A correspondence in Chuang from a reader about shifting attitudes among white-collar workers in Beijing towards the situation in Hong Kong. A lot seems to have to do with media control and the highly monitored flow and interpretation of information, coupled with resurgent nationalist sentiment. Similar phenomena could surely be found in other territories where states and ruling classes have a vested interest in quelling sympathy for revolt elsewhere in the populations they control, pitting people against people along lines of division (in the border, in identity, in opportunity, etc.), or using rhetorics of subsumption to justify assimilationist policies that preserve the status quo. This is a chilling read when taken in consideration with questions of transnational solidarity and liberatory horizons for movements coming and underway that have been posed in preceding zines.
“It is now clear that many of my friends and colleagues who once kept an open mind about protests, or were perhaps only curious about the novel mass protests, are decidedly on the side of the central government against Hong Kong. What I have found particularly alarming is the loss of any sense of subtlety, or desire to understand the intricacies of the situation. Some have clamped down hard on easy to understand, pithy ideas. I hear them say things like: ‘well, Hongkongers have decided on independence, so they have all crossed the line. They are beyond reason.’ Many of my friends have often been openly critical of the CCP in the past, and stray from the party line on any number of controversial issues, like Xinjiang’s camps, or the ever-expanding police state, with its Great Firewall and surveillance cameras on every street corner. Recently, however, at least on Hong Kong, it seems that when push comes to shove, some have retreated to a sort of raw nationalism, defending some idea of Chinese-ness. The desecration of symbols like Chinese national flags, or the booing at the Chinese national anthem quickly became topics of discussion at the office water cooler, as they were circulated widely on WeChat. ‘The mistake these Hongkongers make is that they forget they are Chinese. They are becoming racist, and hateful of their own homeland, and that is just unacceptable,’ said one. Of course, examples of rising hatred against Hong Kongers in the mainland were not circulated on WeChat, like the beating of a Hong Kong hockey club at a tournament in Shenzhen, after they won over a mainland opponent. ‘I think the only way out of this situation is for Hong Kong to be returned to China a second time,’ said another, referring to the 1997 handover of the city, a former colony of Britain.“
