"What continues to be most tragic for Hong Kong is that the government really has demonized and made enemies of the people who support the protesters and the protesters themselves."
Long time follower here, really enjoyed the latest China talk as always. Keep up the good work! One thing I really miss when listening to the talks about HK protests vs Beijing and its long reach, is the much less talked about disparity between mainland Chinese and Hong Kongers. The main reason, as someone living in China, that mainlanders do not sympathize with protesters is because there is a long standing animosity between what the mainlanders see as an ungrateful, arrogant and condecending people and through that an "other". Put simply, mainland Chinese enjoy seeing HK humbled. At the same time, there seems to be some truth to this. To what degree to HK people actually look down on mainland Chinese and is it really justified? If the main problem of the conflict really is that HK Chinese regard mainland Chinese as inferior to them and because of that do not want to associate with them or share nationality, like some kind of racial hierarchy, then it will be impossible to consolidate the two sides. It would also explain why the protest have such a hard time winning over sympathisers in the mainland. Ethnic division is a taboo in China and is not discussed in Chinese media, because of this many China watchers seem to ignore this issue.
Is there any way that China talk could explore the ethnic tensions aspect of the HK protests? Looking forward to the next episode!
Appreciate the thoughtful comment! Antony had a bit on this in the book about the lived experience of mainlanders in hk in 2019. Will hunt does a guest on this it’s an interesting topic for sure
Long time follower here, really enjoyed the latest China talk as always. Keep up the good work! One thing I really miss when listening to the talks about HK protests vs Beijing and its long reach, is the much less talked about disparity between mainland Chinese and Hong Kongers. The main reason, as someone living in China, that mainlanders do not sympathize with protesters is because there is a long standing animosity between what the mainlanders see as an ungrateful, arrogant and condecending people and through that an "other". Put simply, mainland Chinese enjoy seeing HK humbled. At the same time, there seems to be some truth to this. To what degree to HK people actually look down on mainland Chinese and is it really justified? If the main problem of the conflict really is that HK Chinese regard mainland Chinese as inferior to them and because of that do not want to associate with them or share nationality, like some kind of racial hierarchy, then it will be impossible to consolidate the two sides. It would also explain why the protest have such a hard time winning over sympathisers in the mainland. Ethnic division is a taboo in China and is not discussed in Chinese media, because of this many China watchers seem to ignore this issue.
Is there any way that China talk could explore the ethnic tensions aspect of the HK protests? Looking forward to the next episode!
By the way if you speak chinese this was a great ep on this topic https://mobile.twitter.com/chenchenzh/status/1275755368224866304
Appreciate the thoughtful comment! Antony had a bit on this in the book about the lived experience of mainlanders in hk in 2019. Will hunt does a guest on this it’s an interesting topic for sure
For a guest