War at the dinner table: Hong Kong families divided over protests
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This picture taken on September 6, 2019 shows 24-year-old Hong Kong woman ‘Jane’ (left) posing with her girlfriend following an interview with AFP in Hong Kong AFP pic |
With millions marching to protest stuttering freedoms under Beijing’s rule over the last 100 days, Jane found herself increasingly arguing with her mother who was bitterly opposed to the pro-democracy movement.
Eventually, an insurmountable gulf grew between them.
“After every fight, she wouldn’t talk to me for a week,” said the softly spoken 24-year-old, who asked to use a pseudonym. “Hong Kong flats are small. We’re apart by just one wall. So I had to leave.”
It was a huge emotional blow. Jane was raised solely by her mother.
“We’ve spent my whole life together, just me and her, but she won’t stand by me,” she said. “It makes me feel powerless.”
Jane describes herself as a moderate — not one of those on the frontlines battling police or embracing violence.
She said she tried to explain the movement’s goals of a more democratic Hong Kong but her arguments fell on deaf ears with her mother.
“She believes what China says, she believes the protesters are paid by foreigners, that all protesters are thugs,” Jane lamented. “She never believes me.”
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protesters or thugs? |
Youth rage
The three months of huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are overwhelmingly youth-led.
They were sparked by opposition to a now-scrapped plan to allow extraditions to the mainland but have since snowballed into a wider movement demanding greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
They are also the latest expression of pent-up anger at Beijing’s creeping control over the city and its refusal to make concessions to similar youth-led democracy protests in 2014.
Research by academics has shown that half of those at rallies are between 20 and 30 years old, while 77 per cent have degrees.
According to a regular poll by the University of Hong Kong, the number of locals who describe themselves as being proud to be a citizen of China is at a record low of just 27 per cent.
Among those aged 18-29 the figure is even lower — 10 per cent.
Smaller pro-Beijing rallies in Hong Kong — where many wave Chinese flags — have generally featured an older demographic.
The pro-democracy movement spans ages and generations — there is even a contingent of elderly “grey hairs” holding solidarity marches.
But younger protesters say they often find themselves at ideological odds with parents or older relatives, who either think the city has thrived since it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997 — or fear what the authoritarian leaders in Beijing may do if the protests rage on.
‘They’re blackmailing me’
For many young committed protesters, the battle on the streets continues around the dinner table.
“At the beginning, we would eat in silence. It was so depressing that now I don’t go home until I know my parents are in bed,” said Chris, also a pseudonym, who graduated recently and started a finance job at a top bank.
“I think it comes down to education. My parents were educated in China and weren’t taught about democracy and freedom,” he said, explaining how his parents came to Hong Kong in the 1990s as stowaways looking for a better quality of life.
“What my parents want is stability and economic well-being. But I want more than that and I will fight for it,” said Chris, describing how his normally-settled home life has spun into an “us versus them” conflict.
Speaking with a shaking voice, he described feeling exhausted and despondent.
“I can’t talk to my colleagues because I don’t trust them, and I can’t talk to my parents at home without them yelling at me, so I often get pretty down,” he said.
Julia, a 19-year-old student, was surprised by the family arguments.
“They were blackmailing me, eventually I just tore up the credit card and started lying about everything,” she said, now fully dependent on a part-time job around her studies.
Jane, meanwhile, now lives with the family of her girlfriend, whose parents also disagree with the movement.
But she says they have made an uneasy arrangement of tolerating each other’s starkly different political leanings.
“We never talk about it. We mainly just talk about the cats,” she joked.
“But I can feel that it’s a fragile environment.” — AFP
“They were blackmailing me, eventually I just tore up the credit card and started lying about everything.”
The three months of huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are overwhelmingly youth-led.
They were sparked by opposition to a now-scrapped plan to allow extraditions to the mainland but have since snowballed into a wider movement demanding greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
They are also the latest expression of pent-up anger at Beijing’s creeping control over the city and its refusal to make concessions to similar youth-led democracy protests in 2014.
Research by academics has shown that half of those at rallies are between 20 and 30 years old, while 77 per cent have degrees.
According to a regular poll by the University of Hong Kong, the number of locals who describe themselves as being proud to be a citizen of China is at a record low of just 27 per cent.
Among those aged 18-29 the figure is even lower — 10 per cent.
