Loss of Hometown: Young Hongkongers’ Collective Grief following the 2019 Social Movement

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore the unheard grief of young people following the 2019 social movement in Hong Kong. Sixteen participants were interviewed in-depth. Thematic analysis was conducted. Participants perceived Hong Kong as no longer the place they knew and expressed collective grief over the loss of their hometown. The understanding of their hometown was shattered amidst losses of freedom and justice. They grieved because of their unique relationships with Hong Kong and their identity as Hongkongers. This symbolic home-loss grief can be better understood at both emotional and existential levels. Findings suggest the importance of acknowledging and articulating this grief and a deeper understanding of the collective grief emerging from losses, in which people were connected by shared values.

Keywords:

• Collective grief
• intangible loss
• Hong Kong
• hometown
• young people

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Introduction

The 2019 social movement in Hong Kong (SMHK2019), also called the anti-extradition law amendment bill movement, was one of the largest local social movements. At least two million people participated (Ku, 2020). The peaceful protests began when Hongkongers expressed concern that, after this proposed amendment, the authorities would have the power to extradite Hongkongers to mainland China. Under a judiciary system different from Hong Kong’s common law one, unfair trials might ensue. Hongkongers who joined SMHK2019 were angry when the Hong Kong government refused to withdraw the bill despite people clearly expressing their concerns. When the police were accused of using excessive force on the protestors (Ngai, 2020), the movement later became a protest for the freedom and democracy of Hong Kong and against the excessive use of police force (Chan et al., 2019).

Young people in Hong Kong were the key supporters of this movement although people of all ages were involved (Ku, 2020). High levels of depression and suicidal ideation were found among Hongkongers during SMHK2019, irrespective of age and political stance (Hou et al., 2021). But one study that examined the mental health of pro-democracy supporters found that young people reported the second highest percentage of severe depression and anxiety and indicated a higher risk of mental health problems (Li et al., 2021). A recent qualitative study also reported that young adults who participated in the protests experienced mental health deterioration, relationship problems with family and peers, and decreasing trust of teachers and social workers (Kwan, 2023). Previous studies may help understand the experience of young people in SMHK2019, via the perspective of youth activism (Ku, 2020), solidarity (Lee, 2020), and psychosocial impact (Kwan, 2023). However, the experience of young people in relation to grief and loss has not been examined.

Grief is often understood as a reaction to the death of a loved one, as a form of death-related loss (Stroebe et al., 2001). Emphasis is on the personal relationship with the deceased. However, grief may be experienced following the death of people we may recognize but do not have personal relationships with, such as celebrities or public figures (Walter, 2008). Collective grief may result when a large group of people collectively engage in public mourning (e.g. on the death of Queen Elizabeth II). Yet, non-death-related loss and grief may be even more prevalent in this social movement. The author taught a course titled “Living with grief” at a university in Hong Kong. Grief in relation to intangible losses (e.g. of freedom and of future) following SMHK2019 was often shared among university students in 2020 and 2021 (CUHKUPDates, 2021). Few empirical studies, however, have focused on this grief, particularly in relation to the losses of young people following SMHK2019. Collective grief regarding these losses remains a research gap worth in-depth investigation.

In the literature, the term “political grief” may shed light on the collective grief emerging from intangible losses (Harris, 2022). Harris (2022) emphasized that political events may bring some people a kind of collective grief following an experience of the loss of the assumptive world. The author used the 2016 US presidential election as an example and suggests that people may grieve the loss of values that seem to vanish following certain political events. At the same time, people may also grieve the direct losses that “are experienced by individuals as a result of political policies, ideologies, and oppression enacted and/or empowered at the sociopolitical levels” (Harris, 2022, p. 579). The recent literature on COVID-19 has attempted to address the importance of understanding the collective grief of losses (e.g. of social connections and normal living) during the pandemic (Hyder, 2020; McDuffie et al., 2021). Moreover, the importance of identifying loss and grief other than death has been emphasized in clinical work (e.g. among children and families who lost their homes) (Gitterman & Knight, 2019; Smith & Delgado, 2020), but empirical studies examining them are limited.

