[Miscellaneous] Written after the passage of the National Security Law in Hong Kong

Many major events have happened recently, especially the series of plot developments after the passage of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, which makes me feel that history has accelerated a step forward without knowing it. When I was feeling emotional, I looked through the calendar and suddenly found that that unspeakable day had come again. Although I had a lot of thoughts in my heart, I couldn’t write it down yet. In addition, I didn’t know much about Hong Kong, so let’s talk about it for now. .

Unsurprisingly, the Hong Kong National Security Law was passed "democratically" and "victively" with one vote against.

This national security law can be said to be fatal to the rule of law in Hong Kong. In particular, two places have been specially revised on the basis of the draft this time - the scope of conviction has been changed from "acts endangering national security" to "acts and activities endangering national security" , and "carrying out national security promotion and education" will be The "promotion" is deleted . This means that the scope of conviction will be further expanded, and it will not be uncommon for the appearance of convictions and "feelings".

For Hong Kong people, the current situation is undoubtedly irreversible. This is not only related to everyone's political stance, but also to the vital interests of every Hong Kong person. On the other hand, most of the people on the mainland still reacted as follows: It's none of my business; the civil servants are tasked with forwarding official news; even more, like people who love the country and the party, they cheer and applaud.

So, does the Hong Kong National Security Law really have nothing to do with mainlanders? I think of course it is related.

First of all, at the national level, the "controllable free port" of Hong Kong is gone . Some people say that it is not the situation before the reform and opening up. China no longer needs this window, and some people may have questions about whether Shenzhen can replace Hong Kong? In fact, when I was a student, I naively thought that as long as Shenzhen continued to develop, it would always be able to replace the status of Hong Kong, but the university teachers at that time very implicitly denied this possibility. The reason is very simple. The reason why Hong Kong is a special existence is that it is based on its relatively independent rule of law, a far more liberal and looser environment than that of the mainland, and its geographical location backed by the mainland market. The key to evaluating these fundamental factors is how other economies in the world view Hong Kong's status, not how the central government evaluates Hong Kong's status. Once Hong Kong is considered by the international community to be no longer "special", the roundabout way of using Hong Kong as a "special tool" to resolve external sanctions will not work. No, the United States will cancel Hong Kong's special trade status, and it will not be able to deal with mainland China on trade issues. Other regions are treated equally, and we can wait and see what the outcome will be.

For the central government, "controllable" must take precedence over "free port", and the international community's expectation of Hong Kong is "free port", as long as the foundation of Hong Kong's freedom is not affected. However, the tacit balance of the past has been broken by the comprehensive confrontation between China and the United States. There is always a group of people in China who regard everything as a fatal risk. As long as they cannot fully control it, they will feel unsafe. The worse the situation is, the more they want to control everything. It is clear that the West's blockade of China is getting stronger and stronger, and the significance of Hong Kong as a free port to the Chinese mainland will be greater, but instead they believe that Hong Kong is a "loophole" in national security, which brings them even greater anxiety. Coupled with the fact that there are always little pink warriors who have crazy obsessions with one country, one system, policymakers mistakenly believe that "people's hearts can be used" . The back road was blocked.

Second, the national security law will further weaken the courage of mainlanders to express themselves - different voices in the country will lose a sanctuary. The reason why Hong Kong can be used as a sanctuary for dissent is because there are many voices that cannot be expressed or are inconvenient to express within the walls (including voices in the high-level system, intellectuals, and even the voices of many ordinary mainlanders on matter Voice), you can let it out through the "exhaust" of Hong Kong, but strictly speaking, this is not "treason" - Hong Kong is first and foremost the territory of the People's Republic of China in legal terms. However, in the future, the gray area of Hong Kong will disappear. As the connection between the two concepts of "Hong Kong" and "national security" is further strengthened, even issues involving Hong Kong will be more sensitive than other places outside the country.

Then again, the changes in mainland society will not have nothing to do with Hong Kong.

The change in the situation in Hong Kong is by no means an isolated incident. The Chinese government's attitude towards mainland society and its attitude towards Hong Kong are in the same general direction, but the degree of easing is different. I don't want to judge too much about the right and wrong of the local trend of thought, but I just want to make a small suggestion: no matter how much you reject the words "China" and "Chinese", please remember how the Chinese government treats the mainland today. How will the people of Hong Kong be treated tomorrow, and the people of Taiwan will be treated the day after tomorrow. The continuation of this influence can not be cut off by shouting for independence and founding a country. In principle, the issues of Hong Kong and Taiwan cannot be permanently resolved without changing mainland China. Of course, it is another matter at the operational level. Hong Kong and Taiwan also have specific differences, so I will not expand them here. (In order to prevent misunderstandings, I want to clarify that I have no intention to draw the conclusion that China must be unified because of the belief in great unification. What I want to emphasize is that neither unification nor independence can be regarded as a belief and an ultimate goal, at least it should be A topic with room for discussion.)

