This paper explores how perceptions of other people's opinions influence political outspokenness in pre-handover Hong Kong, testing the spiral of silence theory in the context of public opinion concerning Sino-British disagreement on Hong Kong's political future and the Legislative Council election of 1995. It is argued that political outspokenness was mainly invigorated by higher topic salience, greater exposure to and interest taking in television news and news magazines, and bigger political interest.