In a flashback to 1989, pro-democracy protests are in full swing over in China. In a bit of a deviation from the aforementioned situation, Hong Kong, rather than Beijing, is the locus of the protests. As of now, these protests are ongoing, with no end in sight. Clashes with the police have begun, inciting mixed reaction among the protesters. Some pro-democracy groups have called for the protests to end, while others have cheered those who stayed out on the streets.
To put the events into perspective, check out the slide show at the beginning of this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/28/world/asia/china-hong-kong-students/
Anyhow, this is hardly an insignificant event. Protests of this sort are no small thing in China. The 1989 protests, centered in Tiananmen Square, were quelled by a full military response, complete with tanks and the like. It's likely that such an event may occur, should the protests continue. In spite of some efforts to liberalize the country, China remains one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. Mao's China saw many more deaths than Stalin's Russia, and many times more deaths than Hitler's Germany. To be fair, Mao didn't order the majority of those deaths, but his policies did encourage them. Another factor at play here is Hong Kong's history. Up until the first of July, 1997 (exactly one month before yours truly made his big debut), Hong Kong was part of the British Empire. As such, it enjoyed freedoms unknown to the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. Hong Kong retains more freedoms than the bulk of China, with a high degree of autonomy from the People's Republic. It isn't anything like America, though. I won't bore you with an in-depth analysis of Hong Kong's political structure (for a brief overview, I'd recommend the BBC's profile of the region: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16517764). At any rate, democratic sentiments are high in Hong Kong. It'll be interesting to see how this scenario plays out on the world stage.
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