The term “ambiguous loss” was proposed by Boss (2007), highlighting that some losses may not be clear, and thus the grief over them may be more difficult to acknowledge and articulate. In fact, the intangible losses experienced by young people in SMHK2019 are often ambiguous (Boss, 2007; Knight & Gitterman, 2019). Acknowledgement and articulation of their grief following these ambiguous losses may be further inhibited and disenfranchized by the terminology of grief in the Hong Kong context: the fact that terms like “grief” or “grieving” have not been commonly used in our daily language, Cantonese, for describing our feelings of loss (Doka, 2019). Even if the term grief is used, it often connotes sadness only (Chan et al., 2017) and does not help express the wide range of reactions to the loss, like anger and guilt, and other physical and cognitive reactions (Stroebe et al., 2001). The consequence is that young people in Hong Kong may find it difficult to express their complicated feelings following SMHK2019 or may not be aware that these reactions could be understood as a kind of grief. Sharing views and feelings openly among young people about SMHK2019 becomes even more challenging when fears are growing about the danger of sharing after the passing of the National Security Law (Lo, 2021). This law, which aims to safeguard national security in Hong Kong (Young, 2021), was implemented by the Hong Kong government in June 2020, following SMHK2019. The law may also limit the freedom and autonomy of Hongkongers and increase the control of government on people (Lo, 2021; Vickers & Morris, 2022). Therefore, a research project was proposed to understand the grief and loss of young people following SMHK2019. This paper reports the findings on their grieving experience.

Methods

Participants

This study aimed to recruit young people aged 18 to 25 during SMHK2019. They had to be Hong Kong residents and speak Cantonese as their first language. They also had to perceive having participated in SMHK2019 and experiencing grief and loss. The definition of participation is broad, to include people of various participation levels, from frontline protestors to those who supported the social movement implicitly; and similarly, a subjective definition of experiencing grief and loss was used.

Recruitment and procedures

The author initiated this study by inviting students through his personal network. Snowball sampling was later adopted to invite participants to help recruit peers. All participants signed the written consent form. Research ethics approval was given by the Survey and Behavioral Research Ethics Committee of the institution the author was affiliated with at the time of the study (SBRE-19-229). Participants were asked to complete a brief questionnaire on their demographics and post-traumatic stress symptoms and grief reactions. The Chinese version of the Impact of Event Scale-revised (IES-R) was used to measure post-traumatic stress (Wu & Chan, 2004). For each item, participants were asked to indicate how much they were bothered by SMHK2019 in the past week, on a 5-point Likert scale (0 = Not at all; 4 = Extremely). The total score of the 22-item IES-R ranges from 0 to 88, and the three subscale scores are: Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal. A higher score indicates a higher level of psychological distress. With reference to the common grief reactions mentioned in the literature (Stroebe et al., 2001), items that measure the grief reactions were developed by the author and included. Each participant was asked to rate the frequency of experiencing “intense emotional pain and grief” and various grief reactions following SMHK2019, from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always), and whether their social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning were affected (0 = No, 1 = Yes). Functioning refers to the ability to fulfill responsibility in different roles in living, like responsibility in the family and studies.

The author conducted all interviews face-to-face or via an online platform. Each interview was audio-recorded, and an interview guide was developed. Sample questions are: Would you share with me your experience in SMHK2019? Could you describe, if any, feelings of loss? The interviewer might ask follow-up questions in order to develop a deeper understanding of their feelings and experience. Data collection was conducted from March 2020 to March 2021.

