Unraveling The Evolution of Hong Kong's Civic Life
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2023
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
It was a different image from the hundreds who protested in 2019. Back then, the people of Hong Kong showed up in unprecedented numbers. They were opposing what they saw as mainland China's latest efforts to impose authoritarian restrictions to chip away at Hong Kong autonomy.
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Louisa Lim, author of Indelible City: Dispossession And Defiance In Hong Kong. They discuss the long history of friction between Hong Kong and China, and the state of freedom of expression in Hong Kong today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Sound from Hong Kong's first authorized protest in three years. |
| 0:20.3 | The protesters are chanting the government must listen to the people. |
| 0:28.2 | Back in March, roughly 80 people were marching in opposition to a land reclamation project |
| 0:33.7 | that protesters say would increase pollution. |
| 0:37.2 | As the protests went on, police were watching closely, and the demonstrators had to wear |
| 0:41.7 | numbered badges around their necks as they walked in the rain. |
| 0:46.0 | It was a far cry from the hundreds of thousands who protested back in 2019. |
| 0:58.2 | On Hong Kong side street, the police were still chasing the protesters. |
| 1:09.3 | The officers jumping out of vans to tackle whoever they could catch. |
| 1:15.3 | In some cases, violently. |
| 1:21.4 | Back then, Hong Kongers were loud and speaking out against a controversial bill that would |
| 1:26.3 | have allowed extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China. |
| 1:30.2 | A move that many in Hong Kong saw as effectively abolishing an agreement between the city |
| 1:35.4 | and mainland China that had allowed Hong Kong to control many of its own governmental systems. |
| 1:41.5 | But at that point, many in Hong Kong had already felt their autonomy had been slipping away |
| 1:47.3 | ever since 1997, when the UK formally handed Hong Kong over to the People's Republic of China. |
| 1:54.3 | Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the handover ceremony for Hong Kong. |
| 2:02.0 | Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong. |
| 2:07.2 | That is the promise, and that is the unshakable destiny. |
| 2:14.1 | In that handover deal, Hong Kong's foreign affairs and national defence would be guided |
| 2:18.6 | by Beijing. |
| 2:19.7 | Everything else would be controlled by Hong Kong. |
... |
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