Political Cartoonist Exits Hong Kong

Political cartoonist Va Wong Sir has left Hong Kong

This morning I woke up to look on my Facebook feed to discover an acquaintance has moved to the UK with his family. 

The exodus continues with well known political cartoonist known as Va Wong Sir.

He posted on his Facebook a drawing perhaps of himself wearing a backpack and a suitcase next to him. Behind him is a petal of the bauhinia flower -- the symbol of Hong Kong -- that is red with a gold star, signifying the mainlandization of the city.

"I'm sorry," he begins his message, and says, "I promise myself with guilt, anger and shame to continue drawing for those who have been silenced."

In early April Va Wong Sir did an interview with independent news website FairPlanet, saying he was a target, though it is not clear if it involves the national security bureau or the Hong Kong police.

The visual arts and liberal studies secondary school teacher started drawing political cartoons in his spare time and the Education Bureau sent him warning letters, claiming his artworks contain "groundless allegations towards the police and government", and demonstrate "misconduct behaviour".

After the national security law was implemented at the end of June 2020, schools didn't even want him as a substitute teacher.

Va Wong Sir says after his teaching colleagues were arrested, he started suffering from panic attacks at night. When he tried to sleep he would imagine the police would ring his doorbell to arrest him. That fear was enough to keep him up most nights.

In January 2020, the Education Bureau sent a letter claiming it had received an anonymous complaint about one of his cartoons on his social media account and asked if it was his. A few months later the school Va Wong Sir worked at told that because of budget reasons his his contract would not be renewed. 

But that evening he saw that his position had been advertised in an online recruitment ad.

Then in April 2021 the Education Bureau sent him another letter for his "groundless allegation towards the police and government", while the third letter claimed Va Wong Sir was demonstrating "misconduct behaviour".

"A visual arts teacher drawing pictures in his spare time -- there's nothing wrong with it," he said, and added he never advocated Hong Kong independence, "but right now, it seems that if you oppose the government, that is tantamount to supporting Hong Kong independence. So the space for free speech is very narrow, there's not many things we can say."

While people have suggested to Va Wong Sir to shut down his social media account, he refuses, saying: "Many political cartoonists, like Zunzi and Ah To are still drawing. Why should I give up?"

But while he has given up on Hong Kong and left, we hope to see him continue drawing and reminding us we are all in this together.