Hong Kong businesses are under threat for association with pro-democracy protests

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Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2014 and 2019 caused a rift across the city's political spectrum and, perhaps more surprisingly, the color spectrum, too. People used yellow to show their support for demonstrators and blue to support the government and police. Many businesses were categorized this way as well. On one visit, long after the street protests were quelled, NPR's John Ruwitch found that some yellow businesses remain, but a perfect storm is threatening them.

JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE: In a shopping center in a bustling suburban part of Hong Kong, there's a tiny business called 9Cake. They serve pretty little stacks of inch-thick pancakes covered in sweet sauces and whipped cream.

How long have you been here in business?

ANGUS CHAN: Four years.

RUWITCH: Angus Chan runs the place. The desserts all have names that play off of protest themes. The walls and the counter of the shop still bear protest-related stickers. And business seems OK when I visit, but Chan says they've faced a lot of pressure in the past couple years.

CHAN: (Speaking Cantonese).

RUWITCH: The way it plays out usually is through harassment and anonymous complaints to regulators, typically over health, sanitation or licensing issues. And he says they're not random.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).

RUWITCH: In this video on YouTube, a pro-government influencer provides instructions about how to report purported violations by yellow businesses to get them shut down.

CHAN: (Speaking Cantonese).

RUWITCH: Chan says it's been frustrating.

CHAN: (Speaking Cantonese).

RUWITCH: Someone once called the fire department on them, alleging that 9Cake had explosives on site.

CHAN: (Speaking Cantonese).

RUWITCH: It turned out to be a pastry torch. The Hong Kong government says each case is considered on the facts and evidence, and all are handled in accordance with the law.

At Yau Lei Bistro, another well-known yellow business, there was a long line when I visited at noon on a weekday. The shop sells Hong Kong classics like barbecued pork with rice and wanton noodles. The owner goes by the nickname Bao Zaa Tou, or explosion head, because of his mop of curly hair.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

RUWITCH: Despite the lunch crowd, he said his business was not doing good. And making matters worse, he pulled a binder out of a backpack to show me a ream of citations he's gotten from regulators - over 100 of them, he said.

BAO ZAA TOU: (Speaking Cantonese).

RUWITCH: Each one was for 8,000 Hong Kong dollars. That's about $1,025. He had no idea how he would pay them and stay in business. In fact, last year, he had six restaurants. When I met him in late May, only two were still open. I asked Bao Zaa Tou if he thought the onslaught of citations was because his business was yellow.

BAO ZAA TOU: (Speaking Cantonese).

RUWITCH: He said, "it's not a topic you can discuss in Hong Kong anymore." But the economy is undoubtedly in bad shape, and he's losing money.

BAO ZAA TOU: (Speaking Cantonese).

RUWITCH: And he wondered if the government was just trying to raise funds through all the fines. Not long after we met, Bao Zaa Tou vanished. His employees posted a note online in late June that they'd shut down his remaining shops.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).

RUWITCH: In a downtown subway station, Adrian Ma and his brother sell herbal tea for about $11 a bottle. It's one of five tea shops the family owns.

ADRIAN MA: We have the five-flower tea, which is made with five kind of flowers.

RUWITCH: While many consider the store a yellow business, Ma says it's not something they've advertised.

MA: We don't actually brand ourselves with that label. When you brand yourself with that label, you face a lot of unnecessary challenges.

RUWITCH: They have experienced complaints and spot inspections. Lately, though, the sluggish economy has been the bigger concern. Revenue is down by about half from its peak, Ma says, and he suspects a big reason is that his customer base has disappeared.

MA: The population from the label, the people from the label...

RUWITCH: He means people in the yellow, pro-democracy camp.

MA: ...Already moved away from the city. Our returning customer has been dropped by a lot of percentage because of the immigration wave.

RUWITCH: Government statistics show that there was an exodus of people from Hong Kong in the wake of the protests and COVID. Ma reckons up to 40% of his customers moved to places like the U.K. or Canada. Consumer sentiment and spending are weak these days in Hong Kong, too. And anecdotally, shoppers are crossing the border into China more and more in search of bargains.

MA: We're now trying to strengthen our resources and keep making the minimal expenses as minimal as possible in order to survive the wave.

RUWITCH: If it's a hot enough summer, he thinks his shops might be able to sell enough bottles of cold tea to get by. He's not sure. But what he is sure of is that there's no future in Hong Kong for openly yellow businesses anymore.

John Ruwitch, NPR News, Hong Kong.

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