On September 10 2012 14:34 Aterons_toss wrote: If China simply screwed over Hong Kong it wouldn't be beneficial for both, is not like Hong Kong is swarming with natural resources or scientific developments. Hong Kong is an economic hub, a capitalist city in the purest sense of the word. By assimilating it at an accelerated rate you make a lot of people leave = > economic instability = > you actually lost what mad HK so precious in the first place.
HK is one of the many examples of British colonies that were "let go" due to stupid people not realizing how much better off they are under the British "rule". Could they have kept HK with all the pressure from China... maybe ? If all of HK voiced there opinion against China, but you always find the dumb people that are pro leaving the UK influence.
Sometime they are made hero and the calamities caused by there stupidity only show 50 years latter when a country that was evolving stagnates in the 70s. Other times, like HK, there is no "important figure" that wants assimilation with China but i fell like the fact that the people of HK didn't stood up for there rights 15 years ago got back to them pretty damn soon.
It's not like the British was great either. They didn't initiate democratic reforms until they decided to handover Hong Kong to China. Which was done only to make it harder for the CCP to control Hong Kong. The police were corrupt.
On September 10 2012 14:34 Aterons_toss wrote: If China simply screwed over Hong Kong it wouldn't be beneficial for both, is not like Hong Kong is swarming with natural resources or scientific developments. Hong Kong is an economic hub, a capitalist city in the purest sense of the word. By assimilating it at an accelerated rate you make a lot of people leave = > economic instability = > you actually lost what mad HK so precious in the first place.
HK is one of the many examples of British colonies that were "let go" due to stupid people not realizing how much better off they are under the British "rule". Could they have kept HK with all the pressure from China... maybe ? If all of HK voiced there opinion against China, but you always find the dumb people that are pro leaving the UK influence.
Sometime they are made hero and the calamities caused by there stupidity only show 50 years latter when a country that was evolving stagnates in the 70s. Other times, like HK, there is no "important figure" that wants assimilation with China but i fell like the fact that the people of HK didn't stood up for there rights 15 years ago got back to them pretty damn soon.
It's not like the British was great either. They didn't initiate democratic reforms until they decided to handover Hong Kong to China. Which was done only to make it harder for the CCP to control Hong Kong. The police were corrupt.
Maintaining the status quo is the best for HK.
Maybe the current situation wouldn't be any better if it was still part of England's colonies but what about a few years in the future ?
Im not arguing that Brittan ruling would be any better than Chinese ruling currently, however i could argue that if China is doing this now I could see that in 10 years Chinese ruling will be worse than what would have happened if the brits were still there.
Than again, you are from HK so you likely know better.
On September 10 2012 14:34 Aterons_toss wrote: If China simply screwed over Hong Kong it wouldn't be beneficial for both, is not like Hong Kong is swarming with natural resources or scientific developments. Hong Kong is an economic hub, a capitalist city in the purest sense of the word. By assimilating it at an accelerated rate you make a lot of people leave = > economic instability = > you actually lost what mad HK so precious in the first place.
HK is one of the many examples of British colonies that were "let go" due to stupid people not realizing how much better off they are under the British "rule". Could they have kept HK with all the pressure from China... maybe ? If all of HK voiced there opinion against China, but you always find the dumb people that are pro leaving the UK influence.
Sometime they are made hero and the calamities caused by there stupidity only show 50 years latter when a country that was evolving stagnates in the 70s. Other times, like HK, there is no "important figure" that wants assimilation with China but i fell like the fact that the people of HK didn't stood up for there rights 15 years ago got back to them pretty damn soon.
It's not like the British was great either. They didn't initiate democratic reforms until they decided to handover Hong Kong to China. Which was done only to make it harder for the CCP to control Hong Kong. The police were corrupt.
Maintaining the status quo is the best for HK.
Maybe the current situation wouldn't be any better if it was still part of England's colonies but what about a few years in the future ?
Im not arguing that Brittan ruling would be any better than Chinese ruling currently, however i could argue that if China is doing this now I could see that in 10 years Chinese ruling will be worse than what would have happened if the brits were still there.
Than again, you are from HK so you likely know better.
Won't work out in the long run, I think. I don't know about the opinion of HKers, but I know that there isn't an ex-colony left that's still content under their former colonial master. The UK was implementing democratic reforms in HK before the handover, so 'British rule' was not an option there.
With the rise of nation-states, governance by people outside the 'nation' is becoming less and less tenable in today's geopolitical environment. Had HK not been handed back to China, I think the trend was still towards the end of British rule, and in place of protests against China, I think we're going to see protests against the UK had democratic reforms not been initiated.
Legally speaking, the UK leased HK for 99 years, after which they have no authority in the territory by virtue of international law.
this probably isn't much help if you dont understand Cantonese, but this will give you a sense of the climate of the debate here in hong kong. The kid at the debate table is the 15yo at the head of the anti nationalism edu movement representing students. I believe this debate was sponsored and produced by RTHK, which is the public/gov radio/tv channel in hong kong.
just by watching the atmosphere and emotions in the debate, you can probably pick up on the ongoing themes between old vs young, educated vs uneducated, nationalism vs individual freedom, seasoned public personalities vs new and passionate, ect. All these things are brewing under the surface of this issue.
to clarify the kid's position specifically in this video: he's not actually against civil/national education per-se, he is taking the safer position that the current program that the government is trying to pass is too rushed, feels too much like they're forcing something, and that more time should be allowed, and more educators should have a voice in making these decisions. Outside of the debates, he takes the stronger position of GIT RID OF ALL THIS BRAINWASHING BULLSHIT FUCK THE CCP!
the old guys are just yelling at him because GOSHDARN UNGRATEFUL KIDS THESE DAYS GIT OFF MAH LAWN.
/personal bias
edit:
also, all this is riding on the back of the legislative council representatives election that happened yesterday, so it has become a huge deciding issue for many about who to vote for. All this is on the radio all day for the past few weeks and even my barber asked/joked to me about fasting for the cause.
EPT
