In China, Shrugs and Sneers for

Hong Kong Protesters

The mainland has had a rocky relationship with the
special city for years -- and it's showing.
BY DAVID W!TI"#$T#B! %& %'()
The swelling ranks of *ong +ong protesters demanding more of a
say in their city's f,t,re ha-e inspired wide admiration among Western
o.ser-ers for their peacef,lness& their cleanliness& and their democratic
aspirations. B,t among mainland $hinese& they are largely seen as
/alarmist&/ /coerced&/ /e0ploited .y political forces&/ or 1,st plain /spoiled./

#n #ct. (& the anni-ersary of the fo,nding of the 2eople's !ep,.lic of $hina
-- three days after *ong +ong police shocked st,dent-led pro-democracy
protesters .y sending tear gas canisters into peacef,l crowds -- a
consens,s was emerging among $hinese neti3ens who care a.o,t what's
happening in *ong +ong that protesters there are more worthy of derision&
or at least skepticism& than appla,se.
Despite the fact that many related terms ha-e .een censored and
mainstream $hinese media has .een largely m,te on the topic --
instr,ctions leaked on 4ept. %5order o,tlets to /clear away/ information
a.o,t *ong +ong st,dents /-iolently assa,lting the go-ernment/ -- it's easy
to 6nd disc,ssion of *ong +ong on ma1or $hinese social platforms. The
res,lts are ,nlikely to please those who s,pport the democratic aspirations
of many residents of *ong +ong& a former British colony that's now a special
administrati-e region of $hina.
#ne pop,lar item on massi-e mo.ile chat platform We$hat dated 4ept. %7
and titled /Who does *ong +ong .elong to8/ seems .est to grasp the
3eitgeist. It incl,des e0treme lang,age 9it calls some *ong +ongers /nglish
r,nning dogs/:& .,t also lists some arg,ments likely to .e fo,nd among
mainstream opponents of *ong +ong's protests. This incl,des the pop,lar
9if hard to pro-e: complaint that *ong +ongers' ta0 payments do not 6nd
their way to Bei1ing& and a disc,ssion of *ong +ong's reliance on the
mainland for reso,rces& gi-en that the city does indeed so,rce o-er ;'
percent of its pota.le water and 7' of its fresh meat and -egeta.les from
mainland $hina. The article arg,es that $hina has st,ck assid,o,sly to its
/one co,ntry& two systems/ agreement& allowing *ong +ong an
independent 1,diciary& legislat,re& and e0ec,ti-e. B,t the article also
repeats the ,npro-en notion that protesters are p,shing for *ong +ong's
independence -- .eca,se& it holds& some held ,p the *ong +ong colonial-era
<ag -- and .eca,se they ,sed /-iolent means/ to s,rro,nd the *ong +ong
go-ernment head=,arters.
Wei.o& $hina's Twitter-like platform& pro-ides another .arometer for p,.lic
opinion. #ne ,ser wrote& /If *ong +ongers keep making tro,.le& $hinese
and foreign in-estors will lose con6dence& *ong +ong's stat,s as a free port
will fall& and capital will possi.ly .e withdrawn.... It will .e like *ong +ong
freely handing capital o-er to 4hanghai./ A conser-ati-e lawyer named W,
Danhong wrote that /those making a stink for no reason are the minority>
the ma1ority already ,nderstands that *ong +ong isn't a colony anymore.
There's no market for *ong +ong independence& and no s,pport. Those
willing to act as anti-$hina pawns are shooting themsel-es in the foot./
The ,se of the term /market/ -- and the in-ocations of 4hanghai& mainland
$hina's 6nancial capital and its showcase city -- aren't accidental. *ong
+ong once ,sed to .e the only way for foreigners to in-est in $hina& its
famo,sly glistering city lights pro-iding a constant reminder to its dark
comm,nist neigh.or of the fr,its of free trade. ?ow& its reported @D2 is only
;) percent of 4hanghai's& and an A,g,st report.y a $hinese go-ernment-
aAliated think tank arg,ed 9perhaps self-ser-ingly: that *ong +ong was in
danger of .ecoming a /second-tier/ city .y %'%%. An article posted A,g. (5
to disc,ssion for,m Tianya titled /*ong +ong's pro.lemB It's the economy&
st,pidC/ cited o-ercrowding from mainland -isitors and rising prices as the
root ca,ses of *ong +ong's discontent. It has .een circ,lated widely as of
late. /ighty percent of those in the lower and middle classes ha-e too hard
a time of it& and they are nat,rally letting their anger o,t on the *ong +ong
and $entral go-ernments&/ wrote the ,nnamed a,thor.
