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Perspectives on the 2019 Protest
Class of 2021
Major:
History
Minor:
Art and Art History
Min Wang'21 is a history major and a minor in Art and Art history. She began this project out of interest in how the news media in China reported on protests in Hong Kong in 2019. During the study, she was inspired by life stories of Hong Kong based journalists...
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Description

My intention in this project was to explore the recent unrest in Hong Kong. I am a citizen of People’s Republic of China studying in an American university. The rage on the Internet in the mainland China began around the beginning of this year (2020) when some of the protesters became extreme and violent. The seemingly sudden outburst and uncontrolled situation were perplexing to me. Despite the understandable opposition to the influx of tourists from the mainland, discussed below, it seemed to me that Hong Kong was unduly furious. Also, the press and media in mainland China accused protesters of committing outrageous acts—there was shocking footage of protesters setting fire to a senior passing by, and of brutal fights between local police and protesters. To better understand the causes and nature of these protests, I spent the summer reading a variety of sources from a wide range of perspectives. My study was made possible by the generous support of a St. Lawrence University summer fellowship and was supervised by Dr. Anne Csete, associate professor in the history department. At the end of my reading, it seems to me that in general, there are two main points of view. Many Hong Kong people want to protect their culture and govern themselves with minimal interference from Beijing. On the other hand, many mainland Chinese condemn this position as separatism. It is my conclusion that mainland Chinese would have a different opinion if they could have a fuller picture of the protest.

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