As for the so-called "Hong Kong independence", I have never discussed it together with the Hong Kong protests and civil society movements. The favorite way of discussion among the patriotic fans is to entangle you with different topics, and make you fall into constant refutation. his state. Does the "Hong Kong Independence" trend exist? exist. But was this trend of thought the mainstream? no. Looking back, you will find that the most "patriotic" people and the most "patriotic" media and propaganda agencies have mentioned Hong Kong independence the most. In their discourse system, except for the people who "love Hong Kong and patriotism", all Hong Kong people are Hong Kong independence, but they don't know that the majority of Hong Kong people - neither Hong Kong independence nor "Hong Kong patriotic" Hong Kong people, only It is the basic disk of public opinion. They just want to defend their lives from being forcibly changed, freedom from being arbitrarily deprived, and justice being served.

I still remember a Hong Kong classmate who discussed the identity of Hong Kong people in class. He said: Hong Kong people do not hate the land of China, and many people do not even deny that they are Chinese, because many of their ancestors have Still "Chinese", most of them just hate the Communist Party. Therefore, everyone can think about it for themselves, what exactly is "Hong Kong independence" created and how it is amplified, and where is the root cause of the confrontation between China and Hong Kong.

After the National Security Law was passed, I saw some authors in mainland China express their concerns. On the one hand, they were worried about their own safety. On the other hand, they also saw the future trend of the social atmosphere in mainland China. I still want to emphasize that the situation of the people of Hong Kong and the mainland is not isolated from each other . Although the two will confront each other on many specific issues, both are facing the deepening control of such a power over civil society. For mainlanders, don't be naive to think that "sanctioning" Hong Kong and "depriving" Hong Kong of its so-called "privileges", mainlanders can rejoice and celebrate the realization of political equality between the two places - what they did to Hong Kong today , tomorrow will double the treatment of the mainland people, and you can only applaud.

Faced with the status quo, what can mainlanders do?

Prepare for the day that changes.

This does not mean that we have to wait until the world is in great chaos to be an ambitious man who fishes in troubled waters and insists on making a revolution without the need for a revolution, nor does it mean that we have no choice but to wait. What I want to stress is that it is not up to one of us to decide what kind of changes will take place in China in the future. We cannot predict when and what kind of changes or emergencies will occur, nor do we expect any savior to come. that day. But we can now at least prepare for the social reshaping of post-change China.

When talking with many domestic friends about the stability maintenance operation of China's social events, they always get stuck on one issue. Of course, many people really think so, and I can't completely deny this view. (Note that I still think that various means of maintaining stability are unjust in principle.) So why are people afraid of "chaos"? Wouldn't other countries be in chaos, wouldn't they be afraid of chaos? The reason is that China's "chaos" in history have astonishing destructive power. From the perspective of the rise and fall of dynasties in Chinese history, the reason why the ancient dynasties did not develop modernity is not because the germs of modernity did not develop in ancient China, but because these germs were built on the old social structure. The sprout will be wiped out once, so that the sprout will always be the sprout. People have closely linked "chaos" and "destruction", because the social change in China from ancient times to the present has never been the gradual peeling of old things, but the gradual peeling of old things. Instead of collapsing to brittle disintegration, the jade will burn.

So what specific things can be done about this reality?

First, do not give up on macro and conceptual level efforts. Strive for the space to speak out, to ensure that the healthy buds are not completely eliminated; to enrich one's own theoretical level, improve the level of knowledge and knowledge of the people, and cultivate the soil for the budding to grow steadily in the future; cultivate one's own courage, and the courage to care for others.

Second, pay attention to the micro-level grassroots society. Don’t ask everyone to express their thoughts in public, at least privately prompt the people around you to remain suspicious and think, even if you can’t convince him: Participate in real club activities, even if the club does not involve politics; understand The current grassroots political system in mainland China, even if you think it's ridiculous; pay attention to rights groups and unite most people who can be united.

If you don't have the ability to take the initiative, at least make sure that you don't do anything - for example, don't do evil, don't inform, don't be an accomplice while keeping your job.

The above ideas are all scattered and fragmented. I do not seek to weave a grand and rigorous theory. I also know that I can’t apply the existing experience of other countries, and I can’t ask too much of everyone’s courage. After all, I know that most Chinese people are very cowardly , I'm also cowardly.

However, counseling is not terrible, it is always better than helping Zhou to abuse. Cowardly and cowardly play, but if you give up, you really have nothing. This sentence is also sent to the people of Hong Kong after the national security law is actually implemented.

mutual encouragement.

May 35, 2020