海角大神

Hong Kong protest leaders rallied their forces Sunday night ahead of an expected civil disobedience to block downtown traffic 鈥� after China鈥檚 leaders officially said that Asia鈥檚 commercial hub would not be allowed to have the direct democracy it has long anticipated.

The National People鈥檚 Congress Standing Committee in Beijing determined Sunday that all Hong Kong citizens may vote in the coming 2017 elections, but that Beijing would screen the nominees for the top job of chief executive.

Democrats and many ordinary Hong Kong people see this as a betrayal of the original understanding by which Great Britain handed its highly developed colony over to China in 1997 鈥� and a twisting of the concept of 鈥渦niversal suffrage鈥� they were promised in 2007. 聽

鈥淭oday is the darkest day of the history of Hong Kong鈥檚 democratic development,鈥� said Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a founder of the movement "Occupy Central With Love and Peace鈥� that is planning to protest.

Despite warnings by Beijing, thousands of Hong Kong citizens, led by law professors and student leaders, are expected in coming weeks to block traffic downtown, boycott university classes, and protest in strategic locations.

Hong Kong enjoys a special autonomous status in China, but is engaged in a bewildering array of complicated reform procedures with Beijing 鈥� which many Hong Kong democrats view as a competition of values between civil society in Hong Kong and Communist Party authority in Beijing. Amid an expansion of wealth and power under President Xi Jinping, Beijing is turning increasingly authoritarian. And Hong Kong democrats fear that their city is losing its distinct character and identity, which was forged by a combination of diverse ethnic groups and held together by a disciplined set of civil servants drawing from its British heritage, and until now, a lack of corruption and crony capitalism.

鈥淪ome of us hoped at the last minute that Beijing would get this right, but now it doesn鈥檛 look like that,鈥� says Michael Davis, a constitutional law scholar at Hong Kong University. 鈥淲hat I see is a steady fear that Hong Kong will lose its distinctiveness and become simply another city in China. Beijing seems to want to recreate Hong Kong in its image.鈥�

Beijing legal scholars counter that Hong Kong is taking a 鈥渓op-sided鈥� view of the formula of 鈥渙ne country, two systems鈥� by which the colony was handed over.聽

Tensions between Beijing and Hong Kong spiked in June when China issued a rare 鈥淲hite Paper鈥� on Hong Kong. The paper asserted that Beijing will interpret Hong Kong鈥檚 Basic Law and asserted that in the future, members of the judiciary 鈥� Hong Kong is proud of its independent judges 鈥� will be chosen on the basis of 鈥渓ove of country鈥� and 鈥減atriotism,鈥� and not be allowed further recruiting of international judges.

Hong Kong democrats are concerned about the future of young people here who don鈥檛 have mainland connections, and whose place in business and firms are being pushed aside by the children of elites in China. For the first time in two decades, wealthy Hong Kong households have been making inquiries about other places to live, according to sources in corporate human resource offices.

Many also worry over the increased push by Beijing to speak Mandarin in a Cantonese-speaking culture; the erosion of press and academic freedoms; and incidents like the recent early morning home raid of two leading democrats 鈥� described as part of an investigation of corruption, but whose timing ahead of the Occupy Central action is questioned.

鈥淏eijing is acting like a mother that is telling her child, 鈥榊ou are rebellious. I give you all this freedom and you are ungrateful,鈥欌�� comments a mother of two who says she was born in Hong Kong and educated abroad. She did not want to use her name. 鈥淚 think many of us fear this process of mainlandization.鈥