Alvin Y.H. Cheung is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University and a Non-Resident Affiliated Scholar at NYU’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute. His research addresses the systematic abuse of sub-constitutional legal norms and institutions by authoritarian regimes.

Cheung holds degrees from NYU (J.S.D. 2020; LL.M. in International Legal Studies, 2014) and Cambridge (M.A. 2011), and has worked in Hong Kong as a barrister and as a lecturer in Law & Public Affairs at Hong Kong Baptist University.

He has written and presented extensively about Hong Kong for academic, specialist, and lay audiences. In addition to being a ChinaFile contributor, his writing on Hong Kong has appeared in publications such as the South China Morning Post, The Diplomat, Opinio Juris, World Policy Journal, and the China Rights Forum. He has also been quoted in articles by media outlets such as Foreign Policy, Bloomberg, Time, Quartz, Al-Jazeera, and the Associated Press.

Last Updated: March 5, 2021

Conversation

09.30.15

The Future of Autonomy in Hong Kong

David Schlesinger, Denise Y. Ho & more
Yesterday, the governing board of Hong Kong University, one of the territory’s most esteemed institutions of higher education, voted to reject the promotion of Johannes Chan, a former law school dean, over the objections of the faculty and students...

Conversation

06.17.15

Has China’s ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Experiment Failed?

George Chen, Alvin Y.H. Cheung & more
As Hong Kong’s legislature began debate this week on the reform package that could shape the future of the local political system, the former British colony’s pro-democracy lawmakers swore again they will reject electoral reforms proposed by the...

Viewpoint

05.19.15

Hong Kong’s Not That Special, And Beijing Should Stop Saying It Is

Alvin Y.H. Cheung
As political wrangling in Hong Kong continues over changes to how the city’s chief executive will be selected in 2017, Beijing marks the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Hong Kong Basic Law—the Special Administrative Region’s...