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In light of the protest in Hong Kong
As some of you might know, I'm someone who loves anime, manga and games, as well as someone who started Gaia. What many might not know, is that I was born and raised in Hong Kong till I was 11, then I spent another 11 years in Canada until I started my career in California. While I love the friendliness and culture of Canada, I also love America's strong economic mobility and freedom. But there had always been a special place in my heart toward my home for the first 11 years of my life, where I still visit often.
Hong Kong had been a weird and unique country. Imagine a country that was loaned to another country for 100 years, established in Asia but was completely ruled by western governance and culture. A country half the size of the smallest state (Rhode Island), started with most people struggling with poverty and no national identity, but suddenly raised to an economic and cultural powerhouse in just a few decades. Most western references to Chinese cultural icons such as Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan were all products of Hong Kong, while Hong Kong television and music are huge influences to all neighboring Asian countries. Most of my friends in Pacific Asia know Cantonese because of the influence from Hong Kong TV and music. The story of Hong Kong is no less interesting than the media it creates. That's why Hong Kong is so special to me. It is fascinating in so many ways, and a place that had struck massive impact to people and countries around it.
Speaking of impact, many might not know that Hong Kong itself was the key to the rise in power for China. China had been struggling to shine in the modern global economy until they started adopting capitalist practices, and the way China started was by building satellite cities which were allowed autonomy in building a capitalistic structure for its economic model. Many attribute this practice derived from China witnessing Hong Kong's success, though of course, this will not ever be confirmed from within China.
Though through all this luster in Hong Kong's success and influence, the darker side of Hong Kong had always loomed above everyone's head. It concerns about the formation of Hong Kong to begin with. Hong Kong was a by-product of a war between the UK and China, a war in which China was defeated and Hong Kong was handed out as the prize. To the eyes of China, Hong Kong was basically your enemy's winning trophy sitting in your own living room. This symbolism brought shame to China, and this fact always looms over the citizens of Hong Kong.
Many by now had been hearing reports from media outlets, about the horrible deeds that China had done to warrant the protest in Hong Kong, how they disregarded their agreement for Hong Kong's sovereignty with the UK, and oppressing freedom and free speech for people in Hong Kong. All of which was of course, true, but I think it is always more interesting to understand how things come to be, rather than to just point out how we are good, they are bad, and get on with our days.
So here is a rather lengthy background to how all of this protest came into being, 2000 years in the making.
Long before Hong Kong was formed, China had a long history of wars and conflicts. There were factions which engaged in battles which dwarf most battles in World Wars, and made Gettysburg look like a school fight. It was a miracle that the country was unified under one ruler 2000 years ago, and even surviving after the Mongolian invasion a thousand years later. Though the cost of unifying such a huge country in a world without modern technology requires huge compromise in a very rigid set of policies and rules which ultimately stifled innovation, both in science and economic policies. Imagine how one would go about proposing a new way of borrowing and lending for entrepreneurship, towards a governing system setup to rule over half a billion people across thousands of tribes. On top of that, to prevent internal conflicts and civil war, the ruling dynasty removed all of its internal military power, so regional and tribal militias were stripped of armies and weapons. This combination of stifled technologies and weakened military power created a perfect situation for an incoming invasion.
During the age of exploration where Europeans explore and colonize the world, China was a large and closed system not adapted to trading with outside countries. When China refused to increase its trade with Europe, the UK decided to start selling opium to the Chinese for leverage and silver. As word of profit spreads, other European countries and the United States got in on the action, and that quickly heightened the epidemic within China. In a rage of anger and panic, China decided to destroy the supply of opium waiting to be traded into the country. The UK found this to be the perfect situation, and sailed into the rivers in China with their gunboats, and start bombarding cities in China. Without a strong military and weapons to fight back, China soon surrendered. With its treaty of surrender, China not only had to open up its trade with Europe, but they also need to pay back for the opium which they destroyed. Lastly, a piece of land was carved out to be ruled under the UK for 100 years. This was the treaty that created Hong Kong, but China's problem only began starting with this treaty.
The real problem here was that the people of China saw the weakness of its government from foreign invaders, which lead to much shame, but more importantly, poor living conditions and economy as European and US increased their military presence and started draining China's economy. Eventually, a very bloody rebellion and civil war began as a result. An estimated 20 to 100 million people died in the war, many from the famine that was caused. While Europeans support the existing Chinese monarchy in fighting the rebellion, Russia saw the opportunity to aid in fighting the European forces, but ended taking over a large part of China in return. Japan then won a war with China and took over Korea and Taiwan. At the end of all this conflict, the rebellion was squashed, but civil unrest in China was worse than ever.
By the early 1900's, China continued its inner conflict, and as time passed, different believes and factions were born, and two prominent groups were split between socialism and capitalism. With influence and financial backing from Russia, the communist party eventually took power, which eventually led to the cultural revolution in the 60's. But that was me skimming over 40 years of history including 2 world wars.
A lot had happened to China for the past 150 years, but 150 years really is only a blink in the eye of history. Today China is a world power, but only a world power that had started growing since 35 years ago. To Chinese government, it was only yesterday when their country was exploited by the west, the east, and the north. Their country was subjected to a change in culture by force, and the world continued to serve as an example of how defenseless countries are still being exploited by other world powers. China was shocked into creating a defensive governing structure in which preserving their way of life and culture was the baseline. China has a very different set of history and culture than what we're used to. Whether or not their current policies is the right thing to do for its people is, of course, a very different subject.
If you've watched the recent Joker movie, you'll hear a narrative that the villain doesn't just born evil, but is a creation of the society which pushed a man past the breaking point. I often see various similarities in China's history.
While I wish for Hong Kong's independence and freedom, I do not look at China in the same light as many other do. To me, China isn't so much ignorant or evil, but more of a system created to adopt with the exploitation from the world around it. I hope I make sense if I say I don't hate China, but I do hope for China to change, and for people in China to gain freedom and happiness.
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