Fleeing Hong Kong Wasn’t Enough

Finn Lau thought he had escaped China’s reach when he got to London. He’d come from Hong Kong, where Chinese authorities were rapidly consolidating control. An extensive protest movement had sprung up in response, which Lau was helping to lead. But he fled after local officials arrested him at a pro-democracy demonstration in 2020. Months later, while he was walking down a quiet street in London, three masked men jumped him and beat him unconscious. Now 31, Lau still has a faint scar on his boyish face.