Hong Kong Philosopher Taught Life’s Meaning. Now He Visits Students in Jail.

The most surreal one is the men’s prison in Stanley, an upscale neighborhood in the southern tip of Hong Kong island. More than 30 political activists, including the Apple Daily newspaper tycoon Jimmy Lai, are jailed there. Visitors walk past beautiful mansions before reaching the facility. Some mornings the waiting room looks like a social gathering, with visitors holding coffee from a vending machine and chatting for hours.

“It was both absurd and sad,” Mr. Chow said. “It feels almost like a scene out of a movie.”

His online life has also changed a lot. His 45,000 Facebook followers used to post photos of their travels and meals. Not much any more. “The city has been suffering,” he said. “People feel guilty about enjoying life.”

His Facebook timeline is also a barometer of fear. When the security law took effect a year ago, Mr. Chow saw that some of his followers changed their names into pseudonyms or deleted their timelines while others closed their Facebook accounts altogether so that the authorities couldn’t prosecute them because of their posts. Now his timeline is full of names he doesn’t recognize.

Even Mr. Chow’s own Facebook timeline has changed. He mainly reposts other people’s posts instead of writing original ones because, he said, he doesn’t know how to talk about his pains.

He has barely written any articles, let alone a book. His last book, published in June 2019 amid a whirlwind of protests, was “Our Golden Times.” When I asked whether he would use the same title now, he paused for another very long moment. Likely not, he answered. “It’s probably the beginning of our worst times.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/business/hong-kong-chow-po-chung.html