Data analysis

To build trust and a sense of security in sharing, the audio file of each interview was processed by voice-changer software before transcription, ensuring the voices of participants would not be identified by the transcribers. Each interview was transcribed to text for data analysis and then sent to participants for member checking. Thematic analyses were then conducted with reference to the procedures described by Braun and Clarke (2006): “familiarizing yourself with data,” “generating initial codes,” “searching for themes,” “reviewing themes,” “defining and naming themes” and “producing the report.” Four cases were chosen randomly, and the author and a co-investigator did the analyses separately. The codes were compared, differences discussed, and an initial coding scheme was developed. The researchers then recoded the selected transcripts. After further discussion, a coding framework was identified that consisted of codes, subthemes, and themes. The researchers used this framework to start coding the transcripts, four in each phase. Codes and themes were compared and discussed at each phase and the coding framework slightly revised for coding in the next phase. After four rounds of coding, the final version of themes and subthemes was confirmed. This paper reports the themes in relation to non-death-related losses and grief.

Results

Due to the use of snowball sampling, only participants who met the inclusion criteria—having participated in SMHK2019 and perceived to have experienced grief and loss—were approached. Sixteen participants (13 female and 3 male) joined this study. Almost all were studying undergraduate programs except one, in a master’s program. The ages ranged from 18 to 26 (one participant, although exceeding the original proposed age range, was included). The mean total score of IES-R was 39.94 (SD= 13.82). Mean scores of other subscales of IES-R, Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal, were 16.88 (SD= 6.09), 14.00 (SD= 6.02), and 9.06 (SD= 4.78) respectively. Overall, participants reported frequent intense emotional pain and grief over SMHK2019 (mean= 4.13, SD= 0.72), and 43.8% reported that social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning experienced significant decline. Frequency of grief reactions is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Grief reactions of participants.

Types of grief reactions	Mean (SD)
Physical reactions
Feeling of emptiness in the stomach	2.31 (1.35)
Chest pain	2.25 (1.07)
Sensitivity to sound	3.19 (1.33)
Lack of energy	3.31 (1.25)
Behavioral reactions
Insomnia	3.31 (1.36)
No appetite	2.81 (1.47)
Social withdrawal	3.00 (1.03)
Continuously searching for and reading about relevant news and information	4.44 (0.96)
Crying	3.00 (1.10)
Restlessness	3.19 (0.98)
Not trusting people nearby	3.31 (0.87)
Event filling up my mind	4.19 (0.91)
Emotional reactions
Upset	4.31 (0.87)
Anger	4.31 (0.79)
Guilt & self-blame	4.06 (1.00)
Anxiety	4.06 (1.24)
Loneliness	3.25 (1.18)
Helplessness	4.44 (0.73)
Shock	3.50 (1.32)
Feeling numb	3.75 (1.18)
Overall
I have intense pain and grief about this event	4.13 (0.72)

Key qualitative findings

Our findings show that participants experienced intense grief about losses following SMHK2019. The key theme of “Hong Kong is no longer the Hong Kong” was found, reflecting their grief over the perceived loss of hometown. Two subthemes were found: “Shattered Hong Kong: Grieving the loss of the assumptive world” and “Connectedness with Hong Kong.” These themes help to understand how and why they experienced grief over intanbgiblelosses in SMHK2019.

Hong Kong is no longer the Hong Kong: Grieving the loss of hometown collectively

The major theme articulated by the participants was the collective grief over the losses of their hometown following SMHK2019. This kind of “symbolic home-loss grief” was experienced collectively and reflected in their perception of the changes in Hong Kong, particularly the losses in relation to values, freedom, justice, and judicial and education systems. They felt it very hard to witness the losses of these intangible but essential elements that define their hometown. They now felt strange in this new Hong Kong and perceived it as no longer “the Hong Kong” (their original hometown). Gwyneth, 19, said:

Before passing the National Security Law…though the police may intervene, I had the freedom to chant the slogan [the political slogan in the social movement]. But after the passing of that law…it seems that you suddenly lost everything. Something that we used to be proud of in this place, like we used to enjoy freedom of speech… but now…it is hard to articulate what type of grief this is; but after the passing of that law, I feel that Hong Kong is no longer the Hong Kong.

