Thousands of people in Hong Kong turned out to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II in one of the biggest public gatherings since China quelled demonstrations of political dissent in the former British colony more than two years ago.
Crowds of more than 2,500 people of varying ages queued for hours outside the British consulate on Monday, enduring sweltering temperatures of 33C, to leave flowers, framed photos and messages thanking the “boss” or “lady in charge”. – as it was often known in Cantonese during the colonial years.
For some of them, this was not just a matter of mourning a monarch who ruled the city for 45 years, but a subtle form of protest against how China has tightened its grip on a once-free and turbulent city that critics dispute. has seen its civil liberties constantly eroded since the British handed over sovereignty to Beijing 25 years ago.
Public gatherings have been rare since China imposed a national security law in June 2020 in an attempt to quell the increasingly strong pro-democracy protests that have rocked the city since 2019 — they opted for political purposes effectively silenced the most vocal forms. evidence of mass gathering or public dissent.
But in celebrating the monarchy and its symbols, some Hong Kongers see an opportunity for a thinly veiled attack on both the Chinese Communist Party, which has made no secret of its eagerness for Hong Kongers to forget the era, and the local authorities who recently introduced school books. who claim the city was never a colony to begin with. The books instead refer to the period of British rule as a “forced occupation”.
A retiree named Wing, who spoke to CNN outside the consulate on Monday, but declined to give his full name, said it was “amazing” to be part of a mass gathering again.
“I am angry that the Hong Kong government is not showing any proper respect (to the queen). They are afraid that the Chinese government will reprimand them, but we were part of the colony,” said Wing, who was born in the 1960s.
Another, Sylvia Lee, said she was saddened to hear of the queen’s death, saying she was a symbol of stability across the world.
“No one lives forever and we knew that day would come someday. She was a respected figure, and the government during the colonial period made many contributions to the development of Hong Kong, especially in the 70s and 80s,” Lee told CNN , referring to a period when governors appointed to the city built their housing and public transport. the infrastructure.
A symbol of protest – and a complicated past
At first glance, mourning the queen might not seem like a confrontation — especially considering that both Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (a former police officer who began his career in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in 1977) “sent their condolences” to the United Kingdom.
But the displays of affection are also a reminder of the city’s pro-democracy protests, during which protesters adopted the colonial flag as a sign of resistance to Chinese one-party rule.
At the height of the 2019 protests, anti-government protesters stormed the city’s legislative chamber, defacing it with graffiti calling for universal suffrage as they hung the colonial flag on the council president’s chair.
Sensitivities surrounding the city’s colonial era were highlighted on Thursday, when Cantonese opera star Law Kar-ying apologized for leaving flowers outside the consulate, taking down a post on her Instagram page that said she wanted pay tribute to the queen because Hong Kong was a “blessed land” under her reign. Law said her words were “thoughtless” and urged people not to “interpret them too much”.
“I am a long-time holder of a Chinese passport, which speaks for itself. I am Chinese and I will always love my homeland. I’m sorry,” he said on the Chinese platform Weibo, similar to Twitter.
It was unclear what prompted Law to issue the apology.
Britain’s ties to Hong Kong date back to the 19th century, when the empire’s desire to force opium into China—both in the trade and through its population’s addiction to illicit drugs—resulted in two wars that forced China to cede land. to the British.
Britain ruled Hong Kong for 156 years until it was returned to China in 1997 as part of a long-standing agreement, but signs of British influence remain in the city’s English street names and use of the common law system.
Queen Elizabeth herself visited Hong Kong twice while the city was a British territory, while her son, now King Charles III, attended the handover ceremony.
Still, the city’s colonial past was far from peaceful and without its critics. Riots erupted in the 1960s, when what started as protests against increases in ferry fares and demands for better labor rights turned into rampant strikes and bomb attacks that sometimes brought the city to a standstill.
In the wake of the protests, the British colonial government introduced a series of welfare reforms, including public housing programs and compulsory free education.
But colonial-era critics point out that, even under British rule, Hong Kongers did not enjoy universal suffrage. And many felt that London had neglected its duty by not granting British citizenship to Hong Kongers at the time of transfer, offering most a limited passport that did not give them the right to live and work in Britain.
Since the introduction of the National Security Act, Britain has created what it calls a pathway to citizenship through a new type of visa.
“It was the (Queen’s) empire that, in 1997, handed us over to China against our will,” said Jeffrey Ngo, a Washington activist who was born during the last years of Hong Kong’s colonization.
Ngo said he was too young to remember life under British rule, but said older generations of Hong Kongers look back on the reign of Queen Elizabeth II – especially her 1975 and 1986 visits – with enormous fondness “because they associate that to a freer, simpler and happier past. was.”
“The sentiment is understandable, as the intuitive point of comparison is Hong Kong under Chinese rule. I respect your lived experience, although it’s not something I share. For me, the wealth and prestige of the monarchy is impossible to separate from the violence and expansionism of the empire,” she said.
Ngo said the draconian laws used by Beijing to prosecute pro-democracy activists today — such as colonial-era legislation on sedition — were reminders that there was also a darker side to Britain’s legacy.
Source: CNN Brasil
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