On November 2, 2022, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) and Hillsdale College hosted a screening and discussion of The Hong Konger, a documentary exploring Jimmy Lai’s extraordinary struggle for freedom against the Chinese Communist Party.
The film screening was accompanied by remarks from Simon Lee, a former columnist at Apple Daily, and Abraham Armstrong, VOC’s Associate Director of China Programs.
About the Speakers:
Simon Lee Simon was a columnist at Apple Daily. Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s most influential newspaper, was shut down by the Chinese Communist Party in 2021. Simon co-founded Hong Kong’s only independent free-market think tank, the Lion Rock Institute. He is a public intellectual with a mission to defend the integrity of Hong Kong’s language, history, institutions, and civil society.
Abraham Armstrong is Associate Director of China Programs at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Prior, he served as VOC’s Associate Director of Development, was a communications consultant for the World Bank Group, and has worked as a reporter, business advisor, editorial manager, and international journalist covering emerging markets for foreign investors. A native of the West Coast, he studied literature at Hillsdale College and has lived in France, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, and the Caribbean. He speaks German and French.
About the Documentary:
When Hong Kong’s basic freedoms come under attack, media tycoon Jimmy Lai finds himself in the crosshairs of the state and must choose between defending Hong Kong’s long-standing liberties, or his own freedom. (70 min.)