She further elaborated that self-censorship had changed Hong Kong:

Now [Hong Kong] has changed to a mode of self-censorship. This change made the identity of Hong Kong…become more and more similar to mainland China. What are the differences between Hong Kong and the Mainland…the differences become minimal. This made me think that…when they become alike, is Hong Kong still that Hong Kong?…it seems that [Hong Kong] has disappeared…Hong Kong is not just a physical place; I think it somehow connotes an ethnicity…or a bit of identity.

Following the loss of old Hong Kong often brought intense grief—a kind of heartbreaking sadness. Tiffany, 22, explained:

Hong Kong, the whole city seems to be degrading…the feeling that I describe as the fall of the city. All past things have collapsed, like common sense, like the rule of law, freedom of speech. We took these things for granted; we were proud of these things. But now all gone…from possessing these things to none…really ugly…you know there is no way back; that is, we are losing the past Hong Kong…really desolate…When I listened to a song, “Hong Kong, Hong Kong,”…I cried…a strong feeling that the old Hong Kong, the Hong Kong that we used to feel close to was gone…and you don’t know if you may see it again in your lifetime.

Amid witnessing the upsetting changes, participants also shared reactions other than sadness—anger but also powerlessness. For example, Ian, 19, old said:

Usually the first reaction is anger, but people are fragile and you cannot feel angry for a long time. Feeling angry is really exhausting. Those changes are usually ridiculous…thus my emotion is first anger and after that it is powerlessness. Those changes are caused by some people [the authorities], but it is not what they have done that made me feel powerless; the most powerless thing is there’s nothing we can do.

As mentioned, sadness and other emotions may be experienced by participants, but at the same time grief reactions following the intangible loss of hometown may be manifested physically. In fact, grief could be subtle and become part of living. For example, Joshua, 24, shared the following:

Sadness is not the only emotional reaction that affected me…it is a mixture of emotions… I have insomnia, I feel extremely stressed, I don’t have appetite, have diarrhoea, and my skin condition is poor. I guess my physical condition was affected by my grief and other factors. But the grief following the intangible losses affecting my life and future will not appear abruptly. It is not like it emerges suddenly and sharply following a particular event in the social movement. It is more like a subtle and prolonged feeling. I don’t know if my grief will persist till I die, but it has been persisting for two years. I still feel that grief.

Shattered Hong Kong: Grieving the loss of our understanding of hometown

This subtheme helps to explain why participants felt their home was gone: what were once essential and core values and systems of Hong Kong were shattered, leading to the demolition of their hometown. This subtheme shows that participants found it difficult to make sense of all the changes of Hong Kong, and they grieved the loss of their understanding of their hometown, losses such as freedom, justice, humanity, and basic security of life.

Enjoying freedom is something Hongkongers used to experience, but now it is gone. This shattered their understanding of Hong Kong. For example, Gwyneth, 19, said:

Now society has lost that freedom of speech and lacks the space for open discussion. In the past, we were free to discuss anything, including the “independence of Hong Kong.” We were free to comment on “one country two systems” [Hong Kong is part of China but has different economic, administrative and judiciary systems]. But why can’t we discuss it now? That freedom is crucial for me, but obviously we lost that freedom.

She continued to share her pain and anger due to the increased self-censorship:

In the past, we didn’t have self-censorship. But now we often censor ourselves before we do anything. I felt bad about this change. Freedom is something that we should have, something I learned from education since I was small…Now you need to be very cautious before you say something. Sometimes what you express is not something you want to express. Due to the National Security Law, we lost that freedom of speech, and we dare not express [ourselves] sincerely. I really feel this kind of self-censorship is heartbreaking. I really hate that.

The shattered understanding of hometown comes from the differences in expectations of what a Hong Kong government should be, and this has brought them different grief reactions. For example, Benny, 23, shared his feelings:

Really sad…and disappointed. Looking back, I think that the outcome could be better and should not be like this. We offered many opportunities to let her [the Chief Executive] make a better decision [for the social movement]. Like the petition…if you are able to respond favourably, then the outcome would not be like this; but you destroyed all the chances. There were different possibilities to resolve the issue and not only one road. If there is only one way, we have to follow it; but it’s not like this. My feelings are complicated and full of different emotions—disappointed yet angry. I felt like someone [the authorities] should be responsible for their wrongdoings, but in the end it seems that we people have to take the responsibility, and some lost their lives. This made me feel wretched and gave me a sense of emptiness.”

