Mainlanders remain cool to Hong Kong's democracy fever
Lijia Zhang says few on the mainland appear to be interested in finding out about Hong Kong's democracy protest, much less sympathising with it - clearly a reflection of their political apathy
When the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests started, I was still in India, attending the Bangalore Literature Festival. As someone who took part in the pro-democracy movement back in 1989, I followed the unfolding events with keen interest and found the images of umbrellas being used as shields against the pouring rain, and later tear gas, exciting and inspiring.
However, my sentiments are not shared by all my fellow citizens on the mainland. I cut short my trip due to my father's ill health. As soon as I returned to China, I started to ask everyone I came across their views on the events in Hong Kong. Although people gave me different answers, overall, I was struck by a lack of interest, and little if any signs of sympathy for our compatriots across the border.
Over the dinner table at the hospital canteen in Nanjing , where my father is now, I couldn't help but probe my relatives for a reaction. They all turned to look at me, frowning. "Why would you be interested in such a matter?" they asked. "It has nothing to do with you."
Beyond the hospital gate, people from this prosperous eastern city were enjoying the national holiday, busy shopping, eating and merry-making in the warm sunshine. It was a world away from the tense atmosphere in Hong Kong.
Even if my relatives had not been preoccupied with my father's terminal illness, they would not care about the "umbrella movement". Like millions of ordinary Chinese, they don't have a clear idea what has been happening in Hong Kong. The dramatic images of the protests that have snatched headlines in most parts of the world were absent in the strictly controlled mainland Chinese media. Even the word "umbrella" was blocked on Sina Weibo, China's microblogging site.
Not highly educated, my relatives don't know how to jump over the firewall to access the international media. Nor would they have any interest in doing so.
Even among the more sophisticated crowds who do take an interest in the Occupy movement, sympathy is thin on the ground. A friend in her 30s who works for a feature programme on CCTV said they were told not to report on the movement. She and her colleagues have been discussing it, however. The consensus is that the protesters are ungrateful.
