Video made by Bystopia, EU Citizen.
Nearly one-hundred and eighty years ago, a small deserted rock in the Pearl River Delta was ceded to the British Empire by the Qing Dynasty of China.
Nobody thought much of it, as all eyes in the world were focused on the fact that China had been defeated so thoroughly by the British Empire. Nobody could be bothered to pay attention to a tiny island off the coast of China that had been given over to Britain, a tiny scrap of desolate, deserted land that few had even looked over, and fewer still were willing to settle. It was merely another outlying colony of the British Empire as it trudged on into the future. In 1997, though, the world’s eyes were shifted to Hong Kong, when Britain officially handed back the colony, now a thriving metropolis and one of the few truly world-class cities in the world, to the People’s Republic of China, a government that not even a decade earlier, had put down peaceful student protests in their capital of Beijing.
Rolling tanks and marching soldiers into Tienanmen Square to massacre said protesters, and then lying to both its own people and the whole world about it. Many Hong Kongers were in the city due to their fleeing from the violence and brutality of Mao Zedong’s regime on the mainland, and as such, still bore the scars that the CCP had left on their lives. The handover created many questions, surrounding the legitimacy of the government that had overthrown the KMT some forty years earlier. Surrounding the West’s commitment to democracy. And surrounding many other topics. But perhaps most importantly it brought up the question - what does it mean to be a Hong Konger?
Some say that the idea of being a Hong Konger is a fallacy - that the people of Hong Kong are as Chinese as those living in Guangzhou, or Shanghai. That there is only one Chinese people, and that Hong Kongers are a part of it. Others say that Hong Kongers are Chinese, but not mainlanders - that we are only owed back to the government of the KMT, currently in exile on the island of Taiwan. This diverse set of answers would cause plenty of disagreement, and would belay finding a concrete, cohesive response.
Indeed, these questions would continue to lurk behind the neon-and-glass edifices of the city, even into the twenty-first century. Sporadic issues with the Chinese Government grew increasingly common under the tenure of Xi Jinping’s General Secretaryship of the CCP, until in 2019, they came to a head, when the Legislative Council proposed legislation that would allow the Chinese Government to deport any criminal to the mainland for trial in a Chinese court, a direct violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Since then, a series of increasingly intense protests have gripped the city-state, as Hong Kongers grappled with police intent on restoring order to the city. During this time period, the tensions of the past twenty years came to a head. Every single grievance the people of the island nation had against the Chinese was brought roaring to the surface, exploding across the city-state with a fervor and grace that had not been seen in some time. Issues of self determination. Campaigns for the restoration of a truly free market outside of the clutches of mainland corporations. People who stood against the brutality of the Hong Kong police in dealing with political dissent. Those who are simply there because they want to make a difference. All these people of Hong Kong and many more were brought together by a collective set of issues against the government of China. Eventually, these protests surrounding various individual issues united under one movement, all moving under the slogan “光復香港, 時代革命.” “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”
This protest movement continued to gain traction, particularly after the 2019 District Council election, in which pro-democracy candidates captured 388 out of 477 seats, a decisive victory for the people of Hong Kong who sought to achieve democracy, a serious blow to Beijing’s increasing loss of control over the city, and, perhaps most importantly, a resounding voice in favor of democracy from the people of Hong Kong. Protests would unite men and women. Liberals and conservatives. The rich from Victoria Peak and the poor from Sham Shui Po. All putting aside their differences for the sake of the future of the city. People who might otherwise have been bitter enemies marched side by side in the streets, demanding that the government hear their voice. Videos of Hong Kong police violently attacking peaceful protesters with batons, riot shields, tear gas, and other such weapons. Images of People’s Liberation Army trucks moving into the metropolis, their presence seemingly alien among the glass-and-steel faces of skyscrapers. Protest leaders being arrested, or simply vanishing in the dead of night. Whispers that the Chinese Government might attempt something similar as to what happened in Tiananmen Square seemingly ages ago. In spite of all this, Hong Kongers would continue to fight against the tyranny that they saw around them.
Yet, even as our struggles continue, many seem to be unaware of the struggle that is taking place among people not unlike their own. The people of China, led to believe that Hong Kongers are greedy by their own government, and that we are simply protesting because we want more money - that the materialism of our people have blinded us against the ideals and virtues of the mainland Chinese. That if Hong Kongers could only look past their short-sighted greediness, they would be able to embrace their position as a part of China, and would be able to prosper indefinitely as a result. Still others are simply not aware of it, as the Western Media falls victim to a concerted effort by the Chinese government, offering lucrative contracts to those who would be willing to simply not cover these protests. Indeed, the government continues to write them off as violent mobsters who only wish to spread chaos and hurt innocent people.
Increasingly, however, world scrutiny has begun to fall upon the People’s Republic of China. Questionable ethical practices when it comes to governing their own citizens. An aggressive militarist spirit and hostile foreign policy. Attempts to replace minority ethnicities across their territory with Han Chinese for the sake of the establishment of an ethnostate. As these concerns continue to bubble beneath the surface taking hold in the West, though, one thing becomes increasingly clear - ignoring this situation is simply no longer an option, particularly with the spreading of the COVID-19 virus, and with it the raising of these questions in the light of the future role of China in the world, with many individuals who might otherwise not be aware of these things beginning to raise these very same queries. And in order to solve this situation, we must return back to the question asked at the very beginning of this piece.
What does it mean to be a Hong Konger?
There will likely be many conflicting opinions about this, even once the protests have reached their inevitable conclusion, whatever it may be. But, ultimately, as with anything, what we are should be left up to us - no third party has any right nor justification to try and force themselves upon the citizens of a place who have clearly stated that they wish to choose their own path. As George Washington had done so many years ago, standing up for the values of democracy and American identity, as revolutionaries in France had stood up to tyrant after tyrant, so too do Hong Kongers stand against a nation that has clearly failed not only to accurately represent its people.
As a Hong Konger myself, I have always maintained the position that Hong Kong is its own distinct entity, disparate from the rest of China. Yes, we do observe some Chinese customs. Yes, our people look like those on the mainland (at least superficially). But in more ways than we are alike, we are different. We speak our own dialect of Chinese. We have our own distinct culture, long influenced by the previous guidance of the British. But perhaps most fundamentally, we as Hong Kongers have a fundamentally different set of values then those on the mainland, a set of values that have always been a point of friction among Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese. Values of freedom, democracy, and individual liberty. Values that are central to the foundation of good government, and values that are championed by those around the globe who seek individual justice. And it is those values, driving those people, who will support this newfound “revolution of our times.”
Article written by Aexodius, MoFA of the Enadian Union.
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