The shattered understanding of Hong Kong leads to difficulty in making sense of what the authorities had done to the protestors. Consequently, they experienced deep feelings of absurdity, which also formed part of their grief. Candy, 22, shared the following:

Yes I feel grief… society now brings me a feeling that is very different from in the past. In the beginning, I felt angry…I couldn’t make sense of what the government is doing. For example, some government officials still dare to say to the media…like the Chief Executive said that the number of protests and demonstrations in Hong Kong had been increasing, and this showed that Hong Kong still enjoys freedom and democracy. All this propaganda made me feel…it is totally absurd…How dare they claim that we have freedom? My feelings seem to have changed from anger to…it’s not acceptance, but it seems that I have started to tell myself that things are like this in Hong Kong and absurdity has become natural here. I’m not saying I’ve accepted…but have to acknowledge that absurdity is part of Hong Kong. Having to understand that absurdity makes me feel another sense of grief.

Participants also shared their shattered basic assumptions about life and living in Hong Kong. They deeply felt the uncertainties brought after SMHK2019 (see quote 1 in Table 2). Grieving the loss of their understanding of hometown is painful when the participants were brutally confronted with the reality that overturned their established perspectives and beliefs (see quote 2 in Table 2). The loss of the basic trust of a place is devastating, and the participants had to tell themselves to wake up from their past fantasies of Hong Kong (see quote 3 in Table 2).

Table 2. Selected narratives of participants on the subtheme: shattered Hong Kong.

Quote number	Participant Profile (pseudonym and age)	Direct quotes
1	Tiffany, 22	Just like many people may assume…if no big changes…they would stay in Hong Kong for their development. But now we are all uncertain; we don’t know what to do…and see that many people are now leaving Hong Kong. The social movement, and now the COVID-19 pandemic…all made it impossible to plan your own life. It seems that though you may have planned things well, everything could be overturned in the next second. It seems that life is so fragile that there is no basis for you to develop your plan…really impossible…I do feel lost.
2	Denise, 22	It seems that I have been living in an unreal circle. My awakening is that in fact justice has never existed in Hong Kong. What I originally thought—there is justice in Hong Kong—is only my self-deception and excuse. If you need to talk about loss, I will say there are too many negative emotions and I have lost much simple happiness.
3	Hang-tung, 18	I lost my trust in this world; I lost my trust in the beauty of this world. In the past, you may still maintain a slight hope about this place despite all the negative news claiming rule of law was dead. In the past, you may still tell yourself…don’t overthink too much…and you still maintain the fantasy that the Chinese Communist Party will keep the promise of maintaining the autonomy of Hong Kong. But after this social movement, you realize that all these fantasies were in vain, and the reality is so cold and brutal. You will never believe in the good and hopes of this place.

The consequence of these shattered assumptions and understanding of Hong Kong is that participants experienced sadness related to the loss of old Hong Kong. For example, Joshua, 24, said:

I experienced grief especially when alone during the silent nights…when I am surfing the web alone. I suddenly was aware that 2019 was so different from what I had experienced in the past a few years during university study. Why did so many things happen right after my graduation? Why was I not allowed to have stability? Just looking for a job, get married, and have a baby? My grief is…why do my generation or young people who’ve just graduated from university have to go out to resist in a social movement? My feeling is why us…this is also my grief…like what I said…I feel that it is totally different from the past HK and the old days when I studied at the university.

Connectedness with our hometown, Hong Kong

This subtheme shows why participants experienced such intense collective grief. They shared their unique relationships with Hong Kong, which are full of love and emotion for their hometown and define their identity as Hongkongers. Ian, 19, shared like this:

I was born here—Hong Kong. I didn’t receive higher education overseas. I am a typical Hongkonger, and my English is not particularly good. This place has offered me so many things…though not all are good, like the education system here forced us to compete. We don’t have enough time to slow down and have a break. But…my relationship with this place is…I belong to this place.

