Scar

     Hong Kong and Mainland China have different social, education, legal, economic and political systems. Hong Kong is a democratic city and Mainland China wants to take democracy away from Hong Kong because Hong Kong is a world class center. China tries to control Hong Kong and take benefits from it. In Mainland China, proposed a law that would limit the right to freedom and speech in Hong Kong. Most of the people who live in Hong Kong believes this law would take away their rights and freedom, so they fought for it and protested on the street. On June 9, 2019, a demonstration was attended by hundreds of thousands to protest the law. My friend and I thought the government would withdraw the law, but the government didn’t withdrawal the law. In this summer, Hong Kong has different small and large protest. Everyone who fought for freedom got a scar from the protest. Before the protest happened, we went outside for dinner, movies, and other outdoor activities without any worry about our safety, because we had our rights and freedom. After the event, everything changed, and there are different effects that impacted my family, my friend, and my teacher. 

At the beginning, this event had a massive impact on my family because we supported different political parties. My parents support the new law passed by Hong Kong and China’s government. In contrast, my sister and I support the protesters that are against the law because we have a different education. My father has always cursed the protesters because he does not agree with their ideas, and he believes that the protesters will destroy Hong Kong. My mother will argue with my father sometimes, but the other times she never talks about it because she knows my sister and I support the protesters. My sister and I do not usually argue with our parents because we know everyone has their opinions and a different education. Regardless of how my father curses at the protesters, I never argue with him. When we were having dinner on August 17, 2019, a journalist reported on a protester who lost her eye during the protest, and my father said she deserved it, so I had a little argument with him. Although we ended the argument in a peaceful way, something changed in the relationship. There is now an invisible wall between my father and me. He became quiet in front of me, but he talked a lot with others. The summer before this event we would go swimming and find good restaurants sometimes. This past summer we did not communicate much, or even hang out. Our relationship remained weird until we moves to United States. Although we talk and act like we used to, we never talk about anything happened in Hong Kong anymore. 

The second effect that had on my life is the relationship with my friends. We used to spend a lot of time together in the summer before the protests happened. After the protests happened, we were afraid to hang around in the city because the police are violent during that time. The police would drag protesters into an alley and kick or hit them with a baton, and sometimes they would beat non-protesters for no reason. Although my friend and I did not participate in the protest, we did not want to get into any trouble. When we wanted to hang out for dinner or movies, we needed to avoid the places and times that people are protesting. In addition, one of my friend's named Jerry was born in Taiwan, but he studied in Hong Kong since he was five years old. He mentioned to me that he wanted to finish college in Hong Kong before this event happened. Now, he has gone back and studies in Taiwan. He feels much more freedom in Taiwan. He thinks the high degree of Hong Kong autonomy has gone, so he decided to move back to Taiwan. Most of my friends are leaving Hong Kong and moving to other countries because of the mainland China is taking control of Hong Kong.  

The last effect on my life was on my teachers because teachers were silenced by the government. After the event happened, freedom of speech has changed. Teachers could not talk about politics anymore, even their thoughts. If they reported by anyone, they would be punished by the government. They might send into the jail, or they could not teach in Hong Kong anymore. As a result, my secondary school teacher just avoided talking about political and social issues. They are silenced by the government. One of the teachers from my secondary school named Tracy, with her family moved to Canada after the event happened. She looked for a better life with her family and wanted her son to live in freedom.  

Until this day, I still cannot forget what happened in the summer of 2019. Students, teachers, workers, and even elders tried to protest against the law, but they failed and their sacrifice was worthless. After a year of protest, Hong Kong led to a massive change. People were silenced, and their freedom was gone. Some people moved or tried to get accepted to colleges in other countries. Some of them decided to stay, but they are not going to talk about the protest anymore. After all, these effects became a scar to the Hong Kongers who fought for their rights and freedom.