Kacey Wong & his provocative pink tank at Hong Kong's 1 July marches

Last updated: January 22, 2020

Kacey Wong – The Real Cultural Bureau Tank, 2012, cardboard, wood

Published: August 27, 2012

Last updated: January 22, 2020

Hongkongers flood the streets & protest for democracy

The Hong Kong 1 July protests are a surprising sight on the often chaotic stress. This day marks the transfer of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China (PRC)¹ and is a public holiday it was originally thought to be a day of celebration. However, now it is mostly known for hundreds of thousands of people flooding the streets who protest for democracy, universal suffrage and a variety of other political concerns.

The origins of Hong Kong’s 1 July protests

This annual protest² rally started in 1997, the year of the handover, and in 2003 brought out as much as 500.000 Hong Kongers. Only the protest in May 1989 in favor of the participants of the Tiananmen Square protests³ was bigger with 1.5 million participants.

Kacey Wong’s pink tank

In 2012, 400.000 other citizens took part in the protest, among them Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong. He paraded the streets, using a pink tank made out of cardboard. His artwork called The Real Culture Bureau and the Real Culture Bureau director aims to reflect the changing political and cultural situation of Hong Kong and to portray a corrupted government official which for the artist embodies money and violence often seen in mainland China.

Throwing fake money at real politicians

Kacey Wong threw fake money ($100 million dollars bill) to real politicians and other real local political parties to prevent them for putting up resistance against the Pink Party and demanded harmonious silence from them.