Assignment 16- Penelope Pierson- 1st Draft of my speech, it's got a lot of typo's but its technically done

Last year, instead of opting to read a book in Mr.Wises class, I decided I would rather take a DNA test. I would get maybe a little more white or a little more asian, but alas, I was 100% 50%. Half and Half. But it’s interesting. Whenever someone asks me what I am, I always respond with “Chinese” and “White”. Yet, this isn’t true. Well, at least the chinese part isn't. My mother is from Hong Kong, and while yes, technically they have been part of China since 1997, I don’t consider myself to be chinese. Yet, why do I respond to people’s questions with the opposite of what I think? It’s simple; because it’s convenient. Having to explain Hong Kong and it’s past, and possibly, now, it’s future, is time consuming. As humans, we want to put the least amount of burden on ourselves, so thus we go with the most convenient answer. It also doesn't help that when I respond with “Hong Konger”, many people laugh as the name sounds funny. So, how is this important? Now there becomes a disconnect between myself and the idea of myself to other people. No longer am I a Hong Konger, but I am simply Chinese, one of the billion that make up the ever growing country, and while Hong Kong and China, from an external view, are very similar, the lifestyle and values that these differing places continue to polarize daily. So, it's frustrating, why do people have the perception that Hong Kong and China are all the same? They’re not. 

To start, we need to go back. Way back. Since 1841, Hong Kong was under British rule when this transfer of territory ended the first Opium war., yet in 1997 the control of this territory was given back to China in under promise of Hong Kong to be a special administrative region with the principle of “one country two systems,” an idea that means Hong Kong will continue its own government, economic, and financial affairs separate from Mainland China for 50 years. Yet, as Hong Kong continues to be a booming city, Mainland China has encroached slowly onto Hong Kong land and policies, starting small, but becoming exponentially bigger, to the point that destructive riots/protests against these very actions have been going on for almost 6 months now. But we’ll get back to that. Because of the long British history, Hong Kong has developed a separate culture than that of Mainland China. Cantonese vs Mandarin, Hong Kong Dollar vs. Yuen, Democracy vs Communism, Hong Kongers even need a visa and must go through immigration just to get into mainland china. it’s not hard to see the differences between these two places, yet people still believe their the same. Why would Hong Kong have so many differences if they were so similar? Hong Kong continues to aim to maintain their own lifestyle, yet day by day they become evermore concerned with the fate of their Hong Kong identity. 

In a CRS Report for Congress titled “Hong Kong: Ten Years After the Handover,” Micheal F. Martin, an Analyst in Asian Political Economics, quote “there is a growing interest and concern about the preservation of Hong Kong culture” and “social and cultural changes have raised the issue of a Hong Kong identity that is distinct and separable from a chinese identity”. This report shows how aware Hong Kongers that their identity is starting to be lost in the bustling world of Mainland China. From minute details such as the changing of currency to no longer having members of the royal family on it, to larger scale changes, such as the extradition bill being passed, China continues to make its everyso prominent mark on the 7.3 million people living in this small territory.  In Aria Chen's article “Hong Kong in Revolut”, posted in TIME Magazine, Chen goes over the history and the feelings that have brought Hong Kong to the protest where it is now. Starting from the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, which was going on its 30th anniversary when the extradition bill was introduced in Hong Kong in June, this only added fuel to the already heated Hong Kongers towards China and the Communist Party. The bill seemed to origionate from a 2018 murder that happened to a Hong Konger on a vacationing trip to Tiwan. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, wanted to push for a bill to get the murderer extradited, which as a result, would allow for any individual who goes against the communist party to be transferred to a territory with not extradition agreement. Once again, China attempts to push Hong Kongers lifestyle and politics into a corner, but this time, Hong Kong isn’t taking it. Starting peacefully, with protests happening every weeking to much more violent actions such as beating police officers and throwing petroleum bombs, Hong Kong is fighting for something much bigger than what they originally wanted; now it’s to become independent. But, why would they have to fight for such an idea if, according to some, Hong Kong and China are the same? It’s because they’re not. Hong Kong fights for their own identity, their own way of life, but China is making it so difficult.

 My grandfather just celebrated is 83rd birthday, but had to leave early as the streets of Hong Kong would become too dangerous for him to stay out any longer than he has already. Tear gas, destruction of property, the list goes on and on, the disasters actions from both the police and protesters have left Hong Kong trashed. Hong Kongers do not want their fight for democracy to be forgotten, such as Tiananmen Square was, but they fight for themselves, to be recognized as separate from that of Mainland China. They aim to preserve the identity they have created for themselves. You, the audience, recognize the efforts, the differences, and the attempts that Hong Kong has gone through to show their differences than that of China, and see that Hong Kong and China, truly, are not the same. Once you do this, and perhaps the rest of the world has, hopefully my DNA test can be updated to no longer recognizing me as 48% Chinese, but 48% Hong Konger.