translated from Spanish: What do the continental Chinese think about the protests in Hong Kong?

Like Hong Kong in the south, Shanghai is a major trading metropolis on China’s east coast. In fact, it is considered the most important city in the People’s Republic of China. More than 23 million people live there. Many citizens of Shanghai do not sympathize with protests in Hong Kong, 1,200 kilometers away.
“Why are they behaving like that?” said a 30-year-old employee. Hong Kong citizens should “just work and live in peace,” he told German public broadcaster ARD in Shanghai. All that protest brings nothing, they say. Probably most people in mainland China think so too.
Fear of violence
Journalist Jose Qian also has that impression: 90 percent of mainland Chinese have a stance of rejection of protests in Hong Kong. Qian lives in Shanghai, where he works for various international media outlets. In Shanghai, “they probably don’t know exactly why and since when,” Qian explained. “They probably don’t know the demands of the protesters in Hong Kong either,” he added.
In other words, opinion in Shanghai is characterized by fear and anger at possible violence in Hong Kong: “I’ve seen cell phone videos attacking Chinese reporters,” said a woman, who worked in Hong Kong for four years. “No matter what they do, they’re not going to accomplish anything,” he added.
Analyst Qian believes these reactions are mainly due to Chinese state media reporting on what happened, but to the taste of Beijing.

Public media as a source of information
“We can call it propaganda or official media campaign, but here there’s only one version of the story,” Qian confirms. The state media does not explain why the protests did not explain how it all began: they only focus on the escalation of violence in Hong Kong.
Most mainland Chinese have no other sources of news than state ones. It is therefore understandable that many follow the official line of the Beijing government: “Hong Kong protesters are largely violent; some of them are extremely radical, and others are violating and damaging public property.” The mainland population “feels very connected to the Chinese government, both in Hong Kong and Beijing,” says Jose Qian.
Uninterrupted resistance
In Hong Kong, protesters are not intimidated by statements by mainland Chinese or by the real danger of a Chinese invasion. They want to continue on the streets, although it is unclear whether Hong Kong’s autonomous status will remain in force for 28 years.
“We all know here that there is an expiration date for our autonomy status,” one protester told the German channel ARD. “But at least until then we should defend our fundamental rights and show the world that we have freedom of speech, freedom to manifest ourselves, and that’s a good thing,” he said.  At least until mid-2047. Until then, it is stipulated that the capitalist order of the former colony of the British crown will remain. But what happens next to Hong Kong? You don’t know.

Original source in Spanish

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