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This picture taken on September 8, 2019 shows recent Hong Kong protester ‘Chris’ (left) taking part in a rally and march to the US Consulate in Hong Kong AFP pic |
The pro-democracy movement spans ages and generations — there is even a contingent of elderly “grey hairs” holding solidarity marches.
But younger protesters say they often find themselves at ideological odds with parents or older relatives, who either think the city has thrived since it was handed back to China by Britain in 1997 — or fear what the authoritarian leaders in Beijing may do if the protests rage on.
‘They’re blackmailing me’
For many young committed protesters, the battle on the streets continues around the dinner table.
“At the beginning, we would eat in silence. It was so depressing that now I don’t go home until I know my parents are in bed,” said Chris, also a pseudonym, who graduated recently and started a finance job at a top bank.
“I think it comes down to education. My parents were educated in China and weren’t taught about democracy and freedom,” he said, explaining how his parents came to Hong Kong in the 1990s as stowaways looking for a better quality of life.
“What my parents want is stability and economic well-being. But I want more than that and I will fight for it,” said Chris, describing how his normally-settled home life has spun into an “us versus them” conflict.
Speaking with a shaking voice, he described feeling exhausted and despondent.
“I can’t talk to my colleagues because I don’t trust them, and I can’t talk to my parents at home without them yelling at me, so I often get pretty down,” he said.
Julia, a 19-year-old student, was surprised by the family arguments.
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violence of young protesters against police |
“I didn’t know how different we were until this summer,” she said, adding her parents were unaware that she regularly faced off with riot police on the frontlines.
After explosive arguments over her backing of the protests, her parents threatened to cut financial support.
“They were blackmailing me, eventually I just tore up the credit card and started lying about everything,” she said, now fully dependent on a part-time job around her studies.
Jane, meanwhile, now lives with the family of her girlfriend, whose parents also disagree with the movement.
But she says they have made an uneasy arrangement of tolerating each other’s starkly different political leanings.
“We never talk about it. We mainly just talk about the cats,” she joked.
“But I can feel that it’s a fragile environment.” — AFP
First thing first - the protesters and foreign (mainly European-American countries) have blamed China for its nastiness in the current Hong Kong civil disobedience, BUT please tell me, other than a proposed Extradition Bill made via the HK Council, what has China done thus far?
Zilch, nothing, totally hands off - China has remained aloof from the HK debacle. And all it needs to do is to continue doing what it has been doing thus far, hands off completely - and in the end, guess who will suffer?
The reason is clear, that while Hong Kong is useful to China in international business and finance, it is today no longer the only Chinese port capable of sustaining that. If demoted and even extinguished, Hong Kong may be missed by China but not for long. Hence Hong Kong is dispensable to China and being thus so, China doesn't need to do anything as the pimple on China's behind destroys itself - cutting its nose to destroy its face, so to speak.
The reason is clear, that while Hong Kong is useful to China in international business and finance, it is today no longer the only Chinese port capable of sustaining that. If demoted and even extinguished, Hong Kong may be missed by China but not for long. Hence Hong Kong is dispensable to China and being thus so, China doesn't need to do anything as the pimple on China's behind destroys itself - cutting its nose to destroy its face, so to speak.
Yet the US-European nations continue to blame China and thus encourage the young HK brats to continue their now-violent (very very violent) protests despite an already withdrawn Bill.
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if HK is not China, what is it? part of Britain, USA or Botswana? |
If that is not gross 'foreign' interference in Chinese affairs (and HK is part and parcel of China, apart from 150 years of British colonial rule where Chinese in HK were treated like sh*t as 2nd class citizens), that I don't know what those blaming of China would be?
Secondly, to reiterate, the reason for the original protests, namely, the Extradition Bill, has already been withdrawn. As I predicted, once a supposedly peaceful civil disobedience should end because the cause for it no longer exists, the young protesters will NOT, refuse to go home because protests, especially violent ones which allow overt show of rebellion, graffiti-smearing, smashing of windows etc, and excuses for long absence from universities and work, would be more fun.
Peaceful protests are OK but violent demonstrations are more cool.
Thirdly, as I and many others know, the main proponents of the violence have been young brats, many of whom are still supported by their families. Note 'Julia' above saying her parents threatened to cut financial support.
“They were blackmailing me, eventually I just tore up the credit card and started lying about everything.”
Doesn't that sum it all up as to the characters of the Hong Hong protesters - young, financially still dependent and under family support, gullible, easily influenced by foreign instigation and foreign financial backing, and a proclivity towards overt violent civil disobedience with fun-like chaos.
