cantonese pun meaning “enveloped letter” and also the hyacinth flower — matches inmates to pen pals with shared interests such as hiking, coffee, or the English football club Arsenal, helping them exchange letters. The account also reminds followers when an inmate’s birthday is coming up, and posts requests for books that prisoners want to read, such as novels by Haruki Murakami or guides on nutritional health.
When Fung1seon3zi2 receives a letter from prison, volunteers send a photo to its recipient through Telegram or Signal so the pen pal can start writing the reply as soon as possible. Although the process is lengthy — mail often takes weeks to be delivered — people exchange letters through the Instagram account because they are worried about disclosing their home addresses to authorities or having letters noticed by family members with opposing political views, according to one of the administrators, who requested anonymity over legal concerns. The admin told Rest of World the account has handled about 15,000 letters since it was set up in September 2021. “[The protestors] were jailed because of Hong Kong’s political situation,” she said. “We want to do as much as we can to help.”
In their letters, pen pals include everything from screenshots of internet memes to pop song lyrics to photos of bikini-clad women, the admin said. Amateur artists like Ruby have set up accounts that share letter templates featuring their own illustrations for others to use. A prisoner-support website called Swallow Life publishes YouTube video transcripts and roundups from popular online forum LIHKG for supporters to send to inmates.
Supporters told Rest of World they have to self-censor their words or face the risk of having their letters intercepted by correctional services. But they also want to provide inmates with a truthful perspective of the outside world — inaccessible through local newspapers and TV channels. Hong Kong prisons run a deradicalization program for ex-protestors to learn state-sanctioned versions of Chinese history, and strengthen their “national identity,” which authorities claim detainees have enrolled in voluntarily. Finding the right balance is a delicate game. In a recent letter, Ruby said she left out news about the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown on June 4, but included an interview with a censored political cartoonist.
Supporters also organize and buy supplies for inmates through online businesses. Prison support group Waiting Bird runs a program for the public to purchase care packages, which contain prison-approved essentials and snacks such as M&M chocolates, sanitary pads, and underwear. Buyers can deliver the packages during their prison visits, or ask the organization to give them to inmates’ families. Waiting Bird has sold more than 1,600 packages from March 2022 to February 2023, mostly through its online shop.
Since most pro-democracy media outlets in Hong Kong have been shut down, inmates have turned to social media to share their experiences with the public. Prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, for example, shares his writing from prison, which friends and colleagues then post on Facebook and Patreon. Income from Wong’s Patreon subscriptions helped cover his hefty legal costs, according to a Facebook post.
Instagram user “Fish Ball Sister,” a teacher in her 20s, shares stories and cartoons about the affectionate exchanges between her and her boyfriend, who is serving a jail sentence for rioting. At first, the posts were intended just for close friends, she told Rest of World, preferring to use only her online nickname to avoid government retaliation. But then strangers began messaging her to ask for advice about their own jailed partners. She created a Google Drive folder with detailed instructions on how to retrieve bail money, send letters, and prepare prison supplies. “I want to bring optimism to other people and make them feel that the wait might not be that difficult and painful,” she said.
But supporting prisoners comes with its risks. Since the 2020 national security law took effect, dozens of pro-democracy political parties, labor unions, and church groups have disbanded to avoid prosecution. Wall-fare, formerly a prison support organization, dissolved in September 2021 after police arrested three activists under the national security law for “inciting subversion” — partly because they were accused of attempting to recruit “like-minded people” in prison by providing them M&Ms.
“Many people may be wondering what’s the problem with having one more hairpin, or one more piece of chocolate,” security chief Chris Tang had said in response to the arrests. “[They] use the privileges to build up influence, lead other inmates into resenting the Hong Kong and Chinese governments more, and from there endanger national security.”
Supporters are worried about their safety, as they navigate Hong Kong’s waning freedoms to assist prisoners. Ruby said she hoped to keep on writing letters until all ex-protesters were released — the longest sentence so far is nine years. The Fung1seon3zi2 admin said she spends more than two hours a day after work organizing the letters they receive. But, despite the risks and workload, she did not want to give up. “If simply writing a letter and showing concern for someone means having to go to jail in Hong Kong,” she said, “then we would have no choice but to go to jail.”
