If you’re a Wikipedia fan, you’ll notice there’s a page created and dedicated to the “2019 Hong Kong protests.” With 530 citations, and more to come as the situation is still developing, the Wikipedia page is in great length recording this non-violent-turned-violent political movement in Hong Kong.
The 2019 Hong Kong protest is so close to home. For the past five months, I’ve been hoping to write about it but the situation changes too fast to catch up. The 2019 Hong Kong protest has reached a much larger scale in terms of the impact to the city and the world than the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement.
I’m saddened that Hong Kong has become a city of polarization. Protesters cannot tolerate different political opinions. They take the most radical way to demonstrate their anger. The pro-Beijing government’s attitude toward party loyalty is non-negotiable. Law enforcement forces also take an aggressive approach to quell the riots. The White Terror is sweeping the international trade hub in the fallout from a series of destructive acts including vandalism, arson, road blockage, physical assaults, confrontation between the riot police and the rioters.
In Hong Kong, doxing is becoming a powerful weapon when a person’s private information is leaked online. The minute after a police officer shot a black-clad protester in Sai Wan Ho on November 11, the officer’s and his family’s personal information was immediately doxed. They even received death threats online targeting the officer’s children. This is not a random practice. In fact, the common practice by protesters has driven netizens, especially those who are pro-police and pro-government to self-censor their online comments for fear of being doxed. Police officers and their families are at risk because of doxing. Because of that, I was inspired to write a short story set in Hong Kong in the backdrop of this protest.
I’m angry that Hong Kong has become a city of chaos. Mass transportation is what I treasure and brag about the most in this city. But now major highways are blocked by barricades, chairs and construction materials; roads are impassable because bricks are dugged out and laid on the surface as obstruction. Railway tracks are dangerous for service trains after abandoned bikes are left on the tracks. Even fire was set on the tracks. Ticketing machines and the entrance at the metro stations are smashed, burnt and blocked.
When I visited Hong Kong airport as a transit passenger this September—just a few days after the protest had paralyzed the airport—it was quieter than my last visit. I realized how serious the situation had become. Posters and electronic bulletin boards at the airport officially announced a long list of banned weaponry to bring into Hong Kong. Many of them have been used in the violent protest today.
In my memoir Golden Orchid, I mentioned how close Guangzhou and Hong Kong were geographically, in language, culture, trade and even in political stance toward Beijing. So when Hong Kong protests broke out in June 2019 surrounding the controversial extradition bill, I felt extremely uneasy. I’ve witnessed how the central government solidifies its power in every corner of mainland at all costs. Just a look at the Cantonese language. The number of native Cantonese speakers in Guangzhou has dwindled in recent years as a result of the domestic migration of new residents, many from non-Cantonese speaking towns and cities, and as a result of the nationwide Speak Mandarin Campaign that wipes out the local languages.
If Hong Kong becomes just a Chinese city like others in the mainland, Mandarin speakers will soon dominate the upper class of Hong Kong society. Gradually, Mandarin will become the lingua franca in Hong Kong, just like what is happening today in Guangzhou. According to some statistics, since the Hong Kong Handover in 1997, more than one million new immigrants from mainland China are living in Hong Kong. At least two million new immigrants moved to Guangzhou metropolis between 2007 and 2017. The wealthy and democratic places on earth are always attracting new immigrants. Hong Kong is one of these special places in Greater China. Subsequently, the local culture, including language and lifestyle, will face challenges from the outsiders. How to coexist is the key question between the natives and the newcomers.
In the past week as the situation develops much nastier and out of hand, the Hong Kong protest looks pro-democracy, but it is also a result of cyber-terrorism. The Special Branch division under British rule, which handled intelligence duties, was disbanded before the Hong Kong Handover in 1997. Hong Kong’s anti-graft watchdog ICAC and the police intelligence division have not done their job to safeguard citizens’ personal information. Doxing becomes handy for the rioters to take revenge. Unlike mainland China and Taiwan where mobile phone users are required to register their real names, Hong Kong disposable cellphone numbers are too easy to obtain. The loophole is so huge that hackers can steal personal data and leave no trace to track.
In the age of post-truth politics, netizens pick and choose information they want to know and agree with. Hong Kong people’s opinion about the city’s future is influenced by the social media discussion. Given the fact that the government remains unresponsive to the protesters’ grievances, the protesters are taking their chances to escalate the anti-government demonstrations. Hong Kong protesters are young and internet-savvy. Their sentiments are easily aroused by graphic images of the evil and falsehood disseminated among friends and families. The more people agree with a false statement, the more true the statement appears. Isn’t this what Donald Trump is good at? The fanning of emotion also stirs up the law enforcement forces. Who wouldn’t want to do something if one’s family or fellow officer is threaten by thugs?
As Martin Luther King once said in 1958, “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.” I only can pray that Hong Kong will return to its normality soon.