Three years ago in Melbourne, Australia, Ronnie Li and other students from mainland China chanted in support of their government. They are trying to quell a protest promoting the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, the biggest challenge to the Beijing government in years.
Ms. Li, 23, has since changed her mind on that matter — and on many other issues.
She said, in recent days, she and other mainland Chinese students have protested in Australia against Beijing’s policies, calling for more freedom in China, including easing Covid restrictions.
“Everybody woke up,” she said. “Slowly. Change takes time.”
Recent protests in China has spread outside the mainland, to cities around the world with large Chinese student populations — even Hong Kong, where the pro-democracy protests of 2019 have been quashed and any form of damage has been done. Any form of dissent is now dangerous.
Some young people like Ms. Li — members of the so-called best in China generation of nationalists for decades, grew up on a censored internet in which the ruling Communist Party could do no wrong — experienced what they describe as a political awakening. It is unclear whether they represent more than a tiny minority, or how far their criticism of Beijing may go beyond the limited issue of Covid.
But some protesters oppose the Chinese government for other reasons — like the collapse of democracy in Hong Kong, the threat to Taiwan, and China’s crackdown on Uighurs in the region. Xinjiang region — there is at least temporary hope that this moment can be used to find common ground. caused to them.
“The struggle on the mainland is closely linked to our struggle,” said Sarah Lau, a Hong Kong resident in her 20s.
Understanding the protests in China
She was one of about two dozen young people, mostly from mainland China, who held a vigil on November 28 in an alley in Hong Kong’s Central district. They hold up White paper — used as a symbol of defiance by mainland protesters — and arranged flower bouquets around a temple for victims of the Xinjiang fire that sparked the protests. love.
Dozens of policemen and journalists tracked them down. The police recorded them with video cameras and took their names. The cleaners then stuffed the posters, flowers and candles in the trash bags.
Several such quiet protests have been held in Hong Kong in solidarity with the protests on the mainland. On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s security minister, Chris Tang, said they were driven by “familiar faces” from the 2019 protests.
He also issued a warning: “Being a mainland student does not mean you are innocent.”
Ms. Li, a student in Australia, is among those from the mainland who have expressed remorse on Twitter over their past attitudes towards protesters in Hong Kong. She said she began to feel more empathy for them last year, after spending more than a month in quarantine in China.
“We can only say that the Chinese have been brainwashed too much,” she said. “It is not the fault of the people. The Communist Party must be held accountable.”
Nathan Law, a prominent Hong Kong democracy activist who now lives in London, said he has received several apologies from such people in recent days. “We understand completely now,” read a message he posted online. “Pardon our ignorance then.”
In an interview, Mr. Law said it was unclear whether building such a bridge would help fuel the protests in China. But he said it would help protesters facing the Chinese state feel less isolated. “Being understood is quite important, because many people can feel very lonely and scared when protesting,” he said.
In Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, more than 100 people gathered in front of the library of National Taiwan University on Wednesday to support the mainland protests. They arranged the candles to form the letters “A4”, referring to the blank sheets of paper used in the protests.
For an hour, students from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland took turns speaking. Vivian Chen, 22, urges the people of Taiwan to look beyond their political differences — even fundamental differences like whether the island should be independent from China — and support those protests on the mainland. “It can be difficult to be partners fighting for the same goals, but our intention to support is sincere,” Ms. Chen said.
On the mainland, the protests may have drawn more attention to the Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim minority group of Turks who have been the target of a popular uprising. pressure has detained a large number of them. Internment camp. Many people in China are already aware of a Closing order due to covid in Xinjiang led to shortages of food and medicine. Afterward deadly fire Last month in the regional capital, Urumqi, sparked recent protests.
But activists and experts say that while protesters know about the fires and express solidarity with the Uighurs over the lockdown, that sympathy doesn’t necessarily extend to the full extent of the lockdown. group scene.
“Most people in China don’t really understand the camp system,” said Darren Byler, a anthropologist who studies ethnic minority groups in northwest China and the Uighur diaspora. “They don’t see Xinjiang as the home of the Uighurs. They see Xinjiang as part of China, another province far away.”
But some of the overseas Uighurs who attended recent protests saw some hope for a change of heart.
A Uighur student in Vancouver – who asked not to be named out of fear for the safety of her loved ones in Xinjiang – said that after days of watching video of the fire, she decided to pay tribute to the victims. She shared a photo of the candle, time and place on social media and was surprised when about 100 people showed up.
The demonstration was held almost entirely in Mandarin. This student played a recording of a Uighur ballad, chanted slogans calling for an end to the internment camps and even participated in the chorus of the Chinese national anthem, feeling that a line – “Stand up, you who refuse to be slaves!” – told this moment.
She usually doesn’t mention the camps, a topic that her friends of China’s majority Han ethnic group have questioned. But the gathering left her with the impression that at least some of those who attended the rally might be starting to see things differently.
Ben Yan, 29, who said he belongs to another ethnic minority group in China, said he had previously questioned reports of concentration camps in Xinjiang. But the experience of living during the blockade in Shanghai, which he calls “hell on earth,” makes him believe the government is capable of it.
Mr. Yan, who left China this fall and is now in Japan, where he left flowers and a blank sheet of paper at the Chinese consulate in Nagoya as a form of protest: “Now I there is every reason to believe that the Uighurs have suffered unthinkable. “But the Han people in general still don’t understand or don’t believe what happened to them. I think that’s a problem.”
An online group that describes itself as run by overseas Chinese students and young people — called “Not your little pink,” Related to a refutation clause for young nationalists who are aggressive defending China online — said it is important that the protests address the persecution of the Uighurs.
In a widely shared parcel, the group said that some protest slogans, such as “We are all Xinjiang people” and “I am also a victim of the fire,” overlooked the targeted nature of the persecution. Uighurs. It argued that closing the internment camps should be one of the demands of the movement.
Rayhan Asat, a U.S.-based Uighur human rights lawyer, said in an email that the protests “offer a real but limited opportunity to widen the Han people’s eyes on the what we’ve been through.” She said she spoke to Chinese students who were outraged by the fire in Urumqi but continued to defend the camp system in Xinjiang.
“Imagine if they opposed all forms of illegal detention and denounced concentration camps. We will see results,” she said. “After this tragedy, the Chinese people cannot pretend not to know.”
Bronze Joy contributing reporting in Hong Kong.