Anti-protest arg,ments espo,sing order& loyalty& and patriotism 9or
nationalism: are also easy to 6nd. There are the traditional worries&
fre=,ently in-oked .y Bei1ing& that democracy .reeds chaos. #ne
personwrote& /If *ong +ong descends into anarchy& or splits into a few small
warring states& no one's democratic dreams will .e reali3ed. If there's no
national framework& then there's no democracy to speak of./ Then there are
complaints that allowing *ong +ong to dictate to Bei1ing wo,ld .e allowing
the tail to wag the dog. A -ocal ,ser on the *ong +ong =,estion calling
himself /,nsilent ma1ority/ wrote& /The right to decide the Basic Daw is no
longer with *ong +ongers. Yo,'d .est a.ide .y the law and .eha-e
yo,rself./ The /,nsilent ma1ority/ asked& /Do yo, ha-e the power to
desta.ili3e ,s8 4i0 million isn't eno,gh./ There are also fre=,ent in-ocations
of patriotism. ?oting that one wellspring of dissent is Bei1ing's stated
re=,irement that any $hief 0ec,ti-e /lo-e $hina&/ one ,ser asked& /Is it so
wrong to ask that the $hief 0ec,ti-e lo-e his co,ntry8 4ho,ld there really
.e a region of $hina led .y someone who doesn't8/
Among those many disc,ssing *ong +ong& arg,a.ly no one made a .igger
splash in $hinese cy.erspace than Eohn !oss& a British academic now
aAliated with !enmin Fni-ersity of $hina& a prestigio,s school in Bei1ing.
!oss wrote on Wei.o that Western co-erage of the recent protests has .een
/too hypocritical./ 9In a sign of the times& the academic then appended an
animated& -omiting emoticon.: !oss also wrote& correctly& that d,ring its
colonial r,le the F.+. had ne-er permitted *ong +ongers to -ote for the
head of their go-ernment. /The system $hina has set ,p for *ong +ong is
m,ch more democratic&/ !oss arg,ed. #-er (GG&''' acco,nts shared the
message& and o-er G)&''' wrote in> of those comments& most were
s,pporti-e.
!oss's criti=,e was pop,lar in part .eca,se he wondered alo,d why the
Fnited 4tates was e0pressing s,pport for the protestors. 9The White *o,se
has stated that the Fnited 4tates /s,pports ,ni-ersal s,Hrage in *ong +ong
in accordance with the .asic law/ as well as /the aspirations of the *ong
+ong people./: A -ocal .,t not negligi.le minority gen,inely .elie-es that
foreign forces are .ehind recent e-ents. A widely circ,lating article&
originally penned in E,ne and rep,.lished #ct. ( on (IG.com& a ma1or news
portal& a.ly s,mmari3es the attit,de of some $hinese conser-ati-es toward
*ong +ong. The acc,sation-packed piece& called /Who really is the .lack
hand .ehind *ong +ong independence8/ .egins& /!ecently& gangdu/ --
$hinese for *ong +ong separatists& who do not appear to act,ally .e a
dri-ing force .ehind the c,rrent protests -- /ha-e .een happily making
tro,.le& and .ehind it is an America hoping to p,sh Jthe mo-ementK to its
height./ It goes on to name a great many .ogeymenB 2a,l Wolfowit3& the
?ational ndowment for Democracy& @eorge 4oros& and the $IA. The article
acc,ses the West of making /c,lt,ral prod,cts/ in a /war of ideals/ that it
then foists on ,ns,specting o-erseas pop,lations. The goal& the article
declares& is to then /stim,late Taiwanese independence& Lin1iang
independence& and Ti.etan independence/ to ca,se /m,ltiple tro,.les for
$hina& making $hina ,na.le to pay attention to its great power str,ggle
with the Fnited 4tates./
It is tempting to chalk this f,lmination against *ong +ongers and their
alleged Western p,ppet masters to $hina's massi-e censorship apparat,s&
which makes it diAc,lt 9tho,gh .y no means impossi.le: to -iew certain
Western mainstream and social media sites like Mace.ook& Twitter& and
the New York Times& while scr,..ing heterodo0 content from $hinese social
media sites in order to clear room for state-controlled messages. 4ome of
the anti-Western rhetoric is old& and well-worn among regimes .eyond
$hina's. B,t sentiment toward *ong +ong isn't f,lly e0plained .y the fact
that state ser-ice Linh,a called #cc,py $entral& one organi3ation .ehind
the demonstrations& a /shame on the r,le of law/ in an #ct. ( editorial& or
that on the same day& $omm,nist 2arty mo,thpiece People's
Daily warned of /,nimagina.le/ conse=,ences sho,ld protests contin,e.