He continued to share his hopes of protecting and contributing to this important place:

I’ve met so many important people in this place. These relationships are inseparable from me. It’s difficult to describe the relationship with this place, beyond a father-son, loving relationship. My feelings are that I was born here, and this place offered me much’ I hope to try my best to contribute to it. I may not make this a better place but at least not make it worse so quickly.

Participants shared their complicated feelings for their hometown—love and hatred. Despite these feelings, they hoped to stay, highlighting the unique relationships with their hometown (see quote 1 in Table 3). They also showed their connectedness with Hong Kong through the strong inclination to protect it from losing in the social movement the things that defined it (e.g. justice and freedom) (see quote 2 in Table 3).

Table 3. Selected narratives of participants on subtheme: connectedness with our hometown, Hong Kong.

Quote number	Participant Profile (pseudonym, gender, and age)	Direct quotes
1	Janice, 22	In fact, I have been loving and hating this place. This is the hometown that I was born and grew up in. There are many good things, like the streets are clean, and you feel safe even at 11 pm or midnight. But the same time, it is not good for living. Hong Kong originally had its problems. I also thought of whether I should immigrate to other places, but I still hope to stay in this place. But the social movement has magnified both of these emotions, both my love and hatred.
2	Benny, 23	Looking back, my community has had better connections due to the social movement. We have set up different groups, and we gathered together to show concern for our own community. We want to protect our community and do not want to be invaded by the authorities [police force]. All these things, literally defending wars, were all over different places in Hong Kong. We tried to protect the community by ourselves…these are the joint efforts not individual efforts, and those feelings are special.

Their grief over the loss of hometown is deeply related to their love for it. Despite participants reacting differently, they shared love for this place. That love was reflected in their ambivalent feelings about leaving or staying. For example, Hang-tung, 19, explained:

I feel ambivalent…the dilemma is that I also thought of going abroad for study or perhaps immigration. Living in Hong Kong is really stressful…many of my friends are preparing to immigrate… we cannot see hope now. I know many people may say they will not leave Hong Kong because of their love of this place. But we also don’t want to stay and witness the place we love becoming the same as mainland China. But we also don’t want to leave…though we know we may not change much…we don’t want to leave a place where we’ve been living for so many years. We know we may not change much…we maintain a slight hope. But because of that slight hope…what can we do? Stay or leave…we’re uncertain.

Hong Kong is not just a place, and thus participants perceived the connectedness not with the physical but based on connections with true Hongkongers and the unique Hong Kong culture. For example, Isabella, 21, shared this:

I think I connected with everyone who truly loves Hong Kong…but not the physical location of Hong Kong. We have much Hong Kong culture, and this was constructed by people who love and protect Hong Kong. I think Hong Kong is beautiful…having good culture and some good neighbourhoods… unique characteristics. I felt I connected with these good things and these people who safeguard this place…and not the physical place.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that participants were traumatized by the aftermath of the social movement. The mean total score of IES-R of participants (39.94) was well above the cutoff score of 33 (indicating the high risk of PTSD symptomology) (Creamer et al., 2003). Other items also indicate that participants experienced physical, behavioral, and emotional grief reactions. These quantitative findings may play a supplementary role in illustrating the general mental profile of the participants.

The qualitative findings offer a more in-depth understanding of participants’ grieving experience following SMHK2019. The main theme identified is “Hong Kong is no longer the Hong Kong: Grieving the loss of hometown collectively.” Our findings highlighted that the grief from non-death-related losses could be very intense and was shared by the participants. The perception of losing one’s hometown is symbolic, as Hong Kong still exists. It may be argued that this is not a loss of hometown as for refugees who lost their hometowns due to war. But the meaning of losing a hometown is more than losing a physical place. For example, a qualitative study of Karen and Chin refugees from Myanmar revealed the loss of home experience as multidimensional, by emphasizing the meaning of home as: 1. the experience of a psychological space of safety and retreat, 2. the socio-emotional space of relatedness to family, and 3. geographical-emotional landscape (Rosbrook & Schweitzer, 2010). Our findings also suggest that participants’ grief is more than grieving the loss of a geographical place but includes their emotional attachment and identity with Hong Kong. Unlike the experience of refugees who left their home countries, our participants experience grief over the loss of hometown while living in it. This paradoxical perception of loss is worth further exploration, as participants may even find it difficult to articulate and share this kind of non-death-related loss, which is more abstract, intangible, symbolic, and ambiguous (Boss, 2007). The consequence is that this type of “symbolic home-loss grief” may be further disenfranchized (Doka, 2019).

