Keywords: Occupy Central, timeline, media, mainland coverage.

OCCUPY – TIMELINE

August 31: NPC rules out full democracy. The “widely-representative” nominating committee must be established in consistency with the size, composition and formation of the electoral committee that chose the previous CE in 2012.Candidates will need to secure support from at least 50% of members on a nominating committee, and their numbers will be capped at two or three candidates.

September 22: Hong Kong students began week-long class boycott.

September 23-25: Students organized several protest marches to Central and to CE residence.

September 26: Protesters occupied “Civic Square”, and student leaders arrested after clashes with police

September 27: Thousands joined to protest against student arrest; Occupy Central began after midnight; Protesters built barricades around CGO

September 28: Police closed off CGO; Protesters occupied Connaught Road; Police fired tear gas 87 times but failed to disperse protesters; Tens of thousands joined in the protest in reaction to the firing of tear gas and built up new strongholds in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok.

September 29: Protesters remained guarding the three occupation spots; government announced the postponement of the second round of public consultations on political reform, and also cancellation of the National Day fireworks. October 1: Hundreds of protesters, including Joshua Wong and several Scholarism members, gathered outside the Golden Bauhinia, facing away from the flag to show their discontent.

October 2: Alleging that the police made use of ambulances and trucks to bring weapons, protesters demanded the right to inspect ambulances and vehicles delivering food and water passing through their barricades. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam promised to hold talks with student leaders about political reform at an unspecified date

October 3: Thugs and anti-Occupy protesters attack OC protesters at Mong Kok and Causeway Bay, and many, including journalists, were injured. Student leaders shelved plans to hold talks with the government, citing CY Leung’s “insincerity and stealth tactics” as the main reason,

October 4: Counter-protesters wearing blue ribbons marched in support of the police, while pro-democracy lawmakers accused the assault of being an orchestrated attack involving the triads. Police denied such allegations.

October 5: Leading establishment figures who had been sympathetic to the liberal cause, including University heads and politicians, appeared to urge in concert for the occupy movement to leave the street for their own safety. The rumours of a planned operation by the police did not occur, while skirmishes between Occupy and Anti-Occupy protesters continued. Student leaders announced that the police had met the requirement of keeping the protesters’ safety, and talks continued throughout the night between the Federation and the government.

October 6-7: Students federation held pre-talks with government (SCMP), and both agreed to begin official talks on Friday 4pm (SCMP); Legco chairperson Jasper Tsang announced suspension of Legco meetings for safety reasons. [/tab]

 “There is no leadership”

1. “Hong Kong Protests Are Leaderless but Orderly” // They sleep by the thousands on what are normally the busiest boulevards of this crammed, nonstop city. They live on crackers, bananas and bottled water. They clean up their trash, even taking the time to pick out plastic and paper for recycling. Their shield of choice, and the symbol of their cause, is the umbrella: protection against the sun, rain — and pepper spray used by the riot police. The pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong appeared headed for a showdown with the authorities on Wednesday, with larger numbers expected over a national holiday and some organizers threatening to escalate the conflict by seizing government buildings. Yet it has been a diligently clean, exceedingly polite and scrupulously peaceful insurgency, one that supporters are calling the Umbrella Revolution. // Source: New York Times
2. // Hong Kong protest leaders watched helplessly from afar as hostile mobs destroyed encampments and attacked demonstrators in Mong Kok, a densely populated working-class neighborhood in the heart of Kowloon. The confused responses among protesters highlighted the lack of a cohesive leadership of a movement that has brought tens of thousands of people onto the street every day over the past week – and the dangers that poses as the battle for the streets escalates. // Source: Al Jazeera
3. For Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists, exhaustion overtakes enthusiasm and hope // Squabbles had flared in recent days among competing factions of protesters over the next steps in their fight for unrestricted voting rights, he noted. Public opinion — which had swung toward the students after the police’s tear-gas attack — was also now rapidly turning against them as their occupation continued to paralyze large sections of the city. // Source: Washington Post

“This Is Not a Color Revolution”

