Occupy Central Protests

The Occupy Central Movement began on Sept. 28, 2014. Today is Dec. 9th, and the protests are still ongoing, blocking main city roads for more than two months. I will confess to not knowing as much about the protests as your average Hong Konger, because I fail to read the news everyday, and I don't know all of the ins and outs of the arguments. But, I wanted to be sure that I remembered that this happened while we lived here, hence this blog post. 

The protests actually began while Drew and I were on our trip to Myanmar. We never thought that we would be more in danger going back home than staying in a place like Myanmar. We had so many people contact us asking if we were ok and safe in Hong Kong. (Thanks everyone!) They were seeing constant news coverage back in the States, and apparently things looked very violent. In actuality, I have never once felt unsafe being in Hong Kong while the protests have been going on. However, I have not been involved at all. We weren't there when the massive demonstrations took place, as seen in the photos below. And we, for the most part, avoid the areas where the demonstrations are being held. As a friend of mine said, "You can be as involved or uninvolved as you want." Day to day, the only thing that really changed was traffic. Many of the buses had to be rerouted as the protesters blockaded key roads throughout the city. The main areas are in Central, near the government offices, in Causeway Bay near Sogo (this section we see on a daily basis) and Mongkok on Nathan Road. Thousands of protesters came out to demonstrate that first weekend in September. 

While I can't say much about the issues at hand here, I will give a general overview, and then invite you to do more research. Hong Kong was officially returned to China by the British in 1997, at which time China promised to not change anything in Hong Kong for 50 years, operating within a "one country, two systems" framework. However, lately they have begun meddling with lots of things in Hong Kong, the most obvious being the electoral system. Essentially, Beijing wanted to hand-pick who could be allowed on the ballot for Hong Kong governor, ensuring the governor would be someone who supported Beijing politics more than Hong Kong's. This, of course, caused major concern to the democratic supporters in Hong Kong, and thus the protests began. While there are many other issues that came into play here, this is the heart of it.

By the end of that first weekend, things seemed to be getting out of control, and the police used tear gas on the protesters to try to prevent them from forming a solid blockade. Instead of dispersing the crowds, it gave the protesters something to bond over, creating the Yellow Umbrella Movement as the informal name of their cause. Most of the protesters, in the beginning, were mainly university students. After the tear gas was used, many other Hong Kongers joined the protest to support the students, swelling the numbers drastically. The largest count was almost 100,000 people! 

Eventually they did set up a formal blockade, and then they set up camp, settling down for the long haul. Again, this was mostly university students. They would attend class during the day, then return at night for speeches, discussions etc.

One of the secondary issues at stake here is loyalty. Because Hong Kong is, technically, a part of China, many fundamentally Chinese people believe Hong Kong should just listen to its overarching leaders and follow Beijing's guidance. However, fundamentally Hong Kong people think it should maintain its democratic and capitalistic values as long as possible. The front flag in the picture below is the Chinese flag, the second one is the Hong Kong flag. I got to discuss the protests with my language partner, and she, being from mainland China but living in Hong Kong, agreed that the protesters that only wanted to change some of the policies were right to argue. However, she did not agree with the protesters that wanted nothing to do with China. 

Another interesting issue she brought up was why was the US helping the protesters? There were numerous claims that the protesters were receiving funding from the National Endowment for Democracy NED, a US nonprofit that receives money from Congress via the USAID. That was an interesting conversation. "Well, there are certain people in America who believe that democracy is the most important thing in the world, so when they can assist others trying to implement or protect democracy, they do so, regardless if it is their rightful place to do so." She didn't seem satisfied with my answer. It does bring up a good question though. Are other democratic countries obligated to help those who also want to uphold democracy? Many would say lots of wars have been fought over such an argument; others would argue that those same arguments were actually about resources, not ideals, but that's another matter. As long as there aren't human rights violations involved, should we get involved? But then, some would argue that being able to elect your own leader is the most important human right and should be protected at all costs. It's a touchy subject all the way around.

Another interesting result from the protests has been hearing about censorship of the protests back in China. Everyone knows censorship happens in China, but it was amazing to see how widespread it was. Reporters would interview mainland Chinese visitors asking about their opinion on the protests, and they would know nothing about them, saying they were just here to shop. There were also examples of Chinese media completely fabricating news, saying the protesters were gathered to celebrate Chinese National Day, which occurred the weekend the protests broke out. Shocking. Maybe there are basic human rights at stake here. 

However, after over two months of demonstrations, the majority of the people in Hong Kong are now actually getting sick of it. They want their lives to go back to normal. They want the roads to be reopened. They want their commutes to be a reasonable length again. They want traffic to not be a nightmare. Me too. But it's sad, because I actually doubt anything came from these protests. Beijing would get into too much hot water if they allowed Hong Kong's protest to succeed. Imagine what the rest of China might do then! People suspect that the protesters who still remain are the super hardcore ones, and that they might put up a bit of a fight if they are forced to go. Newspapers claim they might get ousted this Thursday, but they have been making claims like this for several successive weeks. Just for safety, I'll probably stay away from those areas on Thursday, as you never know. 

