Remonstrance without hope in Hong Kong 23/09/2014

I am writing this having just returned from the Chinese University Campus of Hong Kong, where
the university is brimming with students from all of Hong Kongs Universities. This week,
demonstrations will take place against Chinese interference in the democratic system of Hong
Kong. At the student demonstrations I spoke with dozens of Hong Kong students and lecturers
about the relations between China and Hong Kong.
One thing become clear almost immediately, the Hong Kong people do not feel remotely
related to China. They are enormously proud of their freedoms and cherish the differences
between them and the mainland. While the Hong Kong citizenry regard the Chinese as immoral,
graceless, asocial and only mercenary, they find themselves to have developed good manners
and moral values during the British colonial reign over the last century. However, while the
Hong Kong people consider themselves in no way Chinese, China seems to disagree.
Hong Kong has free presidential elections every five years and her own
political system, but it appears that 17 years after the British handover of Hong Kong to China,
China no longer wants to honour the famous One Country, Two Policies-model of Deng
Xiaoping. The Communist Party of China has namely decided to control which candidates are
allowed to seek election for the next presidential elections of Hong Kong. Many Hong Kong
people feel this is a political interference that is very highly uncalled for and furthermore that it
is the beginning of the end for Hong Kong. According to them it will not take long before the
city will lose her political and economic freedoms completely and fall forcedly under the steel
wings of mother China again, so far this is yet to happen.
Since China tries to gradually implement political reforms in
favour of the Communist Party in Hong Kong, the citizens of Hong Kong only call louder for the
vindication of their current political system. The student demonstrations over the past week are
only a small part of this political movement, the icing on the cake will take place on the 1
st
of
October, when the financial centre of Hong Kong will be occupied by thousands of activists.
At the student demonstration I spoke with a number of
sceptics and pessimists. They fear the worst and speak about a possible repeat of history
(Tiananmen Square, 1989). Some students think that not many people will show up out of fear
for repressions from the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Optimists I could not find.
Notwithstanding the fact that demonstrations are happening throughout, nobody fosters any
hope, and all students are convinced that the Chinese government will not hear the
prodemocratic protest movements. Many students chant the
prodemocratic slogans with heart and soul, but when I ask them what they think will happen with
Hong Kong in the coming months and years, their fanaticism almost immediately turns into
despondency and powerlessness. They all share the opinion that very sombre future prospects lie
ahead. The majority of the students I speak with about their future, hope to emigrate to the
United States or Europe after, or even during their studies. The students think that China will
very soon rule over Hong Kong again with an iron fist, and furthermore will provide that
concepts like freedom and democracy will be whispers of the past. A large
part of the student body of Hong Kong will keep on boycotting lectures and protest at the
campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in the coming days. No student, however, really
believes that their protest can bring about any change. During my time at the demonstration I had
a conversation with a student that had to leave the protests prematurely. I asked him what could
be more important than fighting for his freedom. He tells me that he would have loved to stay,
but is afraid he will fail his exams if he misses todays lectures.

Yi-han Wen