News & Events
NEW BOOK COMING IN EARLY 2026
February 1, 2027
This is a no-BS guide to the world of investing, showing how people can make the most of their money and doing so in an easy to read manner
My China and Hong Kong book recommendations on Shepherd
July 1, 2024
Five books that are essential reading for people interested in Hong Kong and China
Interview on Times Radio
March 30, 2024
Interview with Hugo Rifkind marking publication of my updated book Defying the Dragon - Hong Kong and the World's Largest Dictatorship
publication of updated paperback version of Defying the Dragon
April 1, 2024
Hurst has published an updated version of my book - Defying the Dragon - Hong Kong and the World's Largest Dictatorship. The new book is in available in paperback, £14.99
Interview with Radio Taiwan International
March 25, 2024
Interview with Taiwan Radio International on trial of Jimmy Lai and state of media freedom in Hong Kong
Interview with Green Bean media about the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club
June 5, 2023
Stephen Vines, former President of the FCC laments the Clubs' decision to roll back on its role as a defender of press freedom
Interview with Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong
March 22, 2023
Interview with Chris Patten discussing memories of Hong Kong, challenges as Governor, the current situation in Hong Kong and Britain's response
BBC World Service interview on court appearance of Apple Daily staff
November 22, 2022
Interview for the BBC World Service Newshour programme about the court appearances of Apple Daily personnel and the implications for press freedom in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s Fight for Freedom, BBC TV
November 14, 2022
Provided commentary and analysis for BBC Two television documentary on the Hong Kong uprising
Hong Kong University library removes Defying the Dragon
November 1, 2022
The HKU has decided to remove Defying the Dragon from the open shelves of the library. It can however be borrowed from its special collection section which requires users to make a special request and sign in for use
Simon Shen Interview – part 2
September 29, 2022
Second part of the discussion with Simon Shen, looking at what the crackdown in Hong Kong means for non-Chinese who live there and how people cope with living in a dictatorship
Interview with Simon Shen on SimonGlobal.com
September 25, 2022
The highly popular podcaster and academic Simon Shen speaks to me about my direct experience of the demise of free speech in Hong Kong and other reflections following my three decades plus life in Hong Kong.
review of Defying the Dragon, Hong Kong Review of Books by Emma H Zhang
September 21, 2021
book review
Al Jazeera 101 East documentary
July 26, 2022
Documentary Right to Report: Press Freedom in Hong Kong | 101 East Al Jazeera
Frontline Club, London 11.7.22 – PANEL DISCUSSION: Hong Kong’s Press Freedom Decline
July 11, 2022
Panel with: Chaired by Benedict Rogers — Co-founder & CEO of Hong Kong Watch Azzurra Moores — UK Campaign Officer of Reporters Without Borders Nathan Law — former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council
In Conversation with Benedict Rogers, YouTube Hong Kong Watch
October 18, 2021
part of a series of conversations
Interview on Hongkonger Station, Canada
April 7, 2022
Interview with Vincent Wong in first of a new series
Review of Defying the Dragon in Times Literary Supplement
May 13, 2022
Book review by Peter Baehr
Oxford Strategy Review interview
August 16, 2021
interview conducted shortly before departure from Hong Kong
Interview with Taiwan Plus TV on HKSAR 25th anniversay
July 1, 2022
Interview with main news bulletin
Interview with National Public Radio, New York
January 17, 2022
Interviewed by John Rutwich for the All Things Considered show on NPR
Interview with CNN, New York
January 10, 2022
part of a package detailing decline of press freedom in Hong Kong
Book Review in Financial Times, London
November 13, 2021
review by Victor Mallet alongside books by Nathan Law and Michael Sheridan
Interviewed for article in The Saturday Paper, Sydney
October 23, 2021
Article by Roan Carrick on the state of Hong Kong's media
Interview with O Expresso
October 16, 2021
In Portuguese entitled “Não antecipava este nível de repressão”
Round Table organised by Council on Foreign Relations, New York
October 7, 2021
Discussion hosted by Jerome Cohen with commentary by Andrew Nathan
Interview with Voice of America
August 27, 2021
Interview on Cantonese channel - in English by Kris Cheng
Washington Post report on departure
August 6, 2021
Washington Post reports on Vines' departure in context of clampdown on HK media
The Standard report on Vines’s departure
August 3, 2021
The Standard follows up on the HKFP story
RTHK lead story on Vines’s departure from Hong Kong
August 3, 2021
RTHK leads the day's news with this story
HKFP breaks the news of departure from Hong Kong
August 3, 2021
interviewed over the reasons for departure
Hongkongers in Britain project
November 15, 2021
Part of a series of profiles curated by Nathan Law
Review of Defying the Dragon in Asian Affairs
July 7, 2021
Asian Affairs Journal review by Martin Purbrick
Review of Defying the Dragon by Robin Sears in Policy magazine, Toronto
April 8, 2021
"The story of this proud city is far more complex than most of the newspaper headlines would have world readers believe. Beijing’s freedoms to clamp down with no restraint are more cross-pressured than reported. And, perhaps, most importantly, one would be unwise to bet against the ability of its citizens — children and grandchildren of those irrepressibly independent Guangdong peasants — to duck, weave, deceive, adapt and slow-walk unwanted change, and to survive. They have done it for centuries. This is the marvelous story that Vines tells incomparably well."
