They took to the streets, most of them for the first time, demanding to vote, carrying umbrellas, thousands of people in a vast procession down the streets in a protest movement that was almost entirely peaceful. This led to a movement called the Umbrella Movement, headed by young people, teenagers, who'd learned their politics in these public school classes that all these 22-year-olds talk about as being instrumental in their thinking, classes that began as part of the handover called Liberal Studies classes that explained, among other things, the promises of 1997 and the rights of Hong Kong citizens. And that year, China announced it wasn't going to happen. And that year, people in Hong Kong were still expecting that mainland China was going to let them start holding full-on elections, where they could choose their own leaders, as promised back in 1997. They were 17, the 17th year since the handover. Jennifer says the "chosen one" side of things didn't really kick in until their senior year of high school. This week, overseas with a lot of people who have some very American values. From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. We have all sorts of people from all sides of this that we want you to meet. If you haven't been following this story at all- maybe you've been sitting this one out- we're going to catch you up on what you need to know. ![]() This hour, we have the story of the change that we witnessed and what we think it might mean. It's gotten much more violent, harsh new measures by the government. Though, just in the last few weeks since we got to Hong Kong, we've watched the situation change dramatically. I have to say, one of the things that was fascinating, given the ugly state of democracy here in the United States lately, was to be among so many young people who believe so intensely in democratic ideals and yearn so deeply for the basics, like normal elections and free speech and free assembly. Three of us arrived in Hong Kong in mid-September, me and Emanuele and a co-worker, Diane Wu. ![]() But for all the coverage, here at our show, we felt like we weren't seeing many stories where we got to know anybody very well- who they were, what exactly they expected was going to come out of the protests, given China's intransigence. The protests in Hong Kong have been international news for months, kicked off by people's fears that mainland China is threatening some very basic things about their city and their lives. Here in the neighborhood, it's kind of exciting to wonder who your allies might be. It's like, are you on my side? Are you one of us? Once you're at the protest, everybody's in a mass so you don't really know who's on your team.
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