Why do Chinese students not understand the Hong Kong protests and support the Chinese government?
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Since June 2019, tens of thousands of people have been protesting against the Chinese government in Hong Kong. Due to internet censorship, protesters have reportedly been using AirDrop and Pokémon GO to communicate, and the protests show no signs of abating even as August approaches. Meanwhile, in the United States and Canada, supporters of the protests have been disrupted by Chinese nationals who support the Chinese government. Yaqiu Wang , a researcher at the human rights NGO Human Rights Watch , draws on his own experiences to explain why Chinese people living abroad take an anti-protest stance and defend the Chinese government.
Op-Ed: Why so many Chinese students can't understand the Hong Kong protests - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-20/hong-kong-chinese-students-propaganda
Many Chinese students attending universities in the US, Canada, the UK, and other Western countries support the Chinese government regarding the Hong Kong protests that began in June 2019. As a result, there have been reports of Chinese anti-demonstrators disrupting pro-demonstration movements outside of China.
Wang said he 'can understand, but not agree with, those who take a pro-China stance,' because, as someone who was born in China and moved to the United States, he too has experienced the ideological gap.
Wang, who came to the United States from China in 2009, witnessed Tibetan exiles protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and found it hard to understand. He wondered, 'Why aren't Tibetans happy with the buildings and high-speed trains built by China? Why don't they cooperate with the Chinese and do business with them?' He even asked a Tibetan friend he had become close with. The friend, whose parents were refugees who fled Chinese attacks and ended up in India, answered Wang's questions with understanding and without condescension, Wang said.
But it took Wang years to understand Tibetans on an emotional level. The Chinese government instilled in its children propaganda that China had freed Tibetan serfs and given them prosperity and happiness. Growing up, Wang was denied access to opposing views due to censorship. He had no idea that Tibetans were self-immolating as a protest against the oppression of their speech, culture, and identity.
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There are 1.5 million Chinese students living outside of China worldwide who still have access to censored information, but the impact of Chinese government censorship goes deeper than this issue, Wang said.
Wang grew up in a society where information was controlled, and even 10 years after leaving China, he still sometimes doubts whether his knowledge was correct or incorrect. In Chinese school, he learned things like 'Mao Zedong's Scientific System' and 'Socialist System with Chinese Characteristics,' but Wang memorized them word for word to pass tests without giving these terms much thought. Under Communist Party rule, 'not thinking' is a means of self-preservation . In China, curiosity, reading unedited information, and introspection are discouraged.
For this reason, when Chinese students go abroad to study, they often encounter criticism in their daily lives, in class, and online that they have been brainwashed by the government. Students find these criticisms offensive and reinforce the beliefs they learned in China that the West is prejudiced and hostile. This is why many students have difficulty adapting to education systems outside of China.
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Wang also said that even emotions are controlled in China. In China, people are taught that certain events should make them happy, sad, or angry, but they are not told why. When China's top leader, Deng Xiaoping, passed away, Wang's friend went to the Central Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong to pay his respects. He was walking out of the building crying, and when asked, 'Why are you crying?' he was at a loss for words. 'I asked myself why I was crying, but I had no idea,' his friend said.
For Chinese students, being exposed to ideas that are radically different from the culture they grew up in poses significant challenges, but Wang said it is important for university officials to continue to engage with pro-China Chinese students in a respectful and open-minded manner.
by Vasily Koloda
Wang said his work with Human Rights Watch was inspired by his knowledge of the Chinese government's human rights violations. In the long run, this could mean that students living outside of China could return home and explore a new direction for China.
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