‘White Paper Revolution’ in Hong Kong Colleges to Support China Mainland Protests

On Nov. 27, in response to the “White Paper Revolution” in mainland China, mainlanders living in Hong Kong, Hong Kong citizens, and college and universities students, including those from the mainland, held up blank sheets of paper on the streets of Hong Kong, and in colleges and universities to support the Chinese people in protesting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) harsh COVID rules.

On Nov. 24, a fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang, killed 10 people in a building that had been under lockdown for weeks. The strict Covid rules made it difficult for the firefighters to get to the building leading to the deaths. In response to the tragedy, protests were held in many cities in mainland China including Beijing and Shanghai, expressing mounting public dissent aimed at Beijing’s zero-Covid strategy. In Shanghai, large crowds shouted slogans such as “Down with CCP. Down with Xi Jinping” during the protest. As of Nov. 28, 18 provinces and cities and 79 institutions of higher education across the country have participated in the protest.

Some Chinese netizens set the new words to the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong,” published during the 2019 pro-democracy movement opposing the enactment of an extradition bill in Hong Kong, into a Putonghua version, uploaded it to YouTube and it went viral on the Internet. Some mainland netizens reflected on their incomprehension about the Hong Kong people’s protests in 2019 and said  “I finally understand that” what Hongkongers want is just “basic rights.”

这首《赐我勇气卫自由》完成了自己多年的一个心愿。

求上天赐给每个人勇气做对的事，捍卫自己天赋的权利。天快亮了。
下载：https://t.co/Rqd8ov4YtZ pic.twitter.com/CMEYnVMUTN

— SillyLego (@LegoSilly) May 15, 2022

Many College Students Participated in Mourning Events

Since Nov. 27, many universities in Hong Kong, including Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Lingnan University, and Hong Kong University (HKU), have held mourning activities. Some students from the mainland held blank pieces of white paper and flowers on University Street at HKU today to commemorate the victims of the fire.

According to the report of the Editorial Board, HKUST Students’ Union, some mainland students put down paper cranes and spelled out the word “1124” by gathering candles by the seashore on Nov. 28 at 9:00 p.m. to commemorate the victims of the fire. Some mainland students put down paper cranes and lit candles on the nearby campus waterfront at around 9 p.m. on Nov. 28, spelling out the word “1124” in memory of those who died in the fire, while others dressed up like “Da Bai” (mainland epidemic prevention personnel) and walked from the waterfront to the north gate, displaying messages mocking mainland censorship along the way; some students left white candles and messages of condolence on the ground near the north gate.

Around 9 pm on Nov. 28, some mainland students put down paper cranes and spelled out the word “1124” by gathering candles at the HKUST, mourning the fire’s victim dead in Urumqi. (Courtesy of The Editorial Board, HKUSTSU)

On the same day, students mourned the victims of the fire in Urumqi at the Cultural Square of CUHK. Some people lit candles to spell out “1124,” placed flowers, hung posters, and distributed blank sheets of paper to the students present to show solidarity with the demonstrators on the mainland. The crowd sang songs, including Do You Hear The People Sing, The Internationale, Sea Wide Sky, and March of the Volunteers.

During the protest, some people chanted the slogan from the Beijing Sitong Bridge protest and aimed at the epidemic prevention policy “We don’t want PCR testing, we want food; we don’t want lockdowns, we want freedom.” Some people responded that they wanted freedom of speech, the press, art, and academic freedom. The incident lasted for half an hour, and security guards arrived at the scene and videotaped the entire mourning event.

On Nov. 29 night, dozens of university students of CUHK gathered at the Central Square of CUHK to show solidarity with the demonstrators in mainland China. (Courtesy of University Community Press)

On Nov. 28, many students and citizens held a flash mob rally in Theatre Lane, Central, to commemorate the victims of the fire. Many people at the scene were mainland Chinese. They held sheets of white paper to protest, and some held electronic candles, white chrysanthemums, and held up slogans such as “The Funeral Bell Tolls For You.” At the peak hour, there were about 50 people at the scene.

