In 1997, the British government transferred Hong Kong's political sovereignty to China, after being a British colony since 1842 as a result of the First Opium War. Currently, Hong Kong functions as a Special Administrative Region of China and is governed by the principle of "one country, two systems" that allows the inhabitants of the city some autonomy in decisions pertaining to their system of government and in legal, economic and financial affairs.

However, the execution of a series of measures and policies in recent years by the central Chinese government of Beijing began to undermine that autonomy, and there have been numerous demonstrations and protests in Hong Kong in the past couple of years, including the so-called “Umbrella Revolution” in 2014, which were heavily suppressed by the central Chinese government. In 2019, protests resumed to demand the withdrawal of a Chinese extradition bill that would subject the people of Hong Kong to a different legal system in mainland China.

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the protests have subsided, but the people of Hong Kong have managed to continue protesting in a different way.