Alex Chow, born in Hong Kong on 18 August 1990, is a Hong Kong political figure and student leader. He attended Buddhist Chan See Hung Primary School and ELCHK Faith Lutheran College before entering the University of Hong Kong in 2010, where he studied comparative literature and sociology, then took a master's in urban design and social science at the London School of Economics, and later pursued doctoral research in geography at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2012 he was deputy editor-in-chief of 'Undergrad', the HKU Students' Union magazine, and the following year became the union's external vice-president. From April 2014 to March 2015 he was secretary-general of the 57th Hong Kong Federation of Students. On 22 September 2014 he read the strike declaration at CUHK's Million Man Boulevard, launching the city-wide student class boycott against the National People's Congress decision on political reform; on the night of 26 September, when a rally outside the Civic Square at the government headquarters was cleared, he was among those arrested, an event that helped trigger the Umbrella Movement. On 21 July 2016 he was convicted of unlawful assembly for the 'Reclaim Civic Square' action and on 15 August given a three-week suspended sentence. On 17 August 2017 the Department of Justice succeeded in a sentencing review; the Court of Appeal held that his actions involved violence and resentenced him to seven months' immediate imprisonment, and he was jailed for a time; on 6 February 2018 the Court of Final Appeal allowed the appeal and upheld the suspended sentence. After serving time he went to Britain in 2018 and then to the United States. In late 2018 he, Nathan Law and Joshua Wong received a Democracy Medal from the International Association of Political Consultants. He now lives in exile in the United States and is a director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council.
As secretary-general of the Federation of Students during the Umbrella Movement, Alex Chow was one of the leading figures of the 2014 class boycott and occupation. The boycott he led pushed tertiary students onto the front line and made the student movement a core force in the protests; his path from the HKU Students' Union and 'Undergrad' to the Federation shaped a new generation of student leaders.
Achievements
- 2014 · Became secretary-general of the 57th Hong Kong Federation of Students
- 2014 · Read the strike declaration launching the city-wide student class boycott
- 2017 · Had his sentence increased to seven months' immediate imprisonment
- 2018 · Received a Democracy Medal alongside Nathan Law and Joshua Wong