In Hong Kong the distance between 2019 and 2021 cannot be measured in conventional time. It is a distance marked by loss—of freedoms, of trust, of security, of a sense of normality. Since mass protests began in 2019, the slow hollowing out of Hong Kong’s imperfect but largely rules-based systems and institutions has been superseded by a ruthless hammering from a local authority eager to please a central government that brooks no dissent.

The assault on the city’s freedoms accelerated in 2020, while the world was preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic. The Hong Kong government cited public health as grounds to ban protests, limit public gatherings and postpone an election in which pro-democracy candidates were expected to make big gains in the legislature.

• Tags: Hong Kong, Issue 22, Yuen Chan