Yellow economic circle

After the 5 August 2019 general strike in Hong Kong, several mobile apps and websites were developed to identify the political stance of shops and restaurants. These online platforms provide guidance to the supporters of the yellow economic circle, allowing them to identify and patronise nearby yellow shops, as well as avoid blue and red shops. Some of the platforms use a crowd-sourcing strategy to gather information on the political stances of shops, where the users can collectively determine the political stance of a certain shop by voting.[18]

Netizens supporting the yellow economic circle have organised promotional campaigns to encourage the patronage of yellow shops. Organisers typically promote the campaigns through forums and chat groups, encouraging supporters of the yellow economic circle to shop at yellow shops more frequently during the campaign periods. Long lines are often seen outside popular yellow shops during the campaigns.[19] The following is a list of some notable campaigns:

• Day of Thanks (全民黃店感謝日) on 10 October 2019[20]
• Shopping Spree Day (爆買黃店日) on 26 October 2019[21]
• Golden Week (五一黃金週) from 1 May 2020 to 7 May 2020[22]

The wo lei siu of the Central and Western District

The Lunar New Year Fair is a traditional fair held annually a few days before Lunar New Year, typically organised by the Hong Kong government. After the government announced on 7 November 2019 that there would not be any dry good stalls at the 2020 fairs,[23] a group of netizens and pro-democracy district councillors organised independent fairs called "wo lei siu" (Chinese: 和你宵; lit. 'our evening').[24][25] The organisers aimed to provide a platform for yellow shops to promote their products and services, while at the same time encouraging citizens to boycott the fairs organised by the government.[26]

However, the government refused to approve the wo lei siu organisers' venue applications, forcing them to host the fairs in a different form or at a smaller venue. After the pro-Beijing political organisation District Council Observers accused Kwai Chung's wo lei siu of promoting political propaganda, the Housing Department cancelled the venue booking three days before the wo lei siu was scheduled to start. As for the wo lei siu of Central and Western District, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department refused to issue a Temporary Places of Public Entertainment License, even though activities of a similar scale have been held in the same venue during past Lunar New Year celebrations without any opposition from the government. In response to this setback, a group of Central and Western district councillors announced that they would set up street counters separately on the original venue, hosting stall games and performances.[27] Several other independent fairs have faced similar opposition from the government.[28][29]

Yellow shops close to each other have occasionally joined to organise cross-promotions. For instance, in October 2019, when the famous yellow drink shop Kingyo in Yuen Long was facing a potential shutdown, its neighbouring yellow restaurant Watergate Chicken Rice announced that it would stop selling drinks, and that customers could instead show their receipt from Watergate Chicken Rice at Kingyo to get ten per cent discount.[30] This promotion successfully increased Kingyo's sales and saved it from closing.

It is also common for multiple yellow shops in the same region to form alliances, offering support and cross-promoting one another. For example, yellow shops in Mong Kok have formed the "Small Mong Kok Alliance," which offers customers a yellow discount card to shop at other members’ outlets.[31] Similar alliances are seen in the Central and Western District,[32] Tai Po District[33] and Kwun Tong District,[34] with the yellow shops employing various promotion strategies, such as stamp cards and VIP cards.

Trashed Best Mart 360 branch

Businesses that have openly voiced opposition to the pro-democracy movement are labelled "blue shops" and face large-scale boycotts from supporters of the yellow economic circle. Some of the more prominent blue shops include Maxim's Caterer, Best Mart 360, and Yoshinoya. Maxim's has become one of the most widely boycotted restaurant chains in Hong Kong ever since 11 September 2019, when Annie Wu, the daughter of the company's founder, called for the expulsions of faculty and students who boycott, and publicly denounced the Hong Kong protests at the United Nations Human Rights Council.[35][36] The revenue of Maxim's Caterer dropped drastically after the incident due to a widespread boycott by protesters.[37] Best Mart 360, a chain store that sells snacks, saw a similarly rapid decline in profit after protesters started a boycott campaign due to the company's relationship with the triad Fujian gang, which has assaulted protesters on several occasions.[38]

Boycotts against blue shops are not limited to the retail and catering industries; corporations in various trades such as the media and transportation industries have also been labelled blue and subsequently boycotted. TVB, one of the four free-to-air television broadcasters in Hong Kong, has been accused of selectively reporting the economic disruption caused by the protests while down-playing police violence and the underlying political frustration.[39] As a result, netizens launched several campaigns against the broadcaster, such as writing to businesses to persuade them to withdraw their ads airing on TVB.[40] Many businesses have subsequently withdrawn or postponed their advertising campaigns with TVB.[41]

Boarded up branch of Bank of Communications on Johnston Road

Some shops that are considered pro-Beijing were physically damaged during protests in 2019.[42] Chinese Communist Party-affiliated businesses, labelled "red shops" by protesters, and Chinese Communist Party-owned businesses, labelled "black shops", were frequent targets of vandalism.[13][14] Mainland Chinese bank branches had their ATMs destroyed and interiors vandalised. Other mainland Chinese brand stores were set alight and had their windows smashed.[43][44][45] A fashion chain whose founder was allegedly sympathetic to the Hong Kong Police Force was also targeted.[46] Some "blue shops" have also been attacked with molotov cocktails.[47] Maxim-owned restaurants and Starbucks branches were also ransacked.[47][48]

The idea of the yellow economic circle stems from the concept of Identity Economics suggested by George A. Akerlof, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001, and Rachel E. Kranton. Under the prototype model of economic interaction, people tend to incorporate their identity into a general model of behaviour which then influences their economic habits. When a person learns a set of values, they will internalise those values and conform with the behaviour of the people with that same identity.[51] Applying this theory to contemporary Hong Kong society, people supporting the pro-democracy camp tend to have a strong sense of belonging to this political identity, and they will thus only spend money on shops that share the same values.

Kay Lam, a political analyst, stated that the yellow economic circle is the result of people's political awakening triggered by the social movement. Through boycotting businesses affiliated with the Communist Part of China and supporting local entrepreneurs, a counter-political pressure will be generated that compels business owners to think carefully before participating in pro-government propaganda. According to the owner of a dried seafood shop, by setting up a local economic circle, Hong Kong businesses can prove to others that they do not need help from the Chinese Communist Party.[12] Political scientist Kenneth Chan commented that the yellow economic circle is "a form of protest in daily life which breeds a sense of self-determination and solidarity against the government".[52]

At least 71 restaurants or bakeries from Maxim's Catering Group were forced to suspend their operations for five or more days in a row in November 2019.[53]

Economists state that the yellow circle is unlikely to impact Hong Kong's main industries of finance, tourism, trading and logistics, which currently are strongly linked to mainland China.[52]

Joshua Wong, the secretary general of Demosistō, stated that the yellow economic circle may be a chance for Hong Kong to restructure its economy. He pointed out that Hong Kong relies highly on the consumption of luxury products by Mainland Chinese tourists, which may be unhealthy for the Hong Kong economy in the long term. However, the yellow economic circle may restructure the economy of Hong Kong to focus more on local consumption.[54]

Alan Leong, the chairperson of the Civic Party, commented that the yellow economic circle had great economic potential and contributed significantly to the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, for example, promoting pro-democracy parties' campaigns in the lead up to the later popstponed 2020 Legislative Council election.[55]

Edward Yau Tang-wah, the Commerce and Economic Development Secretary of Hong Kong, criticised the yellow economic circle by doubting whether the economy could last if it continued. A pro-Beijing Hong Kong businessman, Shih Wing-ching, also mentioned that the yellow economic circle is "not feasible" and will further divide Hong Kong society, without creating any economic benefits.[56] Newspaper Ta Kung Pao compared the yellow economic circle to Nazi practices and hatred of the mainland.[16][57]

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, also condemned the yellow economic circle. The newspaper claimed that it undermines citizens' rights to choose what they want to eat and buy, and at the same time, spreads more hatred in Hong Kong.[58]

Some yellow restaurants have been criticised for their refusal to serve Mandarin speakers (except those from Taiwan) during the COVID-19 pandemic.[59][60] From January to March 2020, the Equal Opportunities Commission reported nearly 600 inquiries and complaints about restaurants and other businesses refusing to serve Mandarin speakers and people from Mainland China, a trend that analysts believe to be partly due to Hong Kong's political environment as a result of the protests.[61]