Time Magazine, published in Dec 2014

When passengers inflight asked me about what happened in Central(中環/中环) which is the busiest business part in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014, I just told them, ‘We are fighting for a better Hong Kong.’

Maybe in others' eyes, Hong Kong people have so many freedoms: freedom of speech, publishing, religious etc. but now especially these few years, we all can see how China government wanna control different aspects of Hong Kong, even though the Chinese government promised us on paper: Hong Kong can still remind ‘one country, two systems’ (一國兩制/一国两制) and ‘everything unchanged for 50 years'(五十年不變/五十年不变) after 1997. Seems like the changes come earlier before 2047.

What is Umbrella Revolution?

Umbrella Revolution is the largest Civil disobedience (公民抗命) protest in Hong Kong so far. The protest began after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) issued a decision regarding proposed reforms to the Hong Kong electoral system. The decision was widely seen to be highly restrictive, and tantamount to the Chinese Communist Party's pre-screening of the candidates for the leader of Hong Kong.

Many people commented it’s like Hong Kong version of ‘Tiananmen Square protests of 1989’. (1989年天安門事件/1989年天安门事件). Without doubt, it was the very first time Hong Kong people tried to group together to express the same appeal - ‘We want one man, one vote for the chief executive elections in 2017’ (一人一票選特首/一人一票选特首) Yes, it’s this year but seems like this goal is still far away for Hong Kong.

Why HongKonger stood up for fighting against the government this time?

Hong Kong people normally are labelled as ‘a group of people who has political apathy’ for many years. Rather than saying HongKonger has political apathy, it’d better to say in this way - most of the Hong Kong people are too satisfied with the existing living conditions now, especially the old generation like my grandparents and parents. They suffered so much in 1950 and 1960s : no money, bad living conditions, serious plague, death etc. They are just afraid and worried that one day government can take back what they are having now if we do something against government. However, the new generations have different perspectives : they try to do something to protect our own beautiful garden for better life not only focus on 'NOW'. Kind of ‘awareness’ of our own ‘HongKonger’ identity.

Ending...

The ending of the protest was not peaceful and satisfied at all; on the contrary, it was quite disappointing and shame. It turned out to be something related to violence between students and polices, different political parties. And one more important thing is this protest kind of being an perfect excuse for Chinese government to strengthen their determination to constrain and take over Hong Kong very soon.

I stayed with those students with my support for few days. Their braveness and awareness made me so proud; on the other hand, I felt so sorry to them and there was so much pain inside my heart when I saw they got hurt in the protest. Of course, compared to ‘Tiananmen Square protests', we didn't see how tanks drove over the protesters, and how many people were killed by guns and bombs in Umbrella Revolution. But I could see how Police threw tear bombs to the students when they were sleeping at midnights as they were so exhausted, how they shot the students with lots of plastic billets when those students were just sitting down and trying to express their opinions about their future to government in a peaceful way. Do you know how the students protected themselves when they were attacked? Just an umbrella.

I just wish one day the dreams of those young generations would come true as they are the owners of the future Hong Kong and they deserve our support and love... Please always believe : if your next generations still can dream, support them with love and strength because it means we still have hopes for our future and our home place.

'You do not have the permission to vote' - Street art in Hong Kong( Someone in Hong Kong painted it on the wall when the British graffiti artist Banksy posted this picture on his twitter after Umbrella Revolution ended).

Thanks for reading it,
Gladys

Please follow @gladysmak

-_{Pictures are captured from Google.}