Kingdom Kong

“When Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the city’s people accepted, in good faith, Beijing’s promises that its capitalist system and way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years and that the city would move toward universal suffrage in the election of its leader. Not anymore. Now Hong Kong people are quietly taking precautions, getting rid of books, T-shirts, film footage, computer files and other documents from the heady days when this international financial center was also known for its residents’ passionate desire for freedom.” Maya Wang in the NYT (Gift Article): Hong Kongers Are Purging the Evidence of Their Lost Freedom. “The Chinese government wants the world to forget about Hong Kong, to forget what the city once was, to forget Beijing’s broken promises. But Hong Kong’s people will never forget. Don’t look away.” Americans shouldn’t look away, either. Democracy is fragile. Life can change in a blink of the historic eye. It can happen there, here, and everywhere.