Raphael Wong Ho-ming (; 24 October 1988), also known by his nickname "Village Head", is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

social activist and politician. He is formerly the chairman of the

League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong), pro-democracy camp and stresses on ...

(LSD) and was one of the leaders in the

2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after ...

Early life

In 1988, Wong was born in

. Wong's father is Wong Yu-choi, a

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp, pro-government camp or pro-China camp refers to a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) t ...

rural politician, a member of the

Civil Force Civil Force () is a district-based pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Since 2014, the Civil Force has entered an alliance with the New People's Party of Regina Ip. Headed by chairman Pun Kwok-shan, it had its stronghold in the Sha Tin a ...

and holding the position of member of the Sha Tin Rural Committee and resident representative of the Ha Wo Che village in

Sha Tin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The ne ...

Education

Wong attended the Shatin Pui Ying College. Wong earned a bachelor's degree in social science from the

Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public research university located in Hung Hom, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. The University is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded ...

. Wong earned a master's degree in social policy from

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

Career

Protests

Wong became interested in politics in the 2008 Legislative Council election, when

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

(LSD) chairman

Wong Yuk-man Raymond Wong Yuk-man (; born 1 October 1951) is a Hong Kong communist, pro-china, author, current affairs commentator and radio host. He is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), representing the geographical constitue ...

chanted " DAB the most shameless" in an election forum. He started listening to Wong's internet radio and joined the LSD despite his father's opposition. He participated in the 1 July demonstration in 2009 for the first time. In the 2010 July 1 demonstration, he joined the sit-in at the

Central Government Offices The Central Government Complex has been the headquarters of the Government of Hong Kong since 2011. Located at the Tamar site, the complex comprises the Central Government Offices, the Legislative Council Complex and the Office of the Chie ...

after the demonstration. On 1 July 2011, he was one of the protesters blocked the

Connaught Road Central Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

. On 1 March 2011, Wong and another protester Wong Chun-kit protested against

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

when Tsang was on his way to the

Hong Kong Museum of History The Hong Kong Museum of History is a museum that preserves Hong Kong's historical and cultural heritage. It is located next to the Hong Kong Science Museum, in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The collections of the museum encompass ...

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hu ...

. Wong held a box of rice with fish in corn sauce and ran towards Tsang. They were charged with hitting Tsang but later found innocent by the court. On 29 June 2012 during Chinese President

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

's visit in Hong Kong, five LSD members including Wong protested at the

North Lantau Highway North Lantau Highway is an expressway forming part of Hong Kong's Route 8, linking Hong Kong International Airport and Lantau Island with the rest of the territory. The road has three lanes in each direction for its entire length with full ...

where Hu's car passed by. They climbed over a metal fence, scrambling onto a slope to hold up two banners reading: "Vindication of the June 4th crackdown"; and "Give me back iWangyang". They were later charged and fined for improper use of an expressway. In 2014, Wong became the vice-chairman of the LSD. On 11 June 2014, Wong was charged along with

Scholarism Scholarism was a Hong Kong pro-democracyWilfred Chan and Yuli Yang, CNNbr>Echoing Tiananmen, 17-year-old Hong Kong student prepares for democracy battle 28 September 2014 student activist group active in the fields of Hong Kong's education po ...

convenor

Joshua Wong Joshua Wong Chi-fung (; born 13 October 1996) is a Hong Kong activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosistō until it disbanded following the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law ...

, former secretary general of

Hong Kong Federation of Students The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS, or 學聯) is a student organisation founded in May 1958 by the student unions of four higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The inaugural committee had seven members representing the four sc ...

Nathan Law Nathan Law Kwun-chung ( zh, link=no, t=羅冠聰; born 13 July 1993) is an activist and politician from Hong Kong. As a former student leader, he has been chairman of the Representative Council of the Lingnan University Students' Union (LUS ...

and

People Power "People Power" is a political term denoting the populist driving force of any social movement which invokes the authority of grassroots opinion and willpower, usually in opposition to that of conventionally organised corporate or political for ...

legislator

Albert Chan Albert Chan Wai-yip (born 3 March 1955, Hong Kong) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories West constituency. He has served as a legislator from 1991 to 2016 except for the periods 1997– ...

for obstructing police officers when they burnt replicas of Beijing's white paper interpreting Hong Kong's

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The constitutional principle was formulated in the early ...

principle during a protest outside the Liaison Office. They were later found not guilty. As a veteran activist, Wong was one of the leaders during the

, which was often called the "Umbrella Revolution". He was deeply involved in the movement and was later arrested with Joshua Wong, the main leader of the protests and Chinese University's Student Union member Jason Szeto Tze-long on 25 November during the police clearance of the Mong Kok sit-in site. On 18 April 2020, Wong was arrested as one of 15 Hong Kong high-profile democracy figures, on suspicion of organizing, publicizing or taking part in several unauthorized assemblies between August and October 2019 in the course of the anti-extradition bill protests. Following protocol, the police statement did not disclose the names of the accused. On 25 July 2021, Wong was replaced by

Leung Kwok-hung Leung Kwok-hung ( zh, t=梁國雄; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Legislative Council, representing the N ...

wife, Chan Po-ying, as the chairperson of LSD.

Election

In 2011 and 2015, Wong ran in the District Council elections in his neighborhood Lek Yuen but was both defeated. In the 2016 Legislative Council election, he will run in the

New Territories West New Territories West (NTW) is the western part of Hong Kong's New Territories, covering Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing and the Islands District. History Settlements in the area, except the Islands District, have been connected by the ...

with incumbent legislator Albert Chan of the People Power standing in the second place of his ticket.

References

External links

Raphael Wong at reuters.com (January 2018)

Raphael Wong Appeal (March 2018)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Raphael 1988 births Living people Alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Alumni of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong democracy activists League of Social Democrats politicians Hong Kong political prisoners