1. Concerned by how their actions are being perceived both by Beijing and by the wider world, some protesters have expressed frustration with the term “Umbrella Revolution” that has been used by the media and as a hashtag on Twitter and elsewhere. As Ishaan Tharoor reports for the Washington Post: // They are sensitive to how the protests are being received both by other Hong Kongers as well as authorities in the mainland. China’s rulers do not countenance such challenges to the status quo; the Hong Kong public, meanwhile, isn’t interested in prolonged, destabilizing upheaval either. The idea of a “revolution” on China’s doorstep may play well before the lenses of the international media, but it does not help the students, who are seeking reform and practical political gains. // Source: Washington Post
2. Political Scientist Kuan Hsin-chi said that calling the Occupy Protests as Umbrella Revolution will give the Central government an excuse to brand it as a rebellion. A group of academic urged to call this as the Umbrella Movement instead of the Umbrella Revolution. Source: Ming Pao, BBC

The most polite protest in the world

1. “Things that could only happen in a Hong Kong protest”: // Tear gas, pepper spray, feelings of anger and betrayal, crowds forced to run from riot police… and yet the protests retain that uniquely Hong Kong character. Reporters and Hong Kong residents have shared their most surreal and charming experiences on the streets. // Source: BBC
2. Pictures and tweets collected by China Digital Times. // Source: CDT

“We are Hongkongers”

1. “Seeking Identity, ‘Hong Kong People’ Look to City, Not State”: // If there is one phrase that has come to define the protests that have swept across Hong Kong in the last week and a half, appearing on handwritten billboards and T-shirts, and heard in rally speeches and on radio shows, it is this: “Hong Kong People.” … The current conflict has served only to bolster Hong Kong’s identity, already strengthened in recent years by what many residents saw as intensifying attacks from China against its culture, political values and economic well-being. There was a growing sense in Hong Kong, especially among the young, that the city was being “mainlandized,” whether through the migration of Chinese or through the party’s insistence that judges must love China. Many of those who were proud to see 156 years of British colonial rule end in 1997 as Hong Kong returned to China now say they prefer to identify with the mother city rather than the motherland. // Source: New York Times

Student’s shifting strategy

1. “Protest Organizers Claim Progress for Hong Kong”: // As the protests dwindled and life in Hong Kong returned to its frenetic routine on Monday, organizers of the biggest pro-democracy political movement in China since the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square said they had moved the needle, however slightly, toward a more democratic future. Before the movement drew headlines around the world more than a week ago, the prospect of meaningful talks between democracy advocates and a government bent on doing Beijing’s will was nonexistent, democrats said. Now, preliminary talks have begun, and the student-led movement has strengthened the hand of Hong Kong’s democratic lawmakers. // Source: New York Times

What really scares Beijing about the Hong Kong protests?

1. James Palmer explains how HK epitomizes elements of Chinese culture lost in the mainland, and why political activism on the Hong Kong streets might be making central authorities so nervous: // Hong Kong preserves hobby clubs, literary societies, family associations, clan ties and ancestral temples that once made up the fabric of Chinese society. In mainland cities, the once-vast variety of regional cultures and traditions has been wracked twice over; first by Maoist persecution and then by waves of migration and materialism. […] The reason the government doesn’t worry too much about [the estimated 90,000 annual yearly “mass incidents” in the mainland] is because they are very localised. The paramilitary People’s Armed Police may bloodily clash with farmers, but local officials can also be sacked, unpopular policies rescinded, or families paid off — and the state has already won the war. In destroying any wider sense of civil society, they’ve eliminated any means by which these protests might link up into something more threatening. No institution, whether media, environmental groups, unions, or churches, has been allowed to develop into the kind of alternative framework that might bring diverse causes together. Any hint of sympathy protests or wider ideological campaigning is met with a vicious force, legal and otherwise, that has only become worse in the last few years; the very term ‘civil society’, common in 2008-2009, is now virtually taboo in Chinese media. But Hong Kong still has that civil society, and it’s fighting to stay free. Plenty of mainlanders are emotionally invested in the Hong Kong protests, but they are scattered and un-able to speak out. ‘Hang in there, Hong Kong! Fight for the future!’ one of my mainland friends wrote from the safety of Europe on Facebook, itself blocked in China. // Source: Spectator

Impact on China’s strategy on HK, sentiments among Hong Kongers and people in other regions

