Leung kwok-hung understands the power of images. One of Hong Kong’s most famous pro-democracy lawmakers for two decades, he spurned suits for t-shirts emblazoned with the face of his idol, Che Guevara. The side of his van bore a large cartoon of Mr Leung kicking the bottom of one of the city’s former leaders. In 2010 he bought a licence plate that read “d0naldpk”—an abbreviation that suggested that the city’s then leader, Donald Tsang, should drop dead (puk kai in Cantonese). His mane, seemingly as untamable as its owner, is so well known that Hong Kongers call him simply “Long Hair”.