Hello lovely, wonderful English learners,
Welcome to the Simple English Listening channel.
Here, we speak about interesting and exciting
topics in simpler English, so you can understand.
Today's episode follows from the last episode
on this channel, titled 'How Hong Kong Began'.
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episodes about every two weeks.
Look, I know it's been four weeks since the
last episode but it took me that long to research
and write this podcast.
I really went down a rabbit hole!
The research and writing - it never ended!
There's no video today because it's too long.
Instead, we have a two-part podcast so get
your earphones, put me in your ear and relax.
This podcast is intermediate level, so it
might be a little bit difficult for some of
you but you will still benefit from listening
and you will still learn some new language.
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you will understand.
And remember, the best way to learn English
is to listen and read - listen and read to
as much English as possible which is just
one level above your level.
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please click on the link in the video description
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Okay, today we'll learn all about Hong Kong,
from its beginning in 1860 up to the situation
now.
Hong Kong has been in the news a lot over
the last two years, especially.
There have been protests there.
'Protests' mean, there have been people gathering
in the streets in large numbers, holding signs,
shouting, chanting songs, sometimes even fighting.
Many people there are not happy right now
and they want change.
This is why they are protesting.
The word 'protest' is a verb and noun.
Hong Kong is a small island of about 8 million
people just off (just next) to the coast of
southern China.
From 1860 to 1997 Hong Kong was part of the
British Empire, however, it was returned to
China peacefully in 1997.
To put the previous episode in a nutshell,
which is an idiom which means to summarize
the previous episode - to 'put it in a nut
shell'.
There were two wars between Britain and China
called 'The Opium Wars'.
At the end of these wars in 1898, both countries
signed a treaty (a 'treaty' meaning, they
signed an agreement) that Hong Kong would
be a British colony for 99 years - that Hong
Kong would be a British colony until 1997.
After the treaty was signed, Hong Kong quickly
became an international business hub.
It became the link, the connection between
China and the west.
It became very wealthy, very rich and even
today, Hong Kong along with Singapore (which
was also a British colony) are the two most
expensive cities in the world today to live
in.
An international community developed there
in Hong Kong and is still there.
People there enjoy a very high standard of
living.
Also, the arts thrived in Hong Kong, especially
the Hong Kong movie industry.
A free and open society is of course a good
foundation for creativity to blossom and flower.
Now, from the 1940s, Hong Kong became a refuge
for people fleeing (running) from mainland
China and the big political changes there,
such as the Chinese cultural revolution.
This revolution was when China became a one-party
communist country, which it still is now.
Actually, in the 1940s alone over 100,000
refugees moved to Hong Kong ('refugee', a
noun meaning someone who must move to a new
country because it is not safe for them in
their old country).
Many hundreds of thousands of refugees moved
to Hong Kong from China in the following decades
(a 'decade' means, a period of ten years.
A 'century' meaning a 100 years, a 'decade'
means 10 years).
During British rule it was difficult for mainland
Chinese citizens to visit Hong Kong.
There was a big international border, with
passport control, immigration etc..
Chinese leaders made it difficult for their
citizens to visit because, well Hong Kongers
had a salary (were being paid) 40 times more
than mainland Chinese citizens and Hong Kongers
had free speech and could freely talk about,
criticize and participate in politics.
These were maybe things that Beijing did not
want her citizens to see or be influenced
by.
For now on, when I say 'Beijing', I mean the
mainland Chinese government.
In English, when we talk about the relationships
between different country's governments we
use the capital city name.
For example, if we talk about the American
government we say Washington thinks this,
Washington thinks that.
If we're talking about for example, the Russian
government, we say Moscow thinks this and
that.
When we talk about China's government we say
Beijing, for short.
For example: the relationship between Washington
and Beijing has hit a 5 year low.
Quickly, can i ask?
Do you prefer these audio-only podcasts with
the transcripts to read or do you prefer the
whole video presentation, like in my previous
videos?
Let me know what you prefer in the comments.
Which is more useful to you?
Okay, Hong Kong and mainland China have completely
different government systems.
They are completely different political ideas.
Like anything, both of these systems have
advantages and disadvantages.
