I love Hong Kong and have loved her for half my life—I think I might have been born there in a previous life (and San Francisco too, because when I was there for the first time I felt an endless familiarity).
I barely read the news these days, but make an exception for Hong Kong. If I love her, I have the responsibility to know what’s going on there.
A few weeks ago, the Beijing government passed the National Security Law. It’s the central government’s way of curbing (ending?) dissent and squashing the rebellion on the ground. It’s working. Self-censorship is already happening. Protest-friendly restaurants that used to be a part of the “Yellow economic circle” have retracted their support. Publishers are scared. Many Hongkongers, offered the chance to relocate to the UK, want to leave. An angry, vocal city is finding herself silenced.
I never imagined Hong Kong—so vibrant, so loud, so proud—could be silenced.
But many are still fighting. Bend the knee? They would rather die.
So let’s wait and see what happens. The story hasn’t ended yet. History can surprise us when we least expect it.