In order to this understand why participants were grieving the loss of hometown and perceived that it is no longer “the Hong Kong,” we must take into account the subthemes, “Shattered Hong Kong: Grieving the loss of understanding of hometown” and “Connectedness with our hometown, Hong Kong.” Participants revealed that various changes in Hong Kong following SMHK2019 had shattered their understanding of their hometown. For example, loss of freedom and justice in the new Hong Kong means that the old, familiar Hong Kong was also lost. If we consider this subtheme belongs to the existential aspect, which describes how their assumptive world based on their prior understanding of Hong Kong was shattered, then we may better understand the core of the main theme (Janoff-Bulman, 1992). It seems that the grief over the loss of hometown is not just emotional but connotes the existential aspect: shattered assumptions built upon participants’ hometown. Grieving the loss of hometown is emotionally devastating but perhaps even more challenging if we understand that grief also means demolishing the fundamental and lifelong assumptions about life (e.g. beliefs in humanity and sense of security in one place) (Janoff-Bulman, 1999). Another subtheme, “Connectedness with our hometown, Hong Kong,” enriches our understanding of the main theme: we grieve because we love. Grieving the loss of hometown probably reflects how participants felt connected and close to their hometown. That kind of connectedness does not just reflect the relationship with Hong Kong but also represents part of the self-identity built on that relationship: being a Hongkonger. Therefore, we can understand how deep the grief over the loss of hometown could be for these participants—the loss of a place collectively where they felt so connected and have been developing and defining themselves.

Putting the qualitative findings together, we can understand that grieving the loss of hometown is a kind of collective grief among these participants who participated in SMHK2019, who experienced close relationships with Hong Kong, who had a strong identity as Hongkongers, and who shared and supported the core values of the old Hong Kong, such as freedom and justice. In this sense, our findings may help expand our theoretical understanding of collective grief. Instead of just understanding the collective grief that often considers public mourning for celebrities (Walter, 2008), it could be considered from a perspective of people grieving together as a shared experience, like SMHK2019. Our findings suggest that people in collective grief are connected by grieving together the loss of values they share and support. This expanded understanding of collective grief may also be applied in examining existential crises that may bring about these intangible losses, such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Bland, 2020; Hyder, 2020). Based on our findings, we plan to develop a new theoretical model that may help advance our understanding of the collective grief emerging from intangible losses.