First, the Chinese system:
In China you have one political party.
This, is the Chinese communist party.
Communism is a political idea made popular
by the German philosopher Karl Marx and Vladmir
Lenin.
Let's call the Chinese communist party the
'CCP' for short.
They (the CCP) have had power in China since
1949.
Ordinary citizens like you and me, do not
vote, meaning, people cannot choose another
party or government.
There is just one party.
Historically, with this system, there is limited
free speech or expression.
You cannot speak against or criticize the
government because this causes instability.
Communism relies on everyone working together,
as one unit, being united.
In the CCP (the Chinese communist party),
the justice system meaning the courts, the
judges, the lawyers are a part of the government
and decisions in the courts can be influenced
by the government.
The justice system is not fully separate from
the government.
Advantages (benefits) of this system is that
politicians can make very long-term projects,
goals, economic strategies (unlike in western
democracies where the leadership changes every
4 or 8 years).
They say in China, when a politician does
a new initiative (a new project) they may
have died from old age by the time we see
the fruits of its success.
This Chinese system is also influenced by
culture.
I've lived in the far east of Asia for 8 years
now.
I've lived in Korea, Japan and Vietnam.
The mentality here, ('mentality' meaning,
the way people think) is that people consider
themselves to be a part of the wider whole.
They think about the collective, the group.
What benefits the group?
However, in western culture, there is more
emphasis on empowering the individual.
Both these cultures have different ideas about
what leads to success and strength in society.
So that's enough about China.
Now, in the small island of Hong Kong, they
have a more western-style, capitalist, individualistic,
free and democratic government system.
This is influenced by the British system,
which is an extremely different government
system to China, well, it's the opposite,
pretty much!
In this system, people vote (they choose new
leadership) every five years.
The current leader of Hong Kong is a woman
called Carrie Lam by the way, you may have
seen her in the newspapers.
There is free speech in Hong Kong and citizens
can freely participate in politics.
In Hong Kong, the government and the justice
system (meaning, the laws, the courts, the
judges), they are all separate from the government.
They are not a part of the government, unlike
the Chinese system.
Other countries that have a justice system
that is separate to the government are Canada,
Australia, Germany, Switzerland and most other
western countries.
So, as you can see, the mainland Chinese and
the Hong Kongese political systems are very
different - they are, practically, opposite
systems.
Hong Kongers have lived this way since 1898.
They are used to this way of life.
It is the only way of life they know.
Hong Kong was British - it was leased to Great
Britain until 1997.
So, in 1997, Hong Kong (with a very very different
political system and lifestyle) would have
to be returned to China.
It was in the contract!
How do you unite (bring together) the two?
It was always going to be a great challenge.
As the big day of the 1997 handover came closer
in 1984, Great Britain and China signed an
agreement.
This agreement said that the UK would give
back Hong Kong in 1997 if China would allow
(would let) Hong Kong continue its own
justice system of judges and courts and making
it's own laws, and could continue its social
and economic systems: capitalism, free speech,
democracy etc..
China agreed to this.
China, together with Britain agreed that Hong
Kong would continue it's own systems for 50
years from 1997 to the year 2047.
They named this system - the 'one country,
two systems' policy.
They lowered the British flag in 1997 and
they raised the Chinese flag over Hong Kong.
There was a handover ceremony, speeches by
the leaders of the two countries and by Prince
Charles.
On that day, there were protests outside of
about 50,000 people but they were peaceful
('protests' meaning, people gathered together,
made speeches, shouted slogans, waved British
flags etc.. a protest).
China kept her promise and so began the 'one
country, two systems' policy, preserving (keeping)
the Hong Kongese way of life.
You can say 'Hong Kongese' or 'Hong Konger',
both are correct.
Hong Kong continued to be the main international
business hub of east Asia.
In fact, in 1997, Hong Kong, a city of about
8 million people was responsible for 18% of
China's GDP (GDP = gross domestic product
- the economic output / productivity of a
country).
So, 18% came from just Hong Kong!
But now, Hong Kong produces only 3% of China's
GDP.
This tells us how quickly the mainland Chinese
economy has grown in the space of just over
20 years.