And of course they'd blame it all on a relatively silent China, who is not completely immune to such stupidity as young Hongkies gullibly wave US and British flags and sing moronic praises of their once-colonial Masters who treated them like slaves and coolies - recall the Chinese park with the offensive English sign of "No dogs and Chinese allowed".
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the dumbo guppies are not all young, wakakaka |
Incidentally, on such adulation of foreign-Western nations, I recall a Malaysian who called for foreign intervention into Malaysian affairs during Najib's time - what a moron and a very hypocritical one because he would normally be boorishly anti-West.
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treacherous even to his own country |
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Pengkhianat Bangsa (mengikut perkataannya) |
Star Online:
'How to kill Hong Kong police' and what comes next
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Police investigate the scene where an off-duty officer was attacked on Friday night at Kwai Fung MTR station Photo: Handout/SCMP |
I find it deeply troubling that someone just tried to murder a police officer in Hong Kong and hardly anyone seems to be bothered much, as we all move on to the next cycle of news about mass protests and anti-government campaigns.
Three masked men ambushed the 45-year-old officer at Kwai Fong MTR station late on Friday night while he was heading home after work. They knifed him repeatedly in a vicious, cowardly attack, inflicting bone-deep wounds, and fled the scene.
Three masked men ambushed the 45-year-old officer at Kwai Fong MTR station late on Friday night while he was heading home after work. They knifed him repeatedly in a vicious, cowardly attack, inflicting bone-deep wounds, and fled the scene.
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peaceful protest or thuggery? |
Najib's MEIO smuggled in US$12 million (RM49 million) of foreign sourced funds into Malaysia just before GE14.
ReplyDeleteThat is true treason "Pengkhianat Bangsa"
On top of that , under Najib's orders, the MEIO DG abused her position to send an official letter to the CIA head , painting the then-Opposition Pakatan Harapan as an extremist threat.
But I suppose treachery by Najib is perfectly OK.
"(very very violent) protests "
ReplyDeleteHow many people have been killed by the "very violent" protesters ?
0.00
when shopping malls have been smashed kaukau and policemen stabbed
Deleteits mao n communist teaching to revolt n kick the capitalist ass, follow with bombard the headquarters.
DeleteMoron!
DeleteIt's blurred sanmao & demoncratic teaching to revolt n kick the imperialist's ass, follow with bombard the palaces.
What's the difference?
Or u pick & choose suit yr selective farts AGAIN!
Certainly in the last 30 years before 1997, Hong Kong'ers were definitely NOT treated like sh*t as 2nd class citizens.
ReplyDeleteThey had an independent judiciary, rule of law, freedom of expression.
Freedom to choose their government was not Britain's to give Hong Kong, as Britain was a colonial power which had no choice but to agree to return Hong Kong to China.
"If HK is not China, what is it? "
Hong Kong is....Hong Kong....
Yr understanding of HK is pathetic to say the least!
Delete"Certainly in the last 30 years before 1997, Hong Kong'ers were definitely NOT treated like sh*t as 2nd class citizens."
To paraphrase that 忘祖白眼狼，hkies were definitely a 2nd class citizen when they were not allowed to choose the governor during the colonial rule!
It was certainly within the pommie 'gentleman' heritage to give the hkies that right if these hkies were been treated as equal. But the pommie hypocrisy heredity prevailed, the hkies remained as shit.
When HK returned to China, some qualified hkies were given boc: A British Overseas citizen (BOC) is a member of a class of British nationality largely granted under limited circumstances to people connected with former British colonies who do not have close ties to the United Kingdom or its remaining overseas territories.
After been 'used', these colonial hamba were only given a namesaking passport of been a British citizen!
Ain't this treatment reserves for 2nd (maybe nth) class hamba?
Before ICAC, the pommie, especially the white police officers, worked closely with the triads to suck/squeeze almost every ounce of the blood from the Joe/Jannie hkies. The higher up just closed their eyes until the real righteousness Governor Sir Murray MacLehose on 15 February 1974 set up icac to clean up the ties!
Before icac, certainly the hkies were been treated worse than shit!
A little bit of hk history that current HK history book wouldn't mentioned.
Hong Kong in 1894 suffered a very serious Bubonic plague. The pommie authority implemented a policy that only whites were allow to live up in the hills of taipensan. Due to cleaner environment & fresh hilly air, no whites died from the bubonic plague.
