The world is watching HK this week as the masses are out to protest... but what exactly are they protesting about?
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The answer, as usual, is a complex one. Before you can truly understand the current situation, a little history is required. Briefly, the end of Opium War between Britain and China in 1841 brought with it a treaty that essentially handed Hong Kong and later surrounding territories over to the British for 100 years. Both HK and the PRC (China) developed at completely different rates in completely different directions over the next 150 years, HK as a colony of Britain, the PRC as an sovereign empire and then communist nation. In the 1990's, after China had gained considerable global economic power, it called what is now the UK and said, "Hey, you know that treaty we signed? We want our stuff back."
In 1997, HK was officially returned to the PRC as a SAR or Special Autonomous Region among many vocal dissidents who worried China would squash HK's sovereignty (freedom). The PRC therefore made a 50 year agreement with HK essentially saying that it would leave HK alone except for matters of national defense and foreign affairs. While HK's political and judicial spheres are more or less independent from the Beijing government, HKers were expecting to have regular local elections to choose their representatives. Beijing initially agreed to allow HK to have elections, but have recently reneged on this agreement, now insisting that all HK electoral candidates must be approved by Beijing.
This plan to micromanage candidates in reality means that elections will not be free in HK, since Beijing can essentially choose the candidates and they will always be pro-Beijing. This is particularly important to HKers not just on principle, but because in the past decade HK has faced some very serious local issues such as exponential housing costs due to Mainlanders flocking over to buy property, and what Americans would call "Anchor Babies," or pregnant Mainlanders taking a conveniently timed trip to give birth in HK so their child will have HK citizenship/registration (戶口). These are just a few HK issues that will probably not be solved adequately if pro-Beijing candidates are the only candidates allowed to run.
That said, today is October 1st, and the National Day for the Mainland. Protests are still going ahead in HK as they have been for the past week, and are planned to continue through the week. Most notably in the news is the juxtaposition of umbrella wielding protesters, who have managed to thus far prevent any damage to property or person (including public grassy areas), and the police who have been throwing tear gas bombs at the peaceful protesters. Go here for a first hand account of the police's attempts to break up the protesters using tear gas and an explanation of how legal assembly (protest) laws were overturned in HK.
As the protests wear on this week, it becomes more and more apparent that there is serious dissent among Hongers when it comes to the new election rules. However, whether this protest will ultimately be successful remains to be seen; just a few months ago Taiwan held its own protests against uneven trade agreements with the PRC (and the illegal way it was passed in national government here), but as of now, nothing truly productive has come from those protests. I hope for the sake of both places that their respective governments decide to listen and take the public's opinions into account- after all, these are supposed to be representative governments.
For a more detailed account of this event and updates on the protests, including currently occupied areas of HK, please check out The Guardian's page. For up to the moment reports of the protests in traditional Chinese characters (Cantonese language), check out Next Media (Apple Daily). If you have Google Chrome, it should automatically translate the page into your local language! On the other hand, there is a distinct lack of coverage of the protests if you look at the PRC's major English news sources (Xinhua and CCTV), which is not surprising since Beijing has typically tried to keep quiet any unrest in order to prevent its spread (especially in the case of Xinjiang province, for example). In any event, the best place to be kept up to date seems to be the local media in HK, if you don't mind reading a slightly mangled Google Chrome translation!
The answer, as usual, is a complex one. Before you can truly understand the current situation, a little history is required. Briefly, the end of Opium War between Britain and China in 1841 brought with it a treaty that essentially handed Hong Kong and later surrounding territories over to the British for 100 years. Both HK and the PRC (China) developed at completely different rates in completely different directions over the next 150 years, HK as a colony of Britain, the PRC as an sovereign empire and then communist nation. In the 1990's, after China had gained considerable global economic power, it called what is now the UK and said, "Hey, you know that treaty we signed? We want our stuff back."
In 1997, HK was officially returned to the PRC as a SAR or Special Autonomous Region among many vocal dissidents who worried China would squash HK's sovereignty (freedom). The PRC therefore made a 50 year agreement with HK essentially saying that it would leave HK alone except for matters of national defense and foreign affairs. While HK's political and judicial spheres are more or less independent from the Beijing government, HKers were expecting to have regular local elections to choose their representatives. Beijing initially agreed to allow HK to have elections, but have recently reneged on this agreement, now insisting that all HK electoral candidates must be approved by Beijing.
This plan to micromanage candidates in reality means that elections will not be free in HK, since Beijing can essentially choose the candidates and they will always be pro-Beijing. This is particularly important to HKers not just on principle, but because in the past decade HK has faced some very serious local issues such as exponential housing costs due to Mainlanders flocking over to buy property, and what Americans would call "Anchor Babies," or pregnant Mainlanders taking a conveniently timed trip to give birth in HK so their child will have HK citizenship/registration (戶口). These are just a few HK issues that will probably not be solved adequately if pro-Beijing candidates are the only candidates allowed to run.
That said, today is October 1st, and the National Day for the Mainland. Protests are still going ahead in HK as they have been for the past week, and are planned to continue through the week. Most notably in the news is the juxtaposition of umbrella wielding protesters, who have managed to thus far prevent any damage to property or person (including public grassy areas), and the police who have been throwing tear gas bombs at the peaceful protesters. Go here for a first hand account of the police's attempts to break up the protesters using tear gas and an explanation of how legal assembly (protest) laws were overturned in HK.
As the protests wear on this week, it becomes more and more apparent that there is serious dissent among Hongers when it comes to the new election rules. However, whether this protest will ultimately be successful remains to be seen; just a few months ago Taiwan held its own protests against uneven trade agreements with the PRC (and the illegal way it was passed in national government here), but as of now, nothing truly productive has come from those protests. I hope for the sake of both places that their respective governments decide to listen and take the public's opinions into account- after all, these are supposed to be representative governments.
For a more detailed account of this event and updates on the protests, including currently occupied areas of HK, please check out The Guardian's page. For up to the moment reports of the protests in traditional Chinese characters (Cantonese language), check out Next Media (Apple Daily). If you have Google Chrome, it should automatically translate the page into your local language! On the other hand, there is a distinct lack of coverage of the protests if you look at the PRC's major English news sources (Xinhua and CCTV), which is not surprising since Beijing has typically tried to keep quiet any unrest in order to prevent its spread (especially in the case of Xinjiang province, for example). In any event, the best place to be kept up to date seems to be the local media in HK, if you don't mind reading a slightly mangled Google Chrome translation!
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