Now, often, since 1997 there have been protests
in Hong Kong.
These protests are usually against Beijing
and the Chinese communist party's influence
over Hong Kong.
Hong Kongers are proud and protective of their
way of life (their free speech, their more
democratic system, separate justice system
etc..)
Historically, when they feel the Hong Kongese
way of life is under threat from Beijing,
they protest.
Remember, we say 'Beijing' when talking about
the mainland Chinese communist party - the
CCP.
Hong Kong has been a part of China since 1997
and since then, Beijing has tried to slowly
integrate Hong Kong with China, which means,
to slowly get them to become more like, and
a part of China.
A couple of examples of these protests are
in 2003.
Half a million Hong Kongers protested against
new laws that Beijing wanted to enact in Hong
Kong.
Beijing wanted laws that said that any criticism
or acts against the Chinese government such
as treason, secession (meaning wanting an
independent Hong Kong) and subversion would
become a crime with up to life in prison!
So they wanted it so you could not say anything
against Beijing or criticize it.
Of course, Hong Kongers did not like this
so, they protested - over 500,000 people!
They saw this as a threat to their free speech
and political freedom.
Let's quickly clarify what 'free speech' means.
Free speech means you can say whatever you
like about the government without getting
into trouble.
Some countries have free speech such as the
USA and the UK, and some countries do not
have free speech such as China and Iran, for
example.
Actually, part of China's agreement with the
UK in 1984 said that Beijing was allowed to
pass this law, to punish acts that are critical
against the CCP but every time they tried
to pass this law, there were big protests
in Hong Kong against it.
In 2012, there was another protest.
This time, because Beijing wanted to change
the Hong Kong education system.
They wanted to change what children were taught
in schools, to show Chinese communism in a
more positive light.
Now, we get to the bigger protests!
'The umbrella movement'.
The umbrella movement was a collection of
protests which lasted from September to December
2014.
For 2 and a half months.
It was named 'the umbrella movement' because
of the yellow umbrellas protesters would carry
to protect themselves from tear gas ('tear
gas' is the gas thrown by riot police which
makes you cry and makes your eyes sting).
Now, these protests attracted more than a
million people (in a city of 8 million) and
there was always at least 100,000 people protesting
in the streets at any one time.
Protesters would sit down together, occupying
and blocking traffic and cars from major city
road intersections.
So, parts of the city were closed to traffic
and business for 77 days.
The purpose of the umbrella movement was to
protest against changes in the Hong Kong government.
Instead of having free open democratic elections,
Beijing wanted to choose who Hong Kongers
could vote for.
Therefore, Hong Kongers could vote democratically,
but only from a group of people pre-chosen
by Beijing.
So, they could only vote for a leader from
a group of politicians that were pro-Beijing.
In the end, the protests were stamped out,
they were ended by force by the police.
This made many young Hong Kongese feel that
the government didn't listen to them.
We say, it made them feel disenfranchised
(not listened to) with the political system.
They grew up thinking they could participate
in politics but learned in 2014, that maybe
that wasn't true anymore.
Actually, these umbrella movement protests
from 2014 were famous around the world for
the peaceful attitude of the protesters.
We can also say 'demonstrators'.
Demonstrators, protesters - these words are
synonyms.
On all of the world's news TV stations, there
would be video clips at this time of students
blockading (blocking) city intersections,
but still sitting down and doing their homework
together or, a video of the protesters opening
up like the Red Sea in front of Moses to let
ambulances through.
So this brings us to the recent protests,
which were much less peaceful, which you'll
learn about in the next and final episode
of this series, which is already written - I
just need to record it!
Remember, please tell me if you prefer these
longer audio-only podcasts with downloadable
transcripts (like this) or the video lessons
that I've been doing in previous episodes.
Or maybe, you like both?
What's more useful?
Maybe you like videos sometimes and audio-only
podcasts sometimes.
Let me know in the comments.
This channel is for you, as well as me, of
course.
It's 'our' project.
I will release the next episode as soon as
possible, okay?
So, hopefully, in the next week.
Make sure you're subscribed to the Youtube,
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Okay, take care now, my angels.
Have a lovely day.
