Contextualizing Occupy Central in Contemporary Hong Kong

The following sections are included:

• Preface
• Contents
• About the Authors

This writing begins with a macro-perspective discussion of centreperiphery relations in Chinese history. It begins with the question of whether there is systemic imposition of centralized Chinese political control to manage its territory. Throughout most of its history, China was ruled as a unitary state, despite its vast size, with the Emperor as the power centre. As such, the central-local government relationship has been a perennial problem for China's governance. In practice, this relationship has always been very flexible, and because of this flexibility, the vast Middle Kingdom managed to survive through the dynasties. Historically and culturally, the physical size of China is tianxia or “under the heaven”, and the ruler has the mandate of the Heaven as he/she is tianzi or “son of the heaven”…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction: How Beijing handled the demonstrations
• Hands-off approach
• Tycoon diplomacy
• A case study in Chinese media response
• The rise of social media technologies
• Counterbalancing forces and the backlash
• Advantage Shanghai?
• Different layers of implications
• Soft cultural power?
• Gradualism and convergence

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods: Literature Review
• Materials and Methods: Methodology
• Discussions and Results: Main Text
• Limitations
• References

If the first phase of the Occupy Central protests started off with randomness and an unpredictable outcome, then the second phase of the Occupy Central protests symbolizes increasing institutional polarization, public fatigue and retrospective self-contemplation amongst the protestors. Institutional polarization refers to mobilized and organized backlash from members of the anti-Occupy public, alleged triad groups as well as the pro-government blue ribbon movement. Public fatigue became a rising sentiment amongst those whose livelihoods and travel plans are affected by the month-long protest at the point of this writing. And self-introspection and forward-looking contemplation have arisen amongst the protestors: now that they have brought the situation and their agenda in Hong Kong to the global media attention, what next? In some ways, their success in presenting their grievances to the world became unexpectedly headline news but, on the other hand, it encountered mixed reactions from the silent majority of Hong Kong society as well as less resonance amongst their mainland Chinese counterparts…

For observers on hindsight, many were surprised at the duration of the movement and the dichotomous reactions it garnered from the public, especially near the 55^th day of the movement. People in Hong Kong are used to shorter, more targeted social movements with clearer goals. In the past, half a million people have marched against former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa before but it did not last more than a day. The wide spectrum of political views on display in this social movement also indicated the polarization of Hong Kong society. Therefore, the significant features of the Occupy movement for many observers is the length/duration of the movement and its polarizing effect…

The following sections are included:

• Brief history of the ‘Occupy’ movement
• Bibliography

On 11 December 2014 1 pm, the authors met up with Hung Wing Lok and obtained his permission to conduct the following interview due to the following reasons. First, Hung shared his practitioner views about the pro-democracy movement with us as a former Civic Party activist and branch leader in the pan-Democrat camp. His account is important as an individual practitioner's perspective for joining the movement. Second, Hung resigned from the party in August 2014 due to his opposition to the Occupy Central movement amongst other reasons. His personal insights is valuable as someone who has both democratic political views and publicly-expressed views about the Occupy Central movement. Third, Hung articulated his political views publicly in major pro-establishment newspapers like Ta Kung Pao, which makes Hung a unique personality with a complex political profile of being a former pan-Democrat who believes in liberal democracy but rejects the Occupy movement publicly while writing for a pro-establishment media outfit. Hung's complex views mirror many complicated political views and affiliations of different local stakeholders in Hong Kong's future…

As the Occupy Central protests simmered down by the beginning of November 2014, international observers started to wonder: what is the regional impact of the protests? There are many contesting views here. They can be categorized into limited impact versus strong global sympathies. Both views are equally plausible, they are equally politicized and have their own advocates and detractors.

In this monograph, I have divided the complex Occupy Central movement into three phases. In all three phases, both internal dynamics and external impacts of the Occupy Central movement are covered in this writing. Phase I (28 September 2014 to 6 October 2014) analyses the movement from its official declaration of its merger with the university student-led class embargo movement to the first major pause of the Occupy movement as protestors and authorities tried to work out some kind of dialogue arrangement. Phase II (7 October 2014 to 20 November 2014) represents the increasingly polarized nature of the movement as counter-reactions against the Occupy protestors emerges in the public sphere. It culminates in the 20 November 2014 date as international and domestic reports published surveys that indicate over 80% of Hong Kongers wanted Occupy to end. Phase III (21 November 2014 to 3 December 2014) is the last phase covered in this publication with the rising tide against the Occupy movement, and the self-declaration of surrender to the police by the Occupy Central leaders.

As the Occupy Central has indicated, Beijing did not give political concessions to HK on the universal suffrage time table despite pressures from the social movement, and now begins the next stage of HK's political consultation on the reform. The willingness of HK's government to make concession to Beijing is dependent on China itself, and with Xi consolidating his power, China is unlikely to democratize, and will remain an authoritarian system. According to HK-based and international media outlets, HK has accepted Beijing's position. However, even during the Occupy Central movement itself, and in the aftermath, mainstream leaders like CY Leung, Carrie Lam, and political commentators like Regina Ip, maintain that there is always space for discussions, including replacing some committee seats to represent a wider political spectrum of the HK society…

The following section is included:

• Index