Sebastien Lai

You know, thinking back on that day, just my father, you know, the sun shining on him, saying I've been at the top of his lungs.

Even at that age, I think I was maybe 14, 15.

A thought came to me that it's what personal freedom looks like.

You know, here's a man who loves life, who loves so many different elements of life.

And when he escaped China, that was what he escaped for.

And it was a moment where I realized he had long achieved that.

That he had the wealth, the status, the appreciation of someone that was free.

Of someone that was truly free.

And had he stayed there, had he stayed in London, you know he's a British citizen, he's got a British passport, he would have had personal freedom.

But despite that, said that, actually...

I can't just be a person who lives for my own pleasure.

Yeah, I think he chose a life that, instead of life that would have been outwardly beautiful, he chose one of inward beauty.

One that, you know, has landed him in the Hong Kong prison.

For me at least, it was 2014 during the Umbrella protests.

Exactly, pro-democracy protests.

I was a university student at that point, and Dad used to go out every day and join the protest.

He would stand up there with a microphone and give speeches and then tell people to stand up for this and do it peacefully and whatnot.

He was always a man of peace.

But he was tear gassed.

Someone even shot a canister at him.