Yellow economic circle

The yellow economic circle, also known as the yellow economy,[1][2] is a system of classifying businesses in Hong Kong based on their support or opposition to the 2019–20 protests. Proponents of the yellow economic circle frequent "yellow shops" and boycott "blue shops", the former supporting the protesters[3] and the latter supporting the Hong Kong Police Force.[4] Businesses affiliated with ("red shops") or owned by ("black shops") the Communist Party of China are also boycotted by proponents,[5] which has led to the use of the alternate name anti-communist economic circle.[6] Politically neutral businesses are labelled "green shops".[7] Yellow shops that have supported pro-democracy protesters since the 2014 Umbrella Movement are sometimes referred to as "golden shops".[8]

Yellow economic circle
A "yellow shop" featuring a Lennon Wall and promotional posters supporting protesters.
Traditional Chinese黃色經濟圈
Simplified Chinese黄色经济圈
2019–20 Hong Kong
protests
Part of the Democratic development in Hong Kong
Background
Protests timeline
2019
2020
Tactics and methods
Incidents
Fatalities
Reactions
See also

The yellow economic circle was created by protesters to support like-minded businesses,[9] sustain the livelihoods of pro-democracy business owners, create job opportunities for supporters of the movement,[10] and reduce local dependence on businesses that are connected to the Communist Party of China.[11] It has also been suggested that the yellow economic circle may increase votes for the pro-democracy camp in the Catering, Wholesale, and Retail functional constituency in the later postponed 2020 legislative election.[12]

Origins
A Yoshinoya restaurant in Sha Tin, covered in post-it notes following the company's decision to fire employees over a satirical advertisement.

In July 2019, Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast food chain, created a Facebook advertisement mocking local police for removing notes from a Lennon Wall. The advertisement was taken down shortly thereafter, and the company's Hong Kong branch announced that it had fired the employees who created the post. The decision prompted supporters of the protesters to boycott Yoshinoya.[13]

In the same month, a captain from Cathay Pacific made an announcement reassuring his passengers that the airport protests were peaceful and orderly. He ended with a few words in Cantonese, saying: "Keep it up, Hongkongers! Be careful and stay safe." (香港人加油，萬事小心) Soon after, the captain was reported to have left the airline, but it was unclear whether he resigned or was fired. Cathay Pacific has since been criticized for alleged political bias.[14]

Following these incidents, citizens supporting the protests developed their own economic circle by boycotting blue shops and solely patronising yellow shops. Several smartphone apps, such as "和你eat" and "WhatsGap," were developed to help citizens identify and avoid spending money at shops with opposing political views.

Criteria for becoming a yellow shop
A yellow shop offering a discount for patrons wearing a white shirt on 9 June 2019. Members of the pro-democracy Civil Human Rights Front wore white during demonstrations that day.

"Yellow shops" are those which participate in citywide general strikes, support protesters financially through donations to the 612 Fund or the Spark Alliance, donate food or protection gear for protesters, or set up a Lennon Wall for customers to leave post-it notes of support for the protests.[15]

The labelling system is frequently evaluated by Hong Kong netizens. Yellow shops are promoted on a number of websites and guides, including "Hong Kong's Rice Pig Guide," a parody of the Michelin Guide, and "Yellow Openrice," an online food show on YouTube.

Methods

Online platforms

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.[16] These platforms include:

  • Hong Kong People Hong Kong Shops (Chinese: 港人港店)
  • Wolipay (Chinese: 和你Pay)
  • Cung Gwong Hou (Chinese: 重光號)
  • Words of Mouth
  • WhatsGap
  • Hong Kong Leung Sum Guide (Chinese: 香港良心Guide)[17]

Promotional campaigns

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.[18] The following is a list of some notable campaigns:

  • Day of Thanks (Chinese: 全民黃店感謝日) on 10 October 2019[19]
  • Shopping Spree Day (Chinese: 爆買黃店日) on 26 October 2019[20]
  • Golden Week (Chinese: 五一黃金週) from 1 May 2020 to 7 May 2020[21]

Lunar New Year Fairs
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,[22] a group of netizens and pro-democracy district councillors organised independent fairs called "wo lei siu" (Chinese: 和你宵; lit.: 'our evening').[23][24] 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.[25]

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.[26] Several other independent fairs have faced similar opposition from the government.[27][28]

Cross-promotions

Yellow shops close to each other have occasionally joined together 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 percent discount.[29] 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.[30] Similar alliances are seen in the Central and Western District,[31] Tai Po District[32] and Kwun Tong District,[33] with the yellow shops employing various promotion strategies, such as stamp cards and VIP cards.

Boycotts of blue shops

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.[34][35] The revenue of Maxim's Caterer dropped drastically after the incident due to a widespread boycott by protesters.[36] 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.[37]

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.[38] 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.[39] Many businesses have subsequently withdrawn or postponed their advertising campaigns with TVB.[40]

Use abroad

The concept of the yellow economic circle has been adopted by pro-democracy supporters in Hong Kong's diaspora communities, most notably in Canada and the United States. In late 2019, a Hong Kong Canadian Facebook group published a crowdsourced list of yellow and blue shops in Metro Vancouver. UBC professor Leo Kwok-yueh Shin commented that such lists could create "a great deal of division within the Chinese communities [in Canada]," and that the two opposing political camps should instead "promote coming together in one form or another."[41]

Impact of the 2020 national security law

After the Hong Kong national security law was passed on 30 June 2020 and following the disbandment of Demosistō, some pro-democracy businesses began distancing themselves from the yellow economic circle due to fears of persecution under the new law. Businesses reportedly removed promotional posters from their storefronts and anti-establishment remarks from their official social media accounts.[42]

Analysis

Conceptualisation

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.[43] 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.

Effectiveness

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 don't need help from the Communist Party of China.[4] 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".[44]

Many international observers stress that Hong Kong's economy has been declining due to the long-lasting civil unrest. However, the emergence of the yellow economic circle shows that the declining economy is less applicable to the yellow shops. Instead, it is the shops branded as blue that are facing difficulties in maintaining their business. For example, 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.[45]

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.[44]

Reactions

Positive

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.[46]

Alan Leong, the chairperson of the Civic Party, commented that the yellow economic circle has great economic potential and has been a significant contribution to the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests, for example in aiding the pro-democracy parties in promotion for the Legislative Council election.[47]

Negative

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.[48]

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, 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.[49]

Some yellow restaurants have been criticised for their refusal to serve Mandarin speakers during the COVID-19 pandemic.[50] 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.[51]

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