Chinese are unhappy for this article by a ethnic Chinese person from Hong Kong, since this people in HK never fought against British for democracy or even similar rights they have since 1997. Even though British treated them like a bonded servant without brains, give them money, food, they are happy. Chinese government give them more rights except full political freedom. Now this people wants to hide their ethnicity as Chinese because they think they are superior to mainland Chinese. This cause an outrage. I do not like personal attacks on the article writer, but probably people should resort to polite debate and discourse. But given modern obsession with social network I don't see it.
I feel China is as terrifying as USA if you cross paths with government agencies. It has its own problems like any other government including USA. Let's wait for indictment of Assange under espionage act, it will erode first amendment rights which I think is one of the good thing in USA to keep democracy alive.
Look Portland, if you join the United States you can continue running your city as a democracy, we won’t mess with you, we just want you to join our country.
Hong Kong wasn't a democracy under British rule. It's become more democratic since the handover - not less.
A lot of Chinese people are touchy when you tell them that part of their country - a part that was taken away from China at the point of a gun in the 1800s - isn't part of China. They're proud that Hong Kong was returned to China, because it's a symbol of China overcoming colonialism, after all the damage and humiliation colonial powers inflicted on China. The Chinese central government is mostly happy to let Hong Kong run itself, as long as they don't try to secede from China, and secession is the primary goal of many of the "pro-democracy" activists.
There isn't really any analogous situation in the United States. Any attempt to make some sort of hypothetical analogy - involving Portland, for example - will sound forced, because the United States doesn't have the same history of foreign powers invading it and carving it up.
That wasn't done to the United States. It was done to the native people before the United States was founded, and by the United States to the native people afterwards.
The Chinese central government is not happy to let Hong Kong run itself. That's why Article 23 was pushed numerous times, as well the National Anthem Bill and the extradition law. They put their customs officials on Hong Kong territory, to the dismay of many locals. They also conduct extra-judicial behavior such as kidnapping HK citizens.
In 1997, HKers were afraid their freedoms would erode under Chinese rule. We were left alone for a while, but the spectre was always there. Now, the Central Government has made it more of a priority.
That said, there are many HKers who consider HK part of China and many others who don't.
The central government's red line is separatism. For most issues, they're not interested in intervening in Hong Kong's politics. I think most of the current tension is fundamentally over the issue of separatism.
I've given you examples which have nothing to do with "separatism", such as extradition and kidnapping, and you choose to ignore it. In another instance, a journalist was refused a visa because he chaired a panel. That's about freedom of speech, which HKers have long enjoyed.
I'm a Hong Konger and always will be. I'm aware of what the CCP is doing and they're not at all as hands-off as you make them seem. Xi Jin Ping especially does not tolerate differences.
Article 23 and the National Anthem Bill were both directly related to the issue of separatism. If by customs officials you're referring to the high-speed rail station, then that's an overblown issue.
The pressuring of the book sellers to go to China was indeed a very troubling incident. But the general, widespread control of Hong Kong politics by the central government that many people imagine is not there, and almost all of these issues are about the central government not allowing separatists to gain power in Hong Kong (e.g., the entire fight over who can run for the Chief Executive position). Something that is often ignored in these discussions is that under British rule, Hong Kongers has almost no say in their government, and that they now actually have much more say.
How familiar are you with Hong Kong? A lot of people who don't know anything about its history or politics are very surprised to hear that it wasn't a democracy under British rule.
> Your account is 2 days old and just has posted a bunch of geo-political Anti-Western stuff.
Poisoning the well much? If you're referring to my support for Assange, then I'll just say that I don't consider the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to be "anti-Western."
China really needs to overcome its own hangups about its sense of victimization by the British. Get the fuck over it. Lose that fascist notion of superiority over the world and learn to cooperate with it.
The Chinese emperors of yesterday and the communist party of today prioritize state power over all else. It is a country that will always lag in the world because it is too busy choking itself to death.
