Chan Pui-man

On the evening Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy newspaper sent its last edition to press, its deputy chief editor Chan Pui-man left the newsroom to join colleagues on the rooftop as they waved to crowds gathered five floors below. Hundreds had journeyed in the rain to the Apple Daily offices in a remote, industrial part of the city to bid farewell to the popular tabloid, brutally shut down by the authorities after 26 years in print.

They shone torches, blinking like beacons in the dark, and thanked Apple Daily workers with cheers of “We won’t forget you!” and “Add oil!” – a rallying cry used by pro-democracy protesters to fuel their comrades. The staff were emotional, and shouted back to their supporters. But Chan, recalls one former colleague, stood silently by her side for ten, maybe 15 minutes. Then she went back to work.