Thanks to
Mac-7 for providing this interesting video and to
JoeB131 for making this a better discussion. This gives a good portrait of the way things are. Nobody can escape their history. Well maybe some can ...
This took place where? In Cologne, Germany. Many HK youth with a little money and connections have already moved away. They are angry. “Go back to China!” they say. They once were proud British subjects (Cantonese speakers mostly) in a tiny outpost of the West, taken from China by force, built up, made rich by being the outside world’s connection to China. They care deeply that HK is
slowly losing its freedom. Perfectly understandable. They no longer even have the satisfaction of thinking themselves richer and “better educated” than mainland Chinese, even if they live now in Germany.
The Chinese government did not need to tolerate Hong Kong’s often violent demonstrations, but it wisely restrained itself. Shanghai and Shenzhen directly trade with the world now, provide financial services. Hong Kong is tragically destroying itself and its economy. Of course, no more drugs or foreign armies will be allowed. But that is really no longer the issue.
That Chinese young women, tough as she appears, is representative of the new educated, wealthy, nationalist youth of China. She is patriotic, but not necessarily super-patriotic. We might call her “brainwashed.” But she is not brainwashed like many of the lunatics who write comments on this message board. She is intelligent. She knows that she has more freedom in Germany to study history, to learn about forbidden subjects, and even to publicly speak her mind, than she has back in China. Speak to her quietly, and she would probably admit it.
The question of Hong Kong ”independence” is off the table. The struggle for more democratic rights in China remains.
