Tai Po Tragedy and the Third Anniversary of the Urumqi Fire and White Paper Movement Commemorated in San Francisco Bay Area

Dec 02, 2025

From Urumqi to Hong Kong, two tragedies have unfolded in a mere three years as a result of systemic failures. Three years ago, on November 24, 2022, Urumqi residents who were trapped in their homes under “Zero COVID” lockdown perished in a fire because they were prevented from escape, resulting in at least ten deaths. This tragedy sparked widespread protests against the Chinese government’s extreme pandemic control policies and ignited the White Paper Movement across dozens of cities nationwide.

Three years later, almost to the day, on November 26, a similar nightmare unfolded at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Hong Kong. As early as September 2024, residents had reported concerns about potentially substandard exterior wall materials, non-fire-resistant protective netting, and flammable foam insulation panels. Officials claimed to have inspected the building but issued no warnings. The fire spread rapidly, causing over 150 deaths and at least 40 missing persons, becoming one of the most significant residential fires in Hong Kong’s history. However, before responsibility was even determined, the Hong Kong government, under the direction of Beijing’s National Security Office in Hong Kong, arrested 24-year-old student Miles Kwan, a member of a group of concerned citizens which had launched an online petition demanding an investigation, and accused him of “using the disaster to disrupt Hong Kong.”

These two tragedies, separated by three years, are eerily similar in their disregard for people’s safety, unwillingness to accept responsibility, and obstruction of public accountability.

At this critical juncture, the echoes of these tragedies transcended cities and borders, converging in Silicon Valley. On the evening of November 30th, the Bay Area Chinese youth organization Star Shiner and the San Francisco branch of the China Democracy and Human Rights Alliance jointly held a Tai Po Fire Memorial and Third Anniversary of the White Paper Movement event at San Jose City Hall Plaza. The gathering aimed to mourn the victims of the Hong Kong fire and commemorate the movement that erupted in China three years ago.

Cross-Ethnic Connections and Resistance

The event featured electronic candles, flowers, and signs with slogans such as “Remember the Fire” and “No More Lies.” The event began with a minute of silence, followed by a performance of “Wind of Change,” a classic rock song symbolizing the coming of change, by the Star Shiner band. Accompanied by candlelight, the crowd once again held up blank sheets of paper symbolizing the suppression of free speech and collectively read aloud the protest speech “We Are the Orphans of the Square” delivered three years ago by a Chinese student at Columbia University.

Duan Jingji, head of the Star Shiner group, said that the structural similarities between the Urumqi and Tai Po fires lie in the “black box system and lack of accountability.” She emphasized that these disasters transcend political stances and concern the basic safety rights of all people.

Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of Human Rights in China, pointed out that the White Paper Movement was “the largest-scale democratic action in China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests,” but that three years later, Hong Kong is experiencing harsh and repressive governance. He mentioned that Hong Kong student Miles Kwan was arrested by the CCP’s national security forces simply for demanding accountability for the fire, stating, “The CCP never solves problems, only eliminates those who raise them.”

Mr. Huang from Hong Kong specially came to the event because one of his students was among the Tai Po victims. He said that exiled Hong Kong people, “though living in free lands, have never ceased to feel sorrow and anger.”

Tenzin Rangdol, a Tibetan, said that Tibetans have been oppressed since 1949, and he hopes that all oppressed groups will unite to fight against the CCP’s tyranny.

Three Years After the White Paper Movement, Some Still Remain Without Freedom

Three years after the White Paper Movement, innocent people still remain in detention for merely participating in protests or expressing their views.

Kamile Wayit is a Uyghur university student who was sentenced to three years in prison simply for sharing a video of the White Paper Movement on social media.

Chen Pinlin was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for producing and sharing the documentary “Urumqi Middle Road.”

Yashar Shohret, a young Uyghur musician, was accused of “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order” for mourning the victims of the Urumqi fire and singing a lament in Uyghur in Wangping Street, Chengdu. He was detained again in 2023 and accused of “promoting extremism.”

For the past three years, images of the White Paper Movement have been deleted from the Chinese internet, slogans have been blocked, and photos have been taken down. However, that awakening was not a fleeting dream, but a collective consciousness that emerged under high pressure, stemming from an awareness of tragedy. Under the shared shadow of the Urumqi and Hong Kong fires, we must demand accountability, or else face the prospect of disaster once again.

从乌鲁木齐到香港，三年两场制度悲剧。三年前的 2022 年 11 月 24 日，乌鲁木齐居民在封控状态下因无法开门逃生死于大火，至少十条生命的逝去，引发公众对中国政府的极端防疫政策的强烈抗议，也点燃了遍布全国数十城的白纸运动。

三年后几乎同一时间，11 月 26 日，香港大埔宏福苑再度上演相似噩梦，早在2024年 9 月，居民已反映外墙材料疑似不合规、防护网不耐火、泡沫板存在燃烧风险等，官方声称巡查但未发出警告。大火爆发后迅速蔓延，造成逾 150 人死亡、至少 40 人失踪，成为香港史上罕见的重大住宅火灾。然而在责任尚未厘清前，港府并未加速调查，反而先由北京驻港国安逮捕在网上联署要求调查真相的“关注组”成员关靖丰 (Miles)，指控其“以灾乱港”。

两场灾难相隔三年，却在漠视人民安全、不愿承担责任、阻断民众追责的结构性上，完全一致。

在这样的时间节点，灾难的回声跨越城市、跨越国界，汇聚硅谷，11月30日晚，湾区的华语青年组织“擦星星事务所”与“中国民主人权联盟”旧金山分部在圣荷西市政广场联合举办“大埔火灾悼念会暨白纸运动三周年”活动。集会旨在悼念香港火灾罹难者，也纪念三年前在中国爆发的公民觉醒运动。

跨族裔的连结与抗争

活动现场摆放了电子蜡烛、鲜花与写有“Remember the Fire” “No More Lies”等标语的纸牌。活动以默哀一分钟开始，并由“擦星星”乐队演唱《Wind of Change》，象征变局来临的摇滚经典。伴随烛光，人群再次举起象征言论被压制的白纸，并集体朗读三年前哥伦比亚大学中国留学生的抗议演讲“我们是广场上的遗孤”。

“擦星星”负责人段荊棘在现场表示，乌鲁木齐与大埔火灾的结构性共通之处在于“黑箱制度与责任悬空”。她强调，这些灾难超越政治立场，是关乎所有人的基本安全权利。

中国人权执行主任周锋锁指出，白纸运动是“继八九民运之后，中国最大规模的民主行动”，但三年过去，香港正经历“新疆化式”的治理。他提到，香港大学生关靖丰仅仅是要求火灾问责便遭中共国安逮捕，“中共从来不解决问题，只解决提问题的人”。

来自香港的黄先生因其学生罹难而专程到场。他说离散港人“身在自由土地，却从未停止悲痛与愤怒”。

藏人 Tenzin Rangdol 认为，藏人自 1949 年起遭压迫，他希望所有受压迫的人群团结一致，共同对抗中共暴政。