After an electronic petition to the White *o,se to /s,pport *ong +ong
democracy and pre-ent a second Tiananmen massacre in *ong +ong/
garnered o-er (7I&''' signat,res& and the White *o,se responded .y
essentially repeating its talking points& one Wei.o ,ser circ,lated an image
of the administration's reply& since deleted from Wei.o .y censors.
$omments did not e-ince gratit,de that a -eil had .een lifted> instead& the
most ,p--oted posts mocked the American response.
The s,rprisingly harsh rhetoric toward *ong +ongers traces to antipathy
that's .een growing for some time.
To many in the mainland& the *ong +ong pro-democracy protest looks like
an eHort to p,sh the mainland away. After all& tensions .etween the two
ha-e .een r,nning high for years. *ong +ongers organi3ed en
masse against a proposed anti-s,.-ersion law in E,ly %''G&
then againstmainland eHorts to install a /moral and national ed,cation/
c,rric,l,m in E,ly %'(%. 9It's con-entional wisdom that the *ong +ong
go-ernment& ,nder Bei1ing's th,m.& cannot and will not .,dge an inch to
protesters' demands now. B,t in .oth pre-io,s cases& it e-ent,ally ca-ed.:

And those are 1,st the s,.stanti-e disagreements. *ong +ongers and
mainlanders ha-e traded m,ch more personal .ar.s as well& in many cases
the res,lt of friction .etween city residents& who n,m.er a.o,t ; million&
and mainland to,rists& who n,m.ered o-er )' million in %'(G alone& often
o-erwhelming city reso,rces and leading to fre=,ent r,n-ins. In Ean,ary
%'(%& conser-ati-e mainland p,ndit-professor +ong Ningdong called *ong
+ongers /dogs/ on an online news show& inf,riating the city. ?ot to .e
o,tdone& in Me.r,ary %'(%& a spat a.o,t s,.way eti=,ette metastasi3ed
into an ,nfort,nate meme& a,thored .y yo,ng *ong +ongers& that likened
mainland -isitors to loc,sts. 4,ch tiHs ha-e contin,ed. #n April %%& Moreign
2olicy reported on the ferocio,s social media fallo,t after the mainland
$hinese parents of a child ca,ght relie-ing himself on a *ong +ong street
got into a -ideotaped sc,Oe with angry witnesses. 9The article says the
child /,rinated&/ altho,gh M2's .eleag,ered copy editor recei-ed m,ltiple
demands that we correct the record to re<ect a defecation. M2 was ,na.le
to dispatch a correspondent to cond,ct a forensic follow-,p.:
That's not to say tho,sands -- perhaps millions -- of $hinese don't s,pport
*ong +ong protestors& either openly or silently. 2,.lic intellect,als ha-e
grown fond of writing a.o,t *ong +ong in code& often referring to the /2earl
of the #rient&/ a (77( song written in praise of *ong +ong& or saying they
are /.,ying an i2hone/ as they .eam .ack pict,res from protest sites. 4ome
acti-ists ha-e openly stated their s,pport on We$hat ,sing a hashtag that
means /holding fast to freedom in the rain./ In one comment& later deleted&
a Wei.o ,ser complained& /A lot of people are saying *ong +ong is ha-ing
tro,.le .eca,se the economy is declining. This foc,s on the economy is the
mental ha.it of people ,sed to sitting tight and .eing sla-es./ ",ltiple #ct.
( posts showed massi-e crowds packing the downtown district Admiralty on
the e-ening of national day -- /what .ea,tif,l night scenery&/ m,sed one.
Those =,ickly got the a0e too.
B,t perhaps most fr,strating -- or fore.oding -- to s,pporters of *ong
+ong's ,ni-ersal s,Hrage mo-ement is 1,st how many $hinese feel remo-ed
from the historic e-ents in the city's .,siness and shopping districts& as
protestors camp near .,ildings as likely to .e named "el.o,rne 2la3a and
Wheelock *o,se as Yook "ing or Takshing. To most mainlanders& *ong +ong
and its eclectic& nglish- and $antonese-speaking inha.itants feel -ery far
away. 4tate media carries strident editorials& .,t they are few> a reader not
looking for news a.o,t *ong +ong might not 6nd it. And those who do may
not care. #ne Wei.o ,serwho descri.es himself as a /patriot/ was almost
.lasPB /Dast time in *ong +ong& I took my child to Disney World. If there's no
*ong +ong/ -- that is& if *ong +ong is destroyed -- /I can take them to the
one in Tokyo. ?e0t year& 4hanghai will open one. Det *ong +ongers do as
they will./
Shujie Leng, Lotus Yuen, and Yun Tang contributed research
Posted by Thavam