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-36- illegally possessing the city of Hong Kong. The person who says it reckons that the HKSAR does not belong to the PRC.

105. As to the words “時代革命”, Professor Lau concluded that it has the meaning of causing a change of times by adopting means to cause a change to the regime or social system existing at the time (or a period of time) when the slogan is raised. By extension of that, the words mean rejecting the governance of the PRC and the HKSAR, and attempting to replace the current regime or social system by way of changing the regime or social system.

106. In considering the meaning of compound words from a historical perspective, Professor Lau testified that an important background assumption has to be made: that the Chinese language is a language that has “customary usage”, namely through usage over a long period of time and in a large area of China. The meaning of Chinese characters would not be changed merely because different people are using it. An ordinary person in Hong Kong, when he/she is faced with a Chinese word or compound word, the usual or customary meaning of such a word or compound word would appear. Therefore, there can be communication and the same message can be distributed.

107. Moreover, in his oral evidence as well as in his report, Professor Lau emphasised that in order to have a proper understanding as to the meaning of the Chinese Slogan, it is important to approach the question at two levels: (i) the proper or customary usage of the words or compound words from a historical perspective; and (ii) the context in which they were used. By “context”, Professor Lau was referring to