Qualla: Death of Chow Tsz-lok

Death of Chow Tsz-lok: Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cypp0847, CC BY-SA 4.0. Chow Tsz-lok was twenty-two years old and studying computer science in his second year at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. On the night of 3 November 2019, he left his family's flat at around 11:40 pm wearing a black top, grey shorts, black running shoes, a cap, and a dark backpack — the clothing that had become an informal uniform for Hong Kong protesters that year. He told his family nothing of where he was going. In online chat groups on Telegram, he wrote that he was going to the car park in Tseung Kwan O to watch the protests nearby, adding in a final message: 'I also went down to give something to others.' Around 1:02 am on 4 November, he fell from the third floor of the car park. He sustained multiple injuries, including a severe brain injury. He died on 8 November. He was twenty-two years old.

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Image: Cypp0847 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Death of Chow Tsz-lok: A Night in Tseung Kwan O

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Studio Incendo, CC BY 2.0. Tseung Kwan O on the night of 3–4 November 2019 was the scene of ongoing confrontations between anti-government protesters and police. Around 100 protesters had gathered at the junction of Tong Ming and Tong Chun streets, some setting up roadblocks. Police conducted a dispersal o...

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Image: Studio Incendo | CC BY 2.0

Death of Chow Tsz-lok: A Question the Evidence Could Not Settle

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Studio Incendo, CC BY 2.0. Police stated that officers had left the building before Chow's fall, and that no officers were present inside when he was walking there. Footage from over thirty cameras, obtained from the car park's building owner, was used to support this account. Expert witnesses at the subse...

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Image: Studio Incendo | CC BY 2.0

Death of Chow Tsz-lok: The Weight of His Name

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Studio Incendo, CC BY 2.0. On 8 November, the place where Chow had fallen became a shrine. People queued to leave flowers, candles, and paper cranes. Thousands attended a public funeral service on the evening of 12 December. The HKUST campus, where he had been a student, became a site of student grief and ...

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Image: Studio Incendo | CC BY 2.0

Death of Chow Tsz-lok: Remembered Together

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Studio Incendo, CC BY 2.0. In February 2020, the Sai Kung District Council considered a motion to rename two resting places in Tseung Kwan O as 'Chow Tsz-lok Memorial Park' and 'Chan Yin-lam Memorial Park' — linking Chow's name to that of the fifteen-year-old student whose death two months earlier had also...

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Image: Studio Incendo | CC BY 2.0