Whereas the lowly hkies were forced to 'camp' within the dirty & tight 'kampong baru' scattered around hk harbour.
Ten of thousands of hkies died from this horrible epidemic disease.
cf THE GREAT PLAGUE OF HONG KONG
E. G. PRYOR*
So, still pommie gentleman errrr…??
Hong Kong is....Hong Kong...When she was under the colonial master.
Now HK is part of China - an inseparable part just in case u forgot!
the hk older generation is no diff with our umno, its the youth that chose to kick them out, but of course we know kt love umno that always threat the people abt no stability, only the makan dedak type buy their view.
ReplyDeleteThese hkie 废青 r the residual products of the pommie requested policies under the negotiated return of HK to China.
ReplyDeleteMany ONLY know about the namesake of "one country two systems". Not many REALLY dive into what of the each two systems entail.
China has kept her word of non-intetference with the HK administrative processes, except sovereignty.
The pommie, as usual, leave behind a long tail of underplots, hidden behind the namesaking democratic principles - such as the cases of India/Pakistan, Israel/Middle East. & now HK!
Keys to that demoncratic operatives r educational policies which r totally non China friendly, even though now HK is part of China.
The court is also a mixed bag of foreigners judging the hkies affairs! These legal vultures have NO HK interests in their heart. Thus,u have those cases of arrested rioters been released within 24hr while the law-enforcing policemen were been penalized heavily!
These HK 废青 r glasshouse strawberries. Used to the managed conditions of fed ideas of wanting more than stability and economic well-being as dragged by their parents.
"I will fight for it"!!!
As a reward, committing statutory rape with young impressionable girls (14 - 16yrs) who r been drugged with sex pills w/o impunity!
The idealistic 'liberal' poison is too deeply intoxicated to be purge out completely from these morons despite their claimed education.
The best approach is to crush them with full flash brutal forces when the time becomes inevitable.
Then, perhaps, many 'bleeding heartish' foreign govts would give asylum to as many of them as allowed.
Best ridden!
hey ccp cock kisser, if govt give u education, welfare n rule of law u wan or not? so if govt give u democracy u reject kah? whats british intention is not relevant if the people wan it, so who r u a dictator cock sucker to make noise?
Deletebeijing only alllo candidate selected by them, what u mean by then no interference? whats diff hk election with the north korea one?
the best way to treat chinese ultra like u is to let umno crush u into piece n send u back to yr motherland.
gd riddence.
What kind of f*cked logic!
Delete"if govt give u education, welfare n rule of law u wan or not? so if govt give u democracy u reject kah?"
Exactly the case!
These 废青 have everything u have mentioned, courtesy of the central govt under the promise of one country two systems.
But the f*cked seed of hatred planted by the pommie distorted the real sopo situation. They want MORE! More of what? Independence! The HK's liberal & democratic administration is been taken for granted by these glasshouse strawberries as a gift of struggles!
Mfer, struggle by who? Certainly not from these 废青.
W/O the benevolence of the central govt, WHY should HK be treated different from the rest of the country. What so special about HK/hkies?
"beijing only alllo candidate selected by them"
!!!
Mfer, why should central govt allows candidates, whose loyalty to the country, r in question? They r aplenty of 忘祖 白眼狼 like u, in HK due to 156yrs of colonialism! The current hk riots prove conclusively about the existence of these lowlifes!
Even as a blurred mfer, u OBVIOUSLY wouldn't allow zakir naik to interfere with m'sia politic. Thus, the Chinese govt has to exercise the right to ensure the sovereign integrity is preserved at all cost. They r answerable to 1.4B of Chinese who WOULDN'T allow anymore 国耻 in whatsoever circumstances!
But how could a mfer, who has been intoxicated with western demoncratic farts, understand 民族尊严！
The best way to treat Chinese running dog like u is to let umno/pas pampered u so much that u can behave exactly like 岩里政男 - ampu-ing them like yr ancestry.
Only then I would feel comfortable to be a Chinese m'sian w/o any hesitate knowing u r not one of us!
those wan for independence is only a very small number, it happened in many countries, so dun simply lie.
Deletehk is diff, or else y there is 1 country 2 sys? i am like talking to a stupid most of the time.
its interference if beijing is one that select, mean to say yr statement of no inteference is another lie, y u lie all the time?
a govt that dun keep promise is a govt that no integrity, unless there is integrity with chinese characteris, then u r probably right.
u r a chinese msian that tok kok but not willing to move yr ass to a communist regime, u shd be sent back to ccp china for reeducation program so that u understand what authoritarian is about.
quick quick go, bring kt along, dun shame us chinese msian.