1. “Hong Kong Protests Set to Leave Lasting Impact on Ties With China: However Standoff Resolves, Beijing Likely to Play Bigger Role in City’s Affairs” : // But there is no guarantee talks will succeed. Even if a deal is reached, it doesn’t mean China won’t move to, as one Western diplomat put it, “squeeze” Hong Kong in the years to come to restrict its citizens’ ability to defy Beijing. Any move by Beijing may be quiet and could take years to become apparent, said Merriden Varrall of the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. “They are very good at doing quiet, subtle changes that have the intended effect, but over a longer period of time,” she said. The latest civil disobedience may prompt China to look for ways to assert greater control in the future, many experts say. Possible steps could include moves to increase surveillance in Hong Kong, influence the press, and sway appointments of officials with authority over student protesters such as university presidents, who have historically had a large degree of autonomy. … Beijing’s two main internal security agencies, the State Security and Public Security ministries, have sent large phalanxes of undercover officers to Hong Kong since the protests began, according to a retired Chinese researcher briefed by police. He said the officers have been tasked with monitoring demonstrations and providing reports on them and on public sentiment in Hong Kong. // Source: Wall Street Journal
2. Kerry Brown argues that resentment will remain high among the protesters, who represent a wide swath of Hong Kong society: // Beijing doesn’t have it all its own way, however. It is likely protestors will get off the streets, or at least that their numbers will dwindle. Business might return to normal. But resentments are likely to simmer. Trust in Beijing is low. Since 1997, three chief executives have largely failed—the first removed from power half way through his second term, the second after serving only eight of a possible 10 years, and C Y Leung, who is unlikely to see a full first term, let alone get into a second. // Source: Asian Currents
3. In response to Martin Jacques’ op-ed, Mei Foong argues that students’ efforts are still worthwhile: // To understand the Hong Kong protests, we need to separate what’s realistic from what’s right. Clearly, Hong Kong’s protestors have an uphill slog. The possibility of Beijing making significant concessions are almost nil. But it doesn’t make for an intelligent argument to denigrate their goals or aspirations, or portray them as adolescents acting out. … If these pundits were writing about the women’s suffrage movement, they’d be saying: “Be grateful for shoes, not bound feet. What’s all this fuss about equal pay for equal work?” // Source: Quartz
4. Lokman Tsui made a similar point: // Let’s be realistic. None of the students I have spoken to expect “democracy” to magically solve all their problems. They also understand that many are sceptical about their chances to change the government’s mind. But history has taught them not only that change is possible but that if they don’t do it, no one else will. Armed with little more than clingfilm on their faces, face masks, safety goggles, and umbrellas as protection against pepper spray and teargas, they fight for their dream of a better future. A little hope can go a long way. // Source: Guardian
5. Andrew Jacobs report for the New York Times on the impact the protests are having on Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Taiwanese: // Among Tibetans and Uighurs, beleaguered ethnic minorities in China’s far west, there is hope that the protests will draw international scrutiny to what they say are Beijing’s broken promises for greater autonomy. The central government’s refusal to even talk with pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong, exiled activists add, also highlights a longstanding complaint among many ethnic minority groups in China: the party’s reliance on force over dialogue when dealing with politically delicate matters. // Source: New York Times

Repercussions on local political community

1. // Regina Ip, a Hong Kong lawmaker, was a civil servant in the British colonial administration. Though avowedly pro-Beijing, she is one of the few officials seeking to meet with protesters. // Source: New York Times
2. Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung faces questions over secret $7m payout from Australian firm. //The arrangement is outlined in a secret contract dated December 2, 2011, before he was elected chief executive, in which Australian engineering company UGL agreed to pay the Beijing-backed politician £4 million (more than $A7 million)….The sale left Mr Leung with a secretive financial windfall – including an additional guarantee that UGL would pay to him an outstanding £1.5 million bonus owed by the insolvent firm – but left DTZ’s other shareholders and unsecured creditors with nothing, wiping out investments and debts worth tens of millions of dollars. Source: The Age

State media’s reaction to the protests

1. // While the international media has been paying close attention to protesters in the Hong Kong streets over the past ten days, China’s official state media has been presenting a counter narrative while simultaneously making outside reports on the situation difficult to access. Last week, authorities ordered all news websites to republish an “open letter” from a U.S.-based Chinese national lambasting protest organizers and warning that “Western democracