Awaiting a Democratic Hong Kong
I went to China yesterday to the border town of Lor Wu and bummed around. We went to a theme park, we went to a huge book store, we went had dinner and came home. Each time I set foot in the motherland, I get a sense of something. FEAR, INCREDULOUS, and PRIDE.
Incredulous at its size: the number of people, the history, the differences, in the past and what can happen in the future. The pride of being part of its history and future.
The fear of not being allowed to say what I think. My friend and I couldn’t stop talking about what we believe in. FREE SPEECH, DEMOCRACY, 1989, ONE DAY.
We whispered those words, we said it in hushed tones, we switched to English so those around us cannot hear or understand because we do not know the consequences. We do not want to get in trouble, we do not want to incite an argument, but we didn’t stop talking about it. Just because we crossed the border didn’t mean we had to stop thinking. Just because we are not allowed to say it out loud to others does not mean we do not think it.
A friend once said, “If the Chinese people talked about it more. If the rest of the world heard that’s what they want, then more people will help and care about it. But we don’t. Not over here, we don’t hear that’s what Chinese people want so we think they don’t care for it.”
And I said, “They can’t speak about it without being put into jail. How can they call? How can they let you know that’s what they want? If it’s not what people want, how come so many million people in 1989 came out and supported the students all over China. Why do you think the government came in with tanks? Because they were afraid. Why do you think China doesn’t want free speech? Because if they allowed it, then the people will ask, demand and call for change, and then it becomes an international quest. It becomes and quest of part of the billion and things will change.”
Just because you might not hear it from many, some of you may never hear it except through me but please don’t consider me the only one. I am not. But I am one of the 7 million people in a country of a billion who CAN say it and one of even less who says it in English. That’s all. But I am not alone.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 
I agree that Beijing is afraid of democracy in HK. Although the thought of HK people ever voting for an anti-China (?) CE is very remote. As is the desire for democracy to spread rapidly throughout the mainland.
The changing and opening up of ideas and thinking will, I think, be a slow process under present circumstances.
I do feel that asking many mainland people to form opinions on political systems and issues of free speech, human rights etc is like asking them to prepare a meal without any cooking utensils. Many of them simply don’t have the experience or basic grasp of the fundamentals to talk about/explore these ideas.
HOwever, things are changing and that certainly is afact.
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By the way, good post Yan.
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Thanks. I think so too. It’s very hard, there were moments when I probably spoke too loud (I wrote about it too but posted in a few days) and people looked. And I thought, “Are you looking because you are shocked? Are you looking because you’re interested? Are you looking because you think we’re stupid HK people? Are you looking because you want to speak with us?”
But I was too afraid to find out. I was frustrated with the fact I was too afraid to engage in a conversation with a stranger not because I am scared of talking to people I don’t know, but what is unknown and what that could mean for them.
How do you give people utensils if it means they might get in trouble?
Yan
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However, we also have to remember that those students who came out and the supporters came out in an even more repressive regime in 1989. It’s obvious they were very young, not always aware of what they were asking, sometimes just going on gut feeling, not a consistently well thought through or out time.
However, whatever they were asking got support. Not just in Beijing, Shanghai, all over China. I mean those people existed in a time and place where it might have been thought to be impossible (much like what happenned in Easter Europe and now the Baltic States). But they did and they are still there (The government didn’t get everyone).
And how did they come to be? Reading History. History of the US, India, Black America, etc. Although the history of the NOW isn’t reported, China does allow what went on before from other parts of the world into the country and into the hands of it’s citizen.
Sometimes the steps aren’t that huge. All one had to do is connect oneself with those who were previously oppressed or dienfranchised, understand by doing certain things percipiatated changes.
(I think Shen Tong’s Almost a Revolution is so interesting because of that, the first part of how it began and became, amazing. Although he could have held his tongue with lashing out at this hungrer striking friends personal foilbles. When I read it I kept thinking. “Come on they were hungry, give them a break”).
Yan
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I remember the the US ambassador (I forget his name) lamenting how the young generation in China “used to be America’s, now it’s the CCP’s again.”
He was referring to the Govt turning the “patriotic education” screws on the country’s school children. 1989 scared the hell out of the Party and they won’t make that mistake again.
Still, it’s a bit arrogant to call the Tiananmen generation “America’s”. I don’t think the US holds a monoploy on freedom and respect for democracy and human rights.