A CUHK student held up a white paper with a message that read, “I broke my leg, and the doctor quickly came to cover my mouth.” It satirizes the CCP’s harsh Covid rules, saying that even the doctors who are supposed to “save lives” are acting absurdly. (Courtesy of University Community Press)

On Nov. 29, several female Chinese mainland students studying at HKU held up blank sheets of paper on the campus, calling themselves Chinese citizens in Mandarin, “not foreign forces,” and shouted slogans, “We don’t want lockdowns, we want freedom.” and “We don’t want PCR testing, we want food.”

Later, a male student joined the mourning event, saying that a few girls stood at the scene, and he saw “their hands were shaking, but they still dared to stand here” and questioned why Hongkongers didn’t join them. The man confessed that he was also afraid at that moment, and he worried that he might be arrested the next moment, but he would still stand up and hope to change the epidemic prevention policy, which is also raging in Hong Kong.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Ellie, a third-year student at HKUST, admitted frankly that during the 2019 movement, many mainland Chinese students had been brainwashed by the CCP; they displayed hatred and launched attacks on Hongkongers. She still feels very bad about this.” Hong Kong people fought for the democracy movement (June 4th incident) in mainland China for 31 years…” She believes that the CCP is the culprit. If the demands of Chinese students are only for “lockdown and food shortage,” and “as long as the CCP changes the epidemic prevention policy, they will not continue the fight. Putting the old wine into a new bottle will not solve the fundamental problem.”

Ellie suggested that Chinese students change their demands and target the CCP. Hong Kong people will see their fundamental change, and more people will support them.

From ‘Protesting Against Covid Rules’ to Shouting ‘Anti-communist’ Slogans

In mainland China, mourning gatherings or protests appeared on the campuses of more than a dozen famous universities. At Peking University, someone wrote in red paint, “We don’t want lockdowns; we want freedom! We don’t want PCR testing, we want food, Open your eyes and look at the world! China’s dynamic zero-Covid policy is a lie! It is not too late to turn it around!”

At Tsinghua University, another top university in China, some students held up blank sheets of paper to protest, chanting, “Democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression.”

On the evening of Nov. 28, 2022, some students and citizens from mainland China in Hong Kong held a flash mob at the Central Theatre to support the “White Paper Protest” in mainland China. The police cordoned off the protesters and registered their personal information. (Cheuk Sheung-yu/The Epoch Times)

Large Crowds in Shanghai took to the streets to protest China’s draconian Covid rule and commemorate victims of the fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Enraged people held up blank sheets of paper and chanted slogans such as “Down with the CCP” and “Down with Xi Jinping.” This is since the founding of the CCP, the first time large crowds requested the CCP to step down in the public area.

Online videos show that college students and citizens in Nanjing, Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities raised blank sheets of paper to protest silently. Some of the police or the school security snatched their paper or dispersed them. “Afraid of blank paper… is this mistaking every bush and tree for an enemy?” The netizens criticized, “what kind of paper can be used to attack anyone?”

On the evening of Nov. 29, 2022, more than a dozen Chinese students from HKU held up their pleas on campus. (Sung Pi-Lung/The Epoch Times)

Some Chinese Netizens Apologize For Mocking Hong Kong

Hong Kong people launched a large-scale anti-extradition bill movement in 2019. When protesting against the legislation of the “Hong Kong National Security Law” (NSL) the following year, Hong Kong people had already protested by holding blank sheets of paper. Holding blank sheets of paper to protest is not new to Hongkongers.

On July 1, 2020, on the first day of implementation of the NSL, some citizens took to the streets to protest, and at least 370 people were arrested. When watching the arrested citizens being taken away onto the bus, a young girl held up a stack of blank sheets of paper, indicating that since the first day of the NSL Implementation, she did not know what to hold up so as not to violate the law.

Two years later, the Twitter account “火焰革命” (Flame Revolution) shared a post on Nov. 28, saying that when demonstrations broke out across the country, a large number of Chinese people began to harbor remorse and guilt and apologized to the Hongkongers. “[We] Mocked Hong Kong in 2019, slandered Hong Kong in 2020, understood Hong Kong in 2021, followed Hong Kong in 2022, [we say] sorry to  the people of Hong Kong, the people of Shanghai, the people of Taiwan, the people of Tibet, the people of Xinjiang.”