Book Review of Defying the Dragon in Policy Magazine, Canada, by Robin Sears
April 8, 2021
"The story of this proud city is far more complex than most of the newspaper headlines would have world readers believe. Beijing’s freedoms to clamp down with no restraint are more cross-pressured than reported. And, perhaps, most importantly, one would be unwise to bet against the ability of its citizens — children and grandchildren of those irrepressibly independent Guangdong peasants — to duck, weave, deceive, adapt and slow-walk unwanted change, and to survive. They have done it for centuries. This is the marvelous story that Vines tells incomparably well."
Stephen Vines resigns as host of RTHK Backchat programme
June 30, 2021
After more than three decades of working as a presenter and host of RTHK programmes Stephen Vines resigns on grounds that the National Security Law makes continued work in this area infeasible This is how the story was covered by RTHK Veteran journalist, Steve Vines, has announced he's quitting RTHK, citing the national security law that was introduced in Hong Kong exactly a year ago. Vines had been serving as a guest presenter on the public broadcaster's Backchat programme since April, after RTHK dropped him as a current affairs commentator on its Morning Brew show after more than ten years. Speaking at the end of Wednesday's edition of Backchat, the veteran journalist announced his departure. "We happen to be discussing the first anniversary of the national security law today, it seems to me that for somebody who is more critical, the time to remain at RTHK has ended. So with great regret – but reflecting great pleasure over the years – I think I better go," he told listeners. Vines also hosts RTHK's English-language political TV programme, The Pulse, which airs its final episode on Friday before taking a summer break. He was unable to say whether the programme would return, but said he would continue his work as a columnist and author for other publications. "I think that the whole point about RTHK and the reason why I've always liked it is it took very seriously its role as a public broadcaster, by which I mean a broadcaster that was more responsible to the public than it was to the people who provided the money, i.e. the government. But then you could say, well who provides the money for the government – that’s also the public," he said "The reason why I have misgivings now is that I don’t feel that the mandate of RTHK as a public broadcaster is as strong as it was in the past, I think there's much more pressure on the station to be an organ of government rather than a public broadcaster." Vines said he has "enormous respect and goodwill" towards RTHK, and would be happy to do things for the station on an ad hoc basis. "But I don’t think there’s really a place for somebody like me as a semi-permanent fixture," he added. RTHK, for its part, said it will not comment on the resignation of individual service providers. Since the national security law took effect a year ago, the public broadcaster has seen the departure of several senior executives and high-profile programme hosts.
Commentary on closure of Apple Daily in Al Jazeera news bulletins
June 24, 2021
Interviewed on the day after Apple Daily was forced to close and an unprecedented 1 million copies of the paper were printed
Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for excellence in opinion writing
June 24, 2021
honourable mention for articles in appearing in the Hong Kong Free Press on Hong Kong's protest movement in perspective The judges comments: 'Vines rises to the challenge of writing about such a momentous moment in Hong Kong with historic sweep, courage and a sense he knows what makes his community tick.
Interview with the New Humanist magazine (London) – The tentacles of the law reach deep Hong Kong society
June 17, 2021
Discussion over the impact of the NSL and other aspects of Defying the Dragon
Interview with Stephen Grotes on SAfm radio (South Africa)
June 8, 2021
A discussion about allegations of a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China as being the source of the spread of the Covid 19 virus and its wider implications for China
Interview with Radio New Zealand on banning of June 4 anniversary commemoration
June 4, 2021
June 4, the anniversary of the crackdown on democracy protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, has traditionally been marked in Hong Kong, the only place on Chinese soil to do so - but not this year or last, Stephen Vines explains why
UK launch of Defying the Dragon
March 25, 2021
Hurst Publishers will be launching the book in London - a special offer is available to users of this website
Interview on Al Jazeera
May 28, 2021
Interview for Al Jazeera news about Jimmy Lai, following on his latest conviction for protest related offences
Interview with Al Jazeera on implications of Jiimmy Lai’s asset seizure
May 17, 2021
TV news interview
Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK deletes shows over a year old from internet as viewers scramble to save backups
May 3, 2021
Archives of The Pulse deleted by RTHK
Interview with LBC radio’s Matt Frei
April 16, 2021
Stephen Vines talks about the sentencing of Hong Kong democrats found guilty of leading peaceful protest in 2019
Hong Kong journalist Steve Vines ‘disappointed’ to be dropped as commentator from RTHK show
April 8, 2021
Coverage of this story also appeared in Apple Daily and Stand News with many inaccuracies
BBC World Service Newsday programme interview
March 26, 2021
Stephen Vines talks about Defying the Dragon and the current situation in Hong Kong
Interview: Veteran journalist Stephen Vines on Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy against the world’s largest dictatorship
March 27, 2021
Interview with Hong Kong Free Press
Interview in de Volkskrant, Amsterdam
March 13, 2021
Genadeklap voor democratie in Hongkong: ‘Zelfs na Tiananmen was het niet zo erg als nu’
US launch of Defying the Dragon
May 11, 2021
Oxford University Press in the United States will be launching the book for the American market
Interview on Times Radio
February 28, 2021
Jenny Kleeman and Luke Jones with Times Radio Breakfast interview with Stephen Vines about Hong Kong's Covid quarantine centre
Interview on Times Radio
March 25, 2021
Mariella Frostrup interviews Stephen Vines about Defying the Dragon on Times Radio.
Bristol Festival of Ideas: Conversation, Stephen Vines and Emily Lau
April 22, 2021 at 7:45 pm
Stephen Vines and Emily Lau, former Chairwoman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party discuss the future of the democratic movement in Hong Kong