The Hong Kong-China Dispute and Its Effect on the Asian American Community in City College
Words and Photo by Victor Anosike
If the recent shooting of a high school Hong Kong protester on October 1, 2019, during Chinese National Day is of any indication, the protests in Hong Kong are only getting more dangerous as political tensions continue to flair. The ongoing Hong Kong protests have continued to be a major international conflict that has caused many Hong Kong citizens to question the amount of political freedom they have while still being politically attached to China. Although the conflict has caused people to choose sides between the Chinese government’s desire for control and the Hong Kong protesters’ desire for autonomous democracy, students at The City College of New York who originate from Hong Kong, China, and other Asian countries have varying degrees of awareness about the situation, ranging from complete support for the protesters’ cause to not knowing anything about the protests in the first place.
According to City College student, Kwun, in regards to activity regardingthe protests on campus, "I just go around and do my own thing, so Ihaven't seen anything around here."
Protesters in Hong Kong argue that the now rescinded extradition bill, legislation that would have allowed those charged of criminal activity in Hong Kong to be sent to China, represented the first major step towards making Hong Kong, an independent, capitalist, and democratic city-state that is politically sovereign from the rest of communist China, beholden to Beijing and its authoritarian policies. In contrast, many that live in the Chinese mainland fully support the Chinese government’s slow control over the city. While the citizens of Hong Kong and China are extremely passionate about the ongoing political situation, City College students that originate from these regions are mixed when it comes to the amount of knowledge they have on the situation.
City College students that hail from either China, Hong Kong, or othercountries in East Asia talked about how much they knew about the protests, whatside they took and whether or not the ongoing situation affected their personallives. Whether due to indifference to the protests or not paying enoughattention to the media's coverage of it, many people that were interviewedstated that they did not know enough about the political situation to be ableto firmly choose a side. Andrew, a City College student whose family originatesfrom China, knew about the situation from the news but was reluctant to saythat either China or Hong Kong deserved support. His reasoning behind thisstance is that "I still need more information on both sides.”
The argument of getting more information before making a choice was a commonsentiment among these students. Zu, another City College student whosefamily originated from China, was asked to provide his opinion about the HongKong protests, showed more lack of awareness. Zu said that “I don’t really knowwhat’s going on there, and I don’t really give it any opinion.” Both Zu andAndrew mentioned that aside from not really knowing much about the protests,they didn’t have any family members or friends that knew anything about theprotests or took a side in the first place. This lack of personal connection tothe conflict was a common explanation as to why no opinion could be held aboutthe conflict for certain people.
Some Asian American City College students that had no ethnic ties to theconflict displayed sympathy for the Hong Kong protesters in some capacity. Anh,a student whose family originates from Vietnam, very clearly sides with theHong Kong protesters. “I would prefer Hong Kong over China…the [extraditionbill] is pretty biased…there are a lot of things going on with the governmentin China…they are really strict with a lot of things.” For Anh, support for theHong Kong protesters is based on his disapproval of the Chinese government and itsauthoritarian nature.
Jennifer, another student from Vietnam, supports the protesters mostlybecause of her personal relationships with people from that region. Accordingto Jennifer, “I just have a lot of friends from there, and I feel that [HongKong] should be able to have their own [rules]… My friends [from Hong Kong] arehere, but their family is not] so their families are being affected by it.”Even if the exact nuances of the political situation may not be known, havingcontact with people that are being negatively affected by the situation wasenough to get Jennifer to side with the protesters. This separates her fromthose who decided not to choose a side purely due to lack of enlightenment ofthe situation, thus proving the power of social bonds and political tendencies.
In contrast to Jennifer, some students, in spite of their inability tochoose a side, use their general appreciation of societal constructs such asliberty and freedom to explain why the situation arose in the first place.Noah, a student from Tibet who doesn’t have an official opinion but personallyknows people who come from Hong Kong, just wants Hong Kong to have truepolitical freedom, even if he doesn’t know who may be right or wrong. Noahbelieves that “I just want people to have a good life… I know that there aresome major injustices going on, along with protesters being killed…freedom ofspeech [is] being infringed upon…but I’m not politically savvy enough to makean opinion.” Despite Noah's reluctance to identify with either side of theconflict, his acknowledgement of the reasoning behind the protester's strugglesuggests that fundamentally American ideals and the desire of the protesters tohave those ideals be implemented in their own city are respected by a fewstudents that are aware of the conflict but do not know the details.
Whether or not students are invested in the current Hong Kong protests maydepend on the level of personal connection a student may have to Hong Kongspecifically. Almost all Asian American students that were interviewed were notpersonally affected by the Hong Kong protests, aside from Kwun, whose familyoriginates from Hong Kong. Kwun was very aware of the ongoing situation and hadimmense sympathy for the protesters. In spite of his pro-Hong Kong stance, thisstudent was quick to acknowledge that the political demands of the protestersand the Chinese government are almost impossible to resolve quickly: “I meanI’m all for democracy, but the situation over there…democracy would be veryhard to achieve. It’s a very precarious situation.” Support for the protestersstem from his concern for his family in Hong Kong, who he says has beenaffected by and even participated in the protests. His support for thepolitical freedom is also connected to the simple fact that he was brought upunder American values. “I mean obviously [I support the protesters], yeah. I’mAmerican; I like democracy, you know.” Of particular note is the fact that,although he doesn’t really involve himself much in student activities, overallhe has seen no indication that anyone on City College campus, whetherindividually or as a group, has tried to raise awareness of the protests.
This student was not alone in thinking that no activity has brought this issue to light on campus. One thing almost every person interviewed had in common is that little awareness of the issue is present in student life at City College. Even if these students had friends or family members that were impacted by the events, the City College community has not brought the conflict to the forefront of student awareness. Whether due to unawareness of effort made by students compassionate for the issue or total disregard of the situation on a campus-wide scale, many on campus have not seen the college do anything to inform people about what is going on in Hong Kong. Jennifer, when asked if she saw activity on campus regarding the protests, puts it pretty succinctly: “I haven’t seen much.”