A Chinese named Rosamund Qu said on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, that she has “kneeled for too long” and “finally realized today” that what Hong Kong people wanted in 2019 is only “basic rights.” (Screenshot of Rosamund_Qu Weibo)

A Chinese named Rosamund Qu wrote on Twitter that she went to Hong Kong to take the exam in 2019. Due to the protests, the exam was delayed, and she was then “tired of this group of people who caused difficulties and troubles for him.” She said, “I realize that I have been on my knees for too long, not understanding that what they were asking for is only the basic rights. I found them strange because I didn’t know how a human being should live. I looked at the swamp I was in, and I admit that this is my price to pay. This is the result of my ignorance and my experience with people of the same ethnic group. The price to pay for indifference…”

The widely spread protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” sung during Hong Kong’s 2019 protests, was adapted into a Mandarin version, suddenly circulated by mainland netizens, and went viral on the internet.

Some Hong Kong netizens were moved to tears, knowing that the mainland people have finally become enlightened; some netizens said that after listening to the adapted song, it felt like, “Even in a different world, as long as the melody exists and the lyrics point to freedom, then everyone will sing with different versions of the lyrics and everyone will understand each other’s meaning.” It shows mutual understanding, encouragement, and support.

‘The CCP Has Fallen into the Tacitus Trap’

Stephen Shiu, a Hong Kong current affairs commentator, believes that this student movement is the result of three years of Covid restrictions, the economic downturn, and the authorities’ tightening ideology, which has made the students think. “When people find the authorities are lying, they will believe nothing then,” which is the “Tacitus Trap.” Therefore, the students would bypass internet censorship to reach the websites overseas and commit a “holistic reflection.”

The famous current affairs commentator Fung Hei-kin believes that the protests in China have swept through major cities, and there are many different demands: the most advanced ones demand “the Communist Party step down, Xi Jinping step down, don’t be a slave, be a citizen, freedom of speech,” but it seems the vast majority of Chinese people hope to “relax the lockdown restrictions” and “recover” the “happy life” before the epidemic, stop wearing masks, doing nucleic acid, and being blocked… He questioned whether the majority of Chinese people who have risen up in revolt today have thought through the reasons behind the nation’s plight.

He said on Facebook, “99.99 percent of Hong Kong people who participated in the anti-extradition bill movement are not worried about being extradited to China for trial. What they oppose is the chilling effect of this law, which destroys freedom of speech and freedom of thought. The Hong Kong people did not misunderstand the goal of their struggle. But today, how many mainlanders realize that what the real problem is, not the superficial Covid rules and zero-COVID policy at all?”

‘The Mentality of Resistance Is Not Yet Mature, the Fall of the CCP Is an Instant Issue

Senior media person Shum Sei-hoi told The Epoch Times reporter on Nov. 28 that he believes that the protest mentality of the mainland people is not yet mature enough to realize what is their “birthright.”

He said: “Thinking of the fall of the CCP, I analyze it from a historical perspective. This kind of extreme dictatorship will fall in a short time, but no one can predict when it will suddenly fall.”

He estimated that in the future, some people in some demonstration groups would come out to make trouble, “even attacking the police and armed police, (the CCP) will use the police (incidents) as an excuse to suppress the citizens. This is very likely to happen.” He also said that the turmoil is estimated to calm down in December, but political unrest will continue to emerge in the future.

‘At Least Adopt a Stance; a Side will be Chosen Later’

Senior publisher Ngan Shun-kau posted on Facebook asking, “How far is the distance from having no courage to fighting for the freedom to overthrowing the Communist Party?” He said that how the situation will develop remains to be seen. The conflicts between the government and the people have become irreconcilable.

He said, “As long as the CCP is in power, the contradiction between the CCP and the Chinese people will not disappear automatically. The Chinese people’s resistance may not be successful soon, but if the resistance continues to ferment, the fate of the Chinese will be reversed. On the other hand, eternal pessimism and eternal accusation, isn’t it equal to eternal tolerance and eternal acquiescence to dictators?”

In the end, he said: “The times are in front of us, and we need to make a positive choice. Which side we stand on is the ultimate choice. No matter how strong or weak we are, we can only choose to do one thing. For this reason, we don’t care about gains or losses, optimism or pessimism.”