A city within a country, unbounded by the laws of the surrounding territory, free to live on the rules that it creates for itself. Yet this general idea is tearing this city state apart, creating divisions within the country and the peaceful state of the city. Hong Kong and China are going through their own civil war right now, yet the reason for their constant fighting is unbeknownst by most people, yet something I hope people can start to learn about and hopefully fight for the freedom of Hong Kong.

Like most history tales that deal with the capture and release of a territory, we have the cruel ideals of Britain’s world domination front and center of the story. Back in 1842, Hong Kong Island was forfeited to the British for 150 years, and later more parts of Hong Kong were given to Britain for 99 years as a lease. However, as the lease started coming into its final end date, debates between the two powers started taking place to figure out what was to be done. 

As a communist country, China was accustomed to handling affairs with their country differently than Hong Kong, as they were under a democratic British Rule. Eventually, they came to the consensus that, stated by a BBC news post, would be a “one country, two systems rule…that while becoming part of one country with China, Hong Kong would enjoy a “high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs” for 50 years.”. 

Now this happened in 1997, finally incorporating Hong Kong into China, yet functioning under two different types of rulings, and in theory, China should be unable to meddle in the leadership and government of Hong Kong, yet they continue to try and impose their rules on Hong Kong. This type of interference should never be allowed on a separate country, yet unbelievably so, it still is! Not too long ago, they tried to get Hong Kong only to elect a leader from their certified list of leaders, a sham that Hong Kong immediately shut down and tried to move past. 

Hong Kong had been inducted into China, and within the same year protests started to begin, hundreds of thousands of mass violent demonstrations that have injured thousands and have begun to become more and more frequent in the past years as China tried to pass an extradition law from Hong Kong to China. 

As a democratic nation, we pride ourselves in being able to say that we are able to elect our leaders and vote for the issues that matter to us, not controlled by the government or by any nation around us. Hong Kong is fighting for this same independence, yet they are met with a full police force as the Chinese government is trying to subdue their fight for independence.  

These past few weeks, I’ve been researching presidential candidates to vote for, as it is finally time for us youngsters to vote on the issues that we care about and want to change. So if we are freely getting the chance to vote and help support our country in a way that matters, then why shouldn’t we help Hong Kong achieve that freedom as well? 

Hong Kong is looking to be separate from a communist country, an ideal that I believe has never been carried out well yet, so why should their beliefs be muted in the streets of Hong Kong. The police forces that have been sent out against them have caused multiple injuries, and people are on the verge of death across the world due to the cruelty that the Chinese government is enacting by trying to contain Hong Kong within its own rules.  

We are marching the streets everyday for important ideas such as climate control, and women’s rights, but don’t forget about back in the day when we fought for the ability to be a separate country from Britain and be our own democracy and control what we do with ourselves. These Hong Kong protesters are doing that but on a much bigger scale, and if they continue to fight a large country as a city by themselves, who knows how far they’ll get by the end of their two systems one country contract. 

We need to step up and help show the Hong Kong protesters that we will help them fight and support them in their fight to be free from the ever looming grasps of China, and that they can achieve their own independence. You can donate to a free press organization, which will continue to help Hong Kong be able to speak their minds to the nations around as they try to fight the hierarchies that are trying to subdue these protests. 

These Hong Kong protesters are trying to fight for the same independence that we fought for more than 200 years ago, and we continue to live peaceful lives day in and day out because of it. We share in the responsibility to help them be a free state, and be able to make their own decisions, something that we may take for granted everyday but they fight for everyday.