Interviews - Chatelaine

Montrealer at heart

If Denise Ho, 42, is today such a whole woman and ready to accept the consequences of her actions, it is because her parents, two teachers, taught her to think for herself. It is also because she lived in Quebec. “My values, my independence, my principles, everything took root in Quebec. In Montreal, you can be yourself,” she once told The New Yorker magazine.

Born in Hong Kong in 1977, Denise Ho immigrated here at the age of 11 with her family. After high school in La Prairie, she attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal, then began studying graphic design at the University of Quebec in Montreal. She was 18 during the 1995 referendum, enough to awaken her political conscience.

She still speaks French today, trying to find her words a little… and always with a Quebec accent!

The call of the scene

Gifted for music, she enrolled at the age of 19 in a televised singing competition in Hong Kong, the equivalent of Star Académie. To her surprise, she wins! One of the judges is none other than her idol, Anita Mui, the queen of cantopop – a musical style with folk, rock and electro influences popular in Asia. The diva opens the doors of show business to him. The career of HOCC (stage name of DeniseHo) is launched and the young woman returns to live in her native land, followed by the rest of her family. She recorded about thirty albums in 20 years and multiplied the tours. She also plays in a dozen films and a few TV series.

Star of the song, she has about thirty albums to her credit. (Photo: Getty Images/TBG)

Rainbow activist

Denise Ho became the first Hong Kong female artist to speak publicly about her homosexuality in November 2012. Less than a week later, she is already actively campaigning for the cause! Parliament has just refused to hold a public consultation on discrimination against gays. "It made me so angry," she said on CNN Asia. It was the first time I realized how unfair the system was and how the government controlled everything.”

She is in all the fights for democracy in Hong Kong. (Photo: Getty Images/South China Morning Post)

Arrested and Banned in China

In 2014, DeniseHo joined the tens of thousands of Hong Kongers demonstrating to demand universal suffrage elections. A promise that was made by the Chinese communist leaders when this former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

Umbrellas used by demonstrators to protect themselves from tear gas inspired a young composer to write Raise the Umbrellas. Performed by several artists, including Denise Ho, it became a hymn of the pro-democracy movement.

In December 2014, the Chinese police put an end to the protest by arresting the demonstrators who took part in a sit-in. Denise Ho is one of them. In retaliation, China banned him from giving concerts on its mainland and removed all his songs from Chinese online listening platforms. She is losing millions of dollars in revenue. "If I have to choose between freedom and money, the choice is obvious to me," she told Radio-Canada.

Denise Ho took the Hong Kong cause to the UN in the summer of 2019. (Photo: Getty Images/Fabrice Coffrini)

Dropped by Lancome

In reaction to an article published in the Global Times, Lancôme canceled a concert that the singer was to give during a promotional event in Hong Kong in June 2016. This newspaper favorable to the Chinese regime accuses the cosmetics company of collaborating with a artist whom he describes as "Hong Kong poison". The interpreter denounces the decision on his Facebook page: "When a global brand like Lancôme is reduced to kneeling before a hegemonic and intimidating power, we must face the problem head on."

She was arrested in 2014 while participating in a pro-democracy sit-in. (Photo: Getty Images/Lucs Schifres)

World Tour

July 2019. Denise Ho speaks to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. She denounces arbitrary arrests and police brutality during demonstrations – plastic bullets, tear gas and powerful jets of colored water to identify protesters. Hong Kongers have indeed started to demonstrate for democracy again. A crowd of one and a half million people take to the streets for one of these marches. Without official leaders, the movement relies on the strength of social networks and the voice of personalities like Denise Ho.

Last year, the artist began a world tour in Oslo, New York, Taipei, Washington. Every public appearance, concert or conference is a plea for the people of Hong Kong. Because nothing is settled. The demonstrators are becoming radicalized and the authorities are increasingly harsh. At the end of 2019, the police fired live ammunition and three people were injured.

"In Hong Kong, it's rare for celebrities to engage in social movements and politics," she told Mother Jones magazine. Denise Ho is in a class of her own.