The teen behind Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution

A skinny male student with black-rimmed glasses stands with his arms held high, showing the yellow ribbons knotted around his wrist, symbolizing the democracy that Hong Kong protesters are fighting for.

Joshua Wong has become the public face of what is also referred to as the “Umbrella Revolution” ― calling for an independent, democratic election.

At just 17, he is the co-founder and convener of Scholarism, the student activist group that sparked the protests for Hong Kong's right to hold an election including civic nominations.

Born on October 13, 1996, Wong attends the Open University of Hong Kong.

Police arrested Wong and 77 other protesters after they barged into the guarded government complex building at Admiralty. But Wong was kept behind bars for 40 hours, much longer than the others.

He was released on Sunday, September 28.

Wong's detention was the starting point for a more active campaign of civil disobedience in the city state.

Two years ago, he fought against a new national education policy, "National and Moral Education," which was criticized for being “pro-Beijing brainwashing.”

"If a mass movement turns into worshipping a particular person, that’s a great problem," Wong said in 2012, during his education protest. "You don’t need role models to be part of a social movement as long as you care about the issues.”

Through his campaign against the education policy, he led up to 120,000 people in a protest that overturned the pro-communist school curriculum.

Wong is regarded as a hero as well as a symbol of defiance against the government, the South China Morning Post reports. But according to China’s state media, he is an "extremist.”

"You have to see every battle as possibly the final battle ― only then will you have the determination to fight," Wong told CNN Asia.