Xi'an Shaanxi History Museum

The next day we went to the Shaanxi History Museum, which displayed the history of the Province for the last several thousand years. That seems incredible to say when American history, not including Native American history which, unfortunately, no one seems to care about, is only a few hundred years old. Anyways, the museum is free, but they only give out a certain number of tickets every day to prevent overcrowding, so we had to wait in quite a queue that morning to get our free tickets. 

The Chinese are credited with inventing numerous items, including alcohol, the mechanized clock, tea production, iron and steel smelting, porcelain, the compass, and moveable type printing. The most notable are silk, paper, and gun powder. Imagine how different this world would be if the Chinese had used gun powder more for weaponry and less for fireworks! Below are remnants of some of the earliest silk. A journey on the silk road anyone?

Remember, Chang'an, or Xi'an in ancient times, was the start, or end!, of the Silk Road. 

These are remnants of early paper. This invention alone propelled the entire human race forward, as records could now be made with ease and ideas more easily shared. It's interesting to think about how China had such a monumental impact with all of its inventions in ancient times, but in recent times China is known for copying items instead of creating them. Where did all of those creative juices go?



This was another emperor's miniature version of the Terracotta Warriors. Not as impressive, sure, but still interesting as, again, all of the statues are individual.

This is a wooden mold for making metal coins.

The thing on the left is an ancient counting devise, pre-abacus. The thing on the right is a right angle tool, used to ensure accuracy in building. This tool is from 206 BCE. My dad has one just slightly larger in his garage right now. That's one reason why I love mathematics. It transcends time and never loses its importance.

The Chinese have also been steaming their food since 5000-3000 BCE. Steaming food? I'm pretty sure my ancestors were only capable of skewers and stews back then. 

Apparently the first form of money in China was sea shells. Drew immediately thought of the problem with this. If you lived by the sea, you'd automatically be rich! So, I guess this monetary system only worked in Xi'an, which was nowhere near the sea.

After the museum, we went to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, another famous landmark in Xi'an built in 625 CE.  There was a lovely park around this landmark as well, including the largest outdoor fountain in Asia.

This is a view of the fountain right before a water and sound show. All of these people kept running across from one side to the other, trying to make landfall before the waterworks. I don't think they'd get wet anyways, but it was funny to watch them scurry across.

Let the show begin! It actually lasted about 30 min and including all kinds of music, from ancient Chinese songs to songs from the Nutcracker. 

On our way out, we stopped by a noodle shop and had the Xi'an famous biang biang mian noodles. Delicious!

That afternoon, we walked over to the famous Xi'an city wall. This city wall is the largest, complete city wall in the world. They've renovated it, of course, but you could still get a really good feel of what it felt like in ancient times.

This is a shot of new Xi'an built outside of the city walls. These big buildings need more room!

The city wall came complete with a moat and drawbridge!

We also rented a tandem bicycle and rode around the entire top of the wall. For the majority of the time, Drew rode in front. I also gave it a try, but it was WAY harder than I expected! Not sure about the physics of it all, but having more weight in the back than the front made it REALLY hard to balance. I almost tipped us over several times. It almost felt like slacklining. 

Gorgeous sunset views from the top of the city wall!

These were volunteer guards of the city wall. Every few hours they'd have a guard change and do this cool little procession around the gate checking things out.

Back to Riu Min Jie for dinner! Drew was the artist for this shot! Good work babe!

These little half moon shaped dumplings are called jaozi, while the circular ones are called baozi. Drew loved these little jaozi in a spicy soup. There were three ladies making the jaozi right next to us; I bet they made thousands per day!

The next day, or last day in Xi'an, we stopped by a street vendor or a Xi'an taco. This guy was frying our tortilla thing in oil, delicious!

Then we were off for a walk through the Daming Palace. Originally it was the summer palace of the emperor, but they liked it so much they made it their permanent residence. I thought this was strange considering the palace was actually outside of the city walls. So the emperor, all of this staff, and all of the precious goods had to be moved from the palace inside of the city walls every time there was an attack? Sounds like poor planning to me. Unless there is a tunnel! Secret tunnel... secret tunnel.... Of course, everything on the huge site burned down ages ago. Now only this stone foundation and a few others remain of the buildings. Today it is a huge park that people use for relaxation and festivals. 

This was a very interesting looking playground filled with fake gold drums.

And this little guy was making a break for it. Run away, run away!

The old wall around the palace. Only the gate remains.

Finally, we we flew away from Xi'an, we realized that it has a similar pollution problem to Denver or LA. The mountains trap the polluted air on top of the city, creating this bowl effect. Above the bowl is beautiful clear skies!