"those wan for independence is only a very small number" !!!
DeleteShow proof lah as u have never done so in so many of yr gruffy farts before. Kerbau-ing is yr nature?
If not targeting for independence then why keep prolong & savaging the riotings to the next levels when the extradition bill was withdrawn?
Why asking for uncle Sam & auntie pommie's interferences for an internal affair? Openly flying their flags too in China territory!
Ooop…… for those 废青 weekend's frustration release fun, right?
HK is different bcoz of the benevolency of the central govt in offering a transitional grace period for a pampered hamba to learn to accept the sopo reality. Most of these colonial serfs have been meme-ed into knowing only demoncratic superiority (like u!) over 156yrs of serving a white master.
The central govt can very well bulldozed through with one country one system.
Only demonized mfer like u can still claim different bcoz of that spurious superiority of inconsequential fart!
Mfer, can u actually read & comprehend a simple sentence?
My take - China has kept her word of non-interference with the HK administrative processes, except sovereignty.
Understand "except sovereignty"?
Or yr understanding of sovereignty is HK sovereignty (independent HK?!)!!
Indeed, the central govt has kept her promises such that these 废青 can have their impunity fanfare every weekends.
So what lies?
Perhaps, in yr understanding of those rotten garden eggs with westernised demoncratic leaning!
Don't fitnah whenever u have lost an argument!
I'm doing my work (>50% charity) within a removed & poverty stricken area deep within the Colombia. Yes, most of the villagers r prone to socialistic ideas due to the prevailing Colombia suthoritarian sopo environment.
I too have my work in Lanzhou, China for many moons.
I keep to my word with actions.
What have u? But a 无病呻吟 rd moron, sitting in front of yr computer, ranting about yr (mis)understanding of the demoncratic liberalism!
One thing I'm 100% sure is u don't need any reeducation. That will be a waste of functional facility. All u need is to continue yr railtrack silo thinking to yr own doom in knowing yr utopian is also inherently authoritarian!
I repeat AGAIN for yr rd mind: The best way to treat Chinese running dog like u is to let umno/pas pampered u so much that u can behave exactly like 岩里政男 - ampu-ing them like yr ancestry.
Don't be trying to put yr one-liner labelling to shame the other Chinese m'sians lah.
U r NOT one of us!
" U r NOT one of us ! "
DeleteDia sudah masuk melayu dah, hehehe. Jangan marah ya HY....nak tanya sikit...sudah potong ke ? LOL
OKay....coming back to serious matter....that Joshua Wong with his slappable face (whose parents actually came from Vietnam to Hong Kong as refugees) was caught meeting with senior US official Julie Eadah from the USA’s Hong Kong consulate.
"Joshua Wong has recently been doing some flyin’ around and hobnobbing with the rich, famous and powerful. He went to Berlin and met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other ‘pro-democracy’ figures like Mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko, who was for awhile himself a Western favorite when the US was actively involved in the color revolution in Ukraine. While there, Wong met with Raed Al Saleh, the head of the White Helmets. For those who don’t know, the White Helmets are a Western propaganda construct with close links to terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Jahbat Al Nusra (now known as Tahrir Al Sham). What would a supposedly organic grassroots movement leader in China have in common with a Syrian war organization? On the surface, nothing; under the surface, everything; they are both propaganda and destabilization tools of Western (US-UK) foreign meddling and interference."
If Joshua Wong is trying to paint himself as a leader of a grassroots movement, he’s doing the worst job possible. The evidence is overwhelming that he’s just another pawn of US foreign policy and regime change efforts, led by notorious NGOs like the NED (National Endowment for Democracy).
He even met with devoted war hawk, neocon and Venezuelan coup-plotter Marco Rubio. This US Senator Marco Rubio had been drafting legislation to forge a split in China between Beijing and the Uyghur minority group. Why on Earth would Wong be associating with Rubio, unless it was precisely because he was getting tuition and instructions on how to split Hong Kong away from China, thus causing Beijing the maximum amount of difficulty as possible?
What the fuck these Hong Kong protestors are thinking when they are holding up signs asking President Trump to “liberate them”?
What do they want – the US to attack China and annex Hong Kong? Do they somehow think that Beijing will fold under pressure from the US-China Trade War and just let the US intervene in Hong Kong without consequences?