Chan Kin-man (born in Hong Kong on 9 March 1959) is a sociologist and political figure. He graduated from Concordia Lutheran School in 1979 and from the Department of Sociology at Chung Chi College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, in 1983, then studied at Yale University from 1988 and received his doctorate in 1995. As a student he was elected the first external secretary of the 11th CUHK Students' Union, and his graduation research contributed to the building of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital. He joined CUHK's Department of Sociology in 1993, teaching there until 2018 and winning the Faculty of Social Science's Outstanding Teaching Award for 1999–2000; he also headed the University Service Centre for China Studies and the civil-society research centre of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, his research focusing on civil society and democracy in Chinese societies. On 27 March 2013 he, Benny Tai and Chu Yiu-ming published the manifesto for 'Occupy Central with Love and Peace'; the three became known as the 'Occupy Central trio', campaigning for genuine universal suffrage in the 2017 Chief Executive election and forming an important organisational base for the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Charged on 27 March 2017, he was convicted on 9 April 2019 of inciting others to commit a public nuisance and conspiracy to commit a public nuisance, sentenced on 24 April to sixteen months' imprisonment, and released on 14 March 2020. While in prison he wrote a series of letters that were later collected in a book, his Letters from Prison. From September 2021 he was a visiting professor at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, acquired Republic of China nationality in late 2022, became a visiting research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Sociology from August 2024, and in 2025 founded and chaired the Taiwan Association for Hong Kong Studies.
Chan Kin-man has long studied civil society and social movements, and is one of the few Hong Kong sociologists to combine scholarship with activism. The 'Occupy Central' framework he led was a key intellectual and organisational source of the 2014 Umbrella Movement. His imprisonment and later move to Taiwan made him a prominent figure in overseas Hong Kong studies and advocacy.
Achievements
- 1995 · Earned a doctorate in sociology from Yale University
- 1999 · Won CUHK Faculty of Social Science Outstanding Teaching Award (1999–2000)
- 2013 · Co-published the Occupy Central manifesto, becoming one of the 'Occupy Central trio'
- 2019 · Convicted of public-nuisance offences and sentenced to sixteen months