There's nothing "fascist" about opposition to colonialism. The attitude of most Chinese people isn't that they're the greatest in the world. Quite the opposite, they generally admire the developed world and want to emulate it in many ways. They don't generally want to be better than everyone else, but rather to be treated with respect. British control over Hong Kong was a reminder of a time when China was not treated with respect, in which it was forced to submit to humiliating treaties, in which foreign countries could force China to accept opium imports, in which Chinese territory was carved up, and in which Chinese people suffered under foreign invasions and occupation.
It's easy to tell other countries to get over colonialism, but colonialism is a major issue in the modern history of China. That's why Hong Kong is a touchy issue, and why a lot of Chinese people will get pissed off if you tell them it's not part of China. It was taken from China in a war in which the British forced China to import opium. Just keep that in mind when you think about why Chinese people might react as they do.
But not a lot of British citizens get this violently or persistently up in arms about American independence, despite that war happening only a few years earlier.
The remaining descendants of French aristocratic families aren't trying to claim their rights stolen in that revolution.
There does come a point in time where past difficulties should be laid to rest.
Telling China to get over colonialism is like telling black people to get over racism.
These inhumane policies have been in place for centuries so after 3-4 decades of half-heartedly treating people as equals, "get over it" isn't going to fly.
Generally the victims decide when to move on, not the attackers.
Well, yes, colonialism is a major issue in the modern history of China; China acts like a colonizer towards its border territories. There's something fascist about ethnic cleansing, about re-education camps, about disappearing citizens without habeas corpus, about killing religious prisoners and harvesting their organs.
We can have both truths; it can both be true that China suffered greatly under British colonialism, and also be true that China is committing dire human rights violations which, to the degree that they further a Han Chinese ethnostate, are fascist. Tibetans, Uighurs, and indeed the people of Hong Kong are suffering under China's policies.
We've asked you many times to please follow the guidelines and since it's not happening we've banned the account. We're happy to unban accounts if you email us at hn@ycombinator.com.
Geographically and politically it may be true but an identity is something that is hard to shake off, especially given the differences in dialect and customs. Portland and the US just doesn't have that difference.
Many mainlanders believe that Hong Kongers are just haughty elites that think that they are higher than the mainlanders.
Those sinofascists also tell ethnic Chinese citizens of other countries that they are Chinese, and owe allegiance to the People's Republic. Not much different from Nazi Germany's expectations of ethnic Germans living abroad.
Except that the Chinese citizens feel extreme offense and hurt feelings when told that some Chinese are not citizens and don't owe a damn thing to the People's Republic.
Could this article be provocative on purpose? This seems like something that is written to provoke outrage, and exactly what I would do if I were running anti-chinese propaganda. It's unconfirmably anecdotal, the victim is a female Boston college student (very easy to sympathize with), and fits in the "China is expanding their fascist policies" narrative.
In the same vein, if I were running Chinese propaganda, I'd probably write a story about how a fat American in China demands a Chinese laborer give up their seat because they are inferior.
During my stay at various research institutes throughout Europe where I met a lot of Chinese PhD students and Researchers, it was surprising to know that many of these highly educated intelligent people didn’t see anything wrong with Chinese leadership. And insisted Tibet is theirs and Hong Kong is part of China. I was really shocked at first but a friend from Hong Kong explained me that many Chinese are highly patriotic and brainwashed from Chinese media to distrust western media. And anything bad western media says about china they think it’s all false.
This article is very impressive to me. China is able to project cultural power to US universities.
That’s incredible. The West has no comparable. We’re too confused these days with the myriad of identity politics in our democracy and China has realized that that is a weakness and is going to exploit it.
Semi-relevant anecdote: Back in my first year of university (in the UK), I remember coming back from the Christmas break to find my Chinese flatmate, disheveled. Turns out he had spent the holiday in the library reading up on Tiananmen Square and the like and was very eager to share with me his astonishing discoveries. He was surprised when I told him that people outside of China know about all that stuff. I can't imagine how confused it all must've made him feel, especially since he returned to China after his studies.
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