Implications

Our findings suggest that SMHK2019 was a traumatic event for young people in Hong Kong. Participants’ grief over the loss of hometown is intense and may greatly affect their mental health. This study shows that helping young people to cope with their grief following SMHK2019 could be an important concern of Hong Kong society. Managing this kind of grief is essential not only at the individual but also at the societal level. At the individual level, helping professionals may help young people to acknowledge their feelings and experience from a perspective of grief and loss. This may facilitate their articulation of grief and in turn make sense of and find meaning in their losses (Neimeyer, 2020; Walsh, 2020). The Dual Process Model of Bereavement, originally developed for understanding the grieving experience of death-related loss, may also shed light on how we may provide support to people experiencing non-death-related loss (Stroebe & Schut, 2010). It may be important for young people to process their grieving experience from the loss-orientation, such as recognizing and validating their losses and expressing emotions in relation to these losses. In addition, helping professionals may need to help young people to rebuild their shattered assumptions and reestablish their life and living. This could be a slow and difficult process, but these professionals may help young people to explore possibilities in living with the grief and moving on. This may include making some important life decisions, like leaving the hometown or staying but adjusting. Also, working with young people grieving the loss of hometown, including the loss of some important values, may involve even more existential discussions on meaning in life, freedom, and responsibility in facing guilt and uncertainties, and existential anxiety in loss of home and migration (Frankl, 2010; van Deurzen, 2023). At the societal level, collective grief as manifested in this study requires collective effort to manage. But management of such collective grief following SMHK2019 may be difficult, as the authorities may not want to acknowledge that kind of loss and its effect on people. Worse, the propaganda of the authorities may try to re-story the experience and reframe the losses as gains, exacerbating the grief reactions of young people. A study in Hong Kong also suggests that the effect of stress arising from political life events on the mental distress of young people may not be moderated by some general interventions focusing on enhancing life meaningfulness and resilience (Chang et al., 2021). Perhaps, stress and grief arising from political life events need specific intervention that is political, such as listening to the voices and demands of people in SMHK2019. But discussions on political management of a social movement are beyond the scope of this study, and future sociopolitical research studies are warranted.

From a broader perspective, this study may provide further empirical evidence for the clinical concerns of helping professionals in managing the out-of-home experience that emerges from intangible losses among various people and situations. Some examples are the transition from home to care facilities for elderly people, the transition of immigrants and refugees, the experience of homelessness, and transitions due to human-made and natural disasters (Gitterman & Knight, 2019).

Reflexivity of a researcher

As the sole author of this paper, I am reflective on the process, including the reason for this study. As a Hongkonger, I participated in SMHK2019 and was affected by it. I have been grieving, but I also witness the grief of young people. As a social work scholar who focuses on death and bereavement, I felt the responsibility to develop a study that may help enhance understanding of grief beyond death-related losses and extend it to intangible losses, such as what we Hongkongers have experienced. Therefore, I recruited young people who experienced grief and loss in SMHK2019. My findings may not provide adequate evidence of how these participants represent other young people participating in SMHK2019, but they suggest that some may have experienced intense post-traumatic stress and grief. I am particularly thankful for the participants’ sharing, showing their trust in me—something very precious after SMHK2019.

Instead of pretending to be neutral, I used my own grieving experience to facilitate a deeper conversation, including better understanding of their grief and the difficulties in articulating that grief. I valued the process of doing the analyses with the co-investigator, with whom I have collaborated for a long time. Discussing and comparing codes in thematic analysis ensures credibility. We grieve for participants’ grief too, and it is good to have someone to discuss with and mutually support in the analytic process that brought tears. Analyzing and writing the results has required much more time than I expected. I face my own grief and fears in presenting the real voices of participants, which authorities may not welcome. But I chose to write up the results that aim to leave a historical record for the grieving experience of young people in Hong Kong following this unprecedented social movement. I was aware that my discussion may also reflect my current status: I left my hometown and immigrated to a new country to live and work in. The key theme of “grieving the loss of hometown” was shared from the bottom of my heart, and I was aware of the effect of this grief on this study and my life. Therefore, at the end of this study, I had an insight that not only young people grieve over the loss of Hong Kong. Many Hongkongers of different ages, who share similar values, may also grieve together. In that sense, older people may have a chance to walk with young people in this grieving journey.

Conclusion

This study captured the grieving experience of young people on tremendous losses following SMHK2019. Grieving the loss of hometown is what these young people wanted to express. This grief also reflects their connectedness with Hong Kong and how their basic life assumptions built on this place were shattered. That grief needs acknowledgement and articulation, and findings of this study may help enhance our understanding and support of people facing losses, particularly the symbolic loss of hometown following a social movement.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to all Hongkongers who trusted me and shared their grieving experience with me in this study.

Disclosure statement

This study has no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

Shared upon reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2023.2263714)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wallace Chi Ho Chan

Wallace Chi Ho Chan, is a Hongkonger who has just moved to the UK in January, 2023. His research interests are in death, grief and loss, as well as meaning in life.