These days, however, IMHO, I do think it’s strange that the youth here are Internet-savvy, mobile-phone-using modern consumers but they do tend to be the most patriotic, easily identifying with the current anti-Japan, anti-US, victim mentality…and the great Chinese nationalist resurgence.
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I think calling those people who want freedoms American is a little bit much! I mean does that mean the Current Republican adminstration who is attacking those rights with the “Patriot Act” Un-American? (Although maybe the left should pick that up and use that retorhic back!)
However I think it makes sense. When the government allows you to be comfortable, internet savvy and mobile phone using life is on the rise, and therefore you’re less likely to feel like you need to attack the government (look at HK, the Brits gave us lots of economic benifits, did anyone complain then?) I think that’s what the Chinese government is banking on. As long as the economy is booming, as long as people are getting their material needs met and watch it improve they are going to be pro-government because they feel it is good for them. China is openning up also, so like there can be social protests (as long as it’s not a direct attack) happenning in Shenzen. People feel freer than they ever have. That’s a fact. Therefore less likely want to take on and they keep testing in their own way, and so far it’s been moving towards the direction they want.
However there will be points of contention. When the economy stills, when people feel so confident they will eventually take the government on and if the government doesn’t budge and allow some of those freedom and do another Tianamen, things will then become different again. That’s what Perostoka (Sorry atrocious spelling) in USSR did. They gave people enough freedoms so it eventually fell. Pretty peacefully.
Another thought is that Generation Y (Those born after 1975 to early 80s) are the most pro-government generation in American for the last 50 years, why? Because they were comfortable and the government hadn’t done anything to shock or upset them. However, that study was done PRE-Iraq War, so things probably have also changed. They were saying that because those kids grew up under the Clinton Administration, they didn’t feel oppressed. In some ways young China is the first time in a long time that a generation of children grew up under an increasingly lax regime has an impact.
Not that I have huge knowledge about how those in China think, but when I was visiting China, I think people were really proud of how far they have come, and was relieved the government has allowed that to happen as well as their own hard work. I mean there is a certain love of the country all Chinese people have, it’s hard to explain. I don’t feel even Americans who can be sickly patriotic has that strong a feeling in comparison.
Hmm.. like.. see people in China I met wanted a ONE China and believed in it, but it’s also underlining that China will catch up with the rest of the world, as in to say that the pre-requisite of there ideas, the underlining factor is China is changing, and it will bring good things.
Yan
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That last sentence was a jumble. Sorry.
Okay. WHat I meant to say is, that I felt that the people in China who I met in the city of Shanghai (I got to be really specific) who had florished under the current economic boom today believed in the government because it’s been doing good things for them both economically and socially.
Therefore people are very positive towards the government. But it does not mean they are totally apathetic. It’s more like, they do want ONE china (as in Taiwan, as in Hong Kong) because they believe the government is going the right direction and will continue to do so. Therefore as china opens up, we can all together reach better life and goals.
Underlying that believe is that people believe that it’s going to keep openning up. So those things like more freedoms will be allowed. I don’t think the love the old government, and if China stops changing, or it acts in a way that makes it seem that they are closing up, people will be disillusioned and things will change.
Added with the factor it’s really easy to FORGET. (I wrote about it but haven’t posted yet) that when you are living a good life that certain things aren’t allowed. Like my friend and I started forgetting what China was as we’re sitting there eating junk food and buying books. It’s insidious and we then had a conversation to remind ourselves what we were fighting for too. Comfort is the opiate of the masses. Not religion. Religion can make life hard too.
yan
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Today was election day in California! It can be very, very frustrating. One measure in particular, 56, is designed to give the government the power to pass taxes and fees with a 55% majority as opposed to the 2/3 that is currently required. My dad, a SF native and lifetime resident of California, says he will leave California if it passses :(. Today I was explaining the electoral college to a friend from Canada and how frustrating it is that individual votes can be lost by the wayside. I didn’t get to vote in the Democratic Primaries because I registered as an independent (not affiliated with any party). So even though I would like to vote for Dennis Kucinich for President, I don’t get to show my support that I want him to run this November. Sometimes it feels like “why bother, it’s all fucked anyway.”
But posts like these help keep it all in perspective. It’s not perfect- nothing ever is. But there were people, and still are people, who were/are devoting their entire lives and beings for the right to do what we Americans complain about so much. I hope, as frustrating as elections can be, that everyone who wants it gets a chance at that empowered feeling I get from mailing in my ballot. 🙂
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