Canada Day



Sign: the government is useless,
we are in big trouble (big walk is a pun)

Canada Day is coincidentially the transfer of sovereignty from United Kingdom to the PRC in Hong Kong.  In Canada, I would have gotten together with a bunch of friends, had some drinks, and played with some fireworks to celebrate the national holiday.  Maybe buy a Canada Day hat too, who knows. It is a day to be merry. 

July 1st here is a day to be sad, angry, and disappointed.  It is a day to stay indoors if you are not politically active and ready to be arrested.  While I saw banners of "七一遊行" (July 1 march) on every street corner, I did not expect 50,000 people to actually protest.  (I foolishly thought that it was going to be a parade to celebrate the handover.)  People seem to protest whenever some important date comes up because of media exposure. 

Here's one of the issues they are protesting about: letting mainland Chinese women give birth in HK.  Some protest against because they will be taking away Hong Kongnese benefits.  Some protest against restricting the amount of mainland Chinese women to give birth in HK because their wives are from the mainland.  (The important thing to note here is that there is no "arguing for" beacuse the government is always wrong.  There seems to be an unsaid rule to "protest against"  at all times.)  This means that there are opposing factions within the protest.  Getting your voice heard or making a convincing demand is somewhat difficult...  and it might not be because the government isn't paying attention.

June 4th (Tianamen Square Massacre) was not an exception.  It wasn't just a memoir of the dead in Victoria Park, or reflecting upon what happened and hopefully not repeat the tragic history.  I went to this one, lit a candle for the dead and left.  The rest was propaganda to revolt against the government, all governments-- PRC and HK alike.  Then there was some kind of demonstration and conflict between protesters and police.  Thank goodness I got out of there early for dinner...