Alia | September 3rd, 2014 – 9:47 pm
The divide between Hong Kong locals and their mainland counterparts is sometimes larger than their physical distance, with Hong Kongers calling mainland tourists “locusts”, and mainlanders calling Hong Kongers “unappreciative sour grades who cannot get over their loss of advantage over mainland.” Despite the mutual hostility, however, quest for democracy may be the one thing that binds the two camps.
6This past Sunday, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress issued restrictive guidelines for the election of Hong Kong’s next chief executive in 2017. Instead of giving in to calls for universal suffrage by Hong Kong activists (Occupy Central), China pushed a plan by which nominees must be vetted and approved by more than half of a committee who has largely been under the control of Beijing.
At this point, no one is sure about how things will unfold in the near further as one leader of the Occupy Central activists declared de facto defeat. But the announcement, and the events that follow, will surely have an impact that reaches beyond Hong Kong into mainland.
The struggles of Hong Kong activists didn’t receive nearly as much media attention as it did outside of China’s great wall of censorship, but mainland netizens are just as opinionated. Surprisingly, many side with the activists.