Hongkongggag
Hongkongggag (Formerly Hongkonggag) is a Hong Kong meme page on Instagram. It is run by Card0, who created the page in its original form in July 2018. Due the old page being deleted by a rouge admin, the current iteration of the page actually was made in September 2019.
The term "hongkongggag" can also be used to refer to the discord server: 852 Resurgence. Followers of the page are sometimes, but not always, referred to as part of the community typically by Card0.
Follower Base
As of March 2024, Hongkongggag has over 70 thousand followers and is the largest English Hong Kong meme page, most of which come from Hong Kong. According to Card0, the subsequent 4 countries with the most followers are the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Most of Hongkongggag's followers are in secondary school or university. Although Hongkongggag's follower base has traditionally predominately came from International schools in Hong Kong, the shift has become more balanced with more local school students and those of a more localised background following the page. Card0 has claimed that the ratio is 54:46 between people from international and local schools respectively.
Administration
While Card0 makes most of the memes, and handles day to day running of the page, there are 3 other people that have access. These 3 people: flutters, Salmon and lemontea are all admins though they seldom engage much with the page. The most active admin out of the 3 is flutters, but even they post significantly less on the account compared to Card0.
Due to the joint-administrative nature of hongkongggag, direct messaging the Instagram account allows more than one person to view conversations. However, Card0 tends to be the person who will respond.
History
Main Article: History of Hongkongggag
Milestones
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| 1000 (Old Page) | March 2019 |
| 1000 (New Page) | October 2019 |
| 2000 | January 2020 |
| 5000 | November 2020 |
| 10000 | April 2021 |
| 15000 | October 2021 |
| 20000 | November 2021 |
| 25000 | February 2022 |
| 30000 | April 2022 |
| 35000 | April 2022 |
| 40000 | April 2022 |
| 45000 | May 2022 |
| 50000 | October 12th 2022 |
| 55000 | December 6th 2022 |
| 60000 | December 29th 2022 |
| 65000 | May 2023 |
| 70000 | November 3rd 2023 |
Memes
Hongkongggag posts a wide variety of memes related to Hong Kong. Popular and common topics include politics, transport, history and culture.
Card0 often makes a lot of memes targeted at specific schools and universities as well as different areas in Hong Kong. One example of this would be Card0's dislike of LOHAS Park often bashing it in memes. Card0's personal dislikes such as YUU, France, and Har Gao are also very prominent on the page, something the community mocks him for. Most of these memes tend to be in a post format, though reels have become more prevelant on the page.
Meme Series
Occasionally, Card0 posts meme series, special memes that specialise in a specific topic. A prominent example of this would be Satirical Maps where an area is made fun of through a map. However other series would include making a meme a day for every New Town and memes for all of Hong Kong's universities.
Logo
There were many logos made by Card0 in the past, however the most recognisable logo featured simple black text reading "Hongkongggag" on a white background. According to Card0, it was made on Snapchat back when he still used it.
In March 2020, a logo competition was held. 2 contestants submitted designs and one of them, who wished to remain anonymous, won the contest. The logo was changed and has remained the same since that day. The logo has been changed slightly for Pride Month, Halloween and Christmas.
Criticism
Despite widespread popularity, Hongkongggag has faced harsh criticism from others. Many see Hongkongggag's anti-xenophobic stance, as well as Card0's attack on the populist right-wing yellow ribbons as splitting the movement, and damaging it more than healing it. Many of those people also dislike the page's strong pro-LGBT stance, which has led Card0 to continuously call out this homophobia and transphobia.
There are also some followers who dislike the page being political, claiming that the page shouldn't focus on politics or rather memes. While some of these people are often catergorised as pro-government or "neutral", other pro-democracy Hong Kongers feel like the page can sometimes act as a propaganda outlet for Card0 to spread his views. A few individuals also dislike the page's focus on highlighting other protest movements, such as Palestine.
Some people also see the school memes as too specific, and that most people will obviously not relate to them besides those that go to/went to the school in question. However, Card0 has done polls to judge what people feel about them, which have all led to a majority supporting school memes continuing for the forseeable future. This issue has remained a hot topic among the page's followers when asked what can be done to improve the page.