Jason Y. Ng

Jason Y. Ng is a Hong Kong-based author, news columnist, lawyer and activist. His latest book, Umbrellas in Bloom, is the first book published in the English language to chronicle the 2014 Hong Kong protests, also known as the Umbrella Movement. Zeb Eckert of Bloomberg Television called the book "authoritative, compelling and full of surprises." Didi Tatlow of the New York Times said that it "offers a vivid account with firsthand observations and explanations of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s arcane political system".

Family and Education

Ng's parents were born in Taishan, Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. His father was an illustrator for major Chinese language newspapers in Hong Kong between 1950s and 1980s under the aliases Szema Yu and Yut Dor. During the diaspora in the lead-up to the Hong Kong Handover in 1997, his family emigrated to Toronto, Canada, where they still live.

Ng attended secondary schools in Hong Kong and Trieste, Italy. He earned his Bachelor's degree in finance and electrical engineering from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto. Ng is admitted to the New York bar and the Massachusetts bar.

Career

Ng is the bestselling author of Umbrellas in Bloom (2016), No City for Slow Men (2013) and HONG KONG State of Mind (2010). Together, the three books form a Hong Kong trilogy that tracks the city's post-colonial development.

As a news columnist, Ng contributes to the Guardian, the South China Morning Post, EJ Insight, and Hong Kong Free Press. Between 2014 and 2016, he was a music critic for the Hong Kong edition of Time Out (magazine) reviewing classical music and opera performances in Hong Kong. His social commentary blog As I See It (www.asiseeithk.com) and restaurant and movie review site The Real Deal (www.realdealhk.com) have attracted a cult following in Asia and beyond.

Ng is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong, where he teaches international securities law for the Master of Laws (LLM) program. He has given guest lectures and talks at, among other places, Columbia University, New York University, University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Toronto, York University, Thammasat University, Chulalongkorn University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Baptist University and Lingnan University (Hong Kong).

Ng is also an activist. He is an ambassador for Shark Savers Hong Kong (a member group of the Shark Alliance) and an outspoken advocate for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, the freedom of expression, and the rights of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. In 2016, Jason was elected President of PEN Hong Kong, the local chapter of PEN International that promotes literature and defends the freedom of expression around the world.

Honors

In 2011, Ng was named "Man of the Year" by Elle Men (HK) magazine. In 2013, HONG KONG State of Mind was chosen as the book prize for the Harvard Book Award in Hong Kong. In the following year, No City for Slow Men was chosen as the book prize for the same award for that year.