Scotland's Hong Kong community thriving despite China fears
He tells The Herald: "Our community was established three years ago, a lot of Hong Kong people moved to Scotland and the UK because of the political situation.
'The oppression is still going on so there are still a lot of people moving here.
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'Three or four years ago we had some volunteers who gave us the idea to set up a community for our own people and think about how we could contribute to the city and how to integrate into this country.
'We started from zero. One day I spoke to a manager at the Barras and we had the idea to do a Hong Kong market, and that's where it all started. This is the third year we've done.
"We have lots of authentic street food, stuff you can't even imagine. Most of the traders make homemade food, it's not something you can find in the restaurant.
"We also have traditional Hong Kong crafts, an exhibition on connections to Scotland, workshops where people can learn traditional Chinese calligraphy and also some cultural exchange workshops and a kung fu performance and Hong Kong music."
As of the 2021 census the population of Scotland born in Hong Kong was just under 12,000 but the data was collected less than two months after a new visa scheme was introduced.
Following the introduction of a new national security law by the Chinese government, British National (Overseas) residents and their dependents can apply for a renewable five-year visa.
This year the first wave of Hong Kongers who arrived under the scheme will be eligible to apply for permanent residency.
The Hong Kong market in Glasgow (Image: Gordon Terris) Lok Pui Lo tells The Herald: "When I first arrived here four-and-a-half years ago it was Covid times so there wasn't a lot of community.
'In the last one or two years there have been a lot of organisations set up by people from Hong Kong like the badminton club, events specifically for Hong Kong people, the New Year market
"Before we get the permanent residency we're still immigrants who don't have a home. If we aren't granted the indefinite leave to remain that means we could be sent back to Hong Kong at any time.
'It's proof that I'm a UK citizen, finally, and I won't have to go back to Hong Kong if things don't work out.'
The fear of going back to Hong Kong is a real one.
In 2019 a proposed bill which would have allowed for the extradition of accused criminals to other territories, including mainland China.
Its introduction came after a 19-year-old Hong Kong resident, Chan Tong-kai, murdered his pregnant girlfriend in Taiwan and flew back to Hong Kong.
He admitted to the authorities that he had killed her, but he could not be tried for her murder as it happened in Taiwan, and could not be extradited due to Hong Kong's status as a 'special administrative region' of China since it was handed over by the British in 1997.
Hong Kong had no extradition agreements with mainland China as a safeguard to its separate legal system, and could not do a treaty with Taiwan as Beijing does not recognise it.
When the bill was proposed critics immediately raised fears it could be used to arrest political dissidents, with the largest in the history of Hong Kong erupting.
Protests in Hong Kong The bill was eventually withdrawn on October 23, 2019 but in June the following year a new national security law was passed criminalising "separatism, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference", punishable up to life in prison, which many feared would lead to a crackdown on civil liberties.
In response the British government offered the visa programme to those at risk.
The reach of the Chinese Communist Party is long though, with Amnesty International reporting that students studying abroad are harassed and subject to surveillance to prevent them engaging with "sensitive" issues while overseas.
In 2022 a human rights group alleged the CCP was running a secret police station at the Loon Fung restaurant in Glasgow, though Police Scotland found no evidence of any criminality.
Safeguard Defenders said the Chinese government was using a network of such offices to intimidate dissidents and criminal suspects and try to pressure them into returning to China.
The group's report said 'persuasion to return' involved techniques such as refusing to renew passports; surveillance or punishment of family back in China; or direct threats, surveillance and harassment by undercover agents, embassy and consulate staff, and secret police.
Officially all the police stations were shut down in 2023, but the Hong Kong community feels the eyes of Beijing at all times.
Chan says: "This is something very real for us, it's something we fear every day.
"We see news from Hong Kong and we still see the government arresting people when they arrive there. Three months ago there was a girl who posted something on Facebook when she was living in Japan, she went back to Hong Kong to visit her family and the police arrested her at the airport.
'This tension is always there in our community, the tension hasn't left us even since we moved to this country.
'The long-armed repression is something very real, especially in Glasgow where we know secret police stations are being run in Chinese restaurants. Police Scotland have said they can't find any evidence but to run something like that you don't need any paperwork, all you need is a back room.
'Even when I'm speaking with you, I said going into the interview that I don't want to disclose my identity, and that's for the same reason.
"It's a very broad law, and after it passed they did arrest a lot of people.
'That's why as an organisation we always keep a very low profile and are very careful about what we're doing, and a lot of organisations have been silenced.
'A lot of us have family who still live in Hong Kong, so even when we're just making a market like this we are very careful.
'There are a lot of Chinese students who study here and we are sure that not all of them are students. We're being monitored, that is something that is undeniable for us.
'This fear still exists even living in this country.'
The Hong Kong market in Glasgow (Image: Gordon Terris) The Hong Konger community may be small but it's growing, and keen to become a firm part of Scotland's cultural milieu.
Chan says: "When we started our community we started to research some of the links between Scotland and Hong Kong and we found there's a big historical relationship.
'Three governors of Hong Kong were Scottish and one of the most well-regarded governors of Hong Kong, David Wilson, has the longest footpath in the country named after him.
'We tried to dig out the history and we've made an exhibition that we'll show at the Hong Kong market.
'We want local people to understand that we are moving here but we're not coming to claim benefits we're coming to integrate in this country. The Hong Kong market is a chance to show that too.
"We welcome everyone, and the most important thing is that we want to help local people understand why we're here and what we're doing.
'In the exhibition we have a small part where we interview some of the Hong Kong people about what they've been doing since they moved to this country: what have they contributed, what have they established?
'One of the interviewees started a bicycle charity, and that's the kind of thing we want to show especially since immigration has been such a hot topic recently.
'We want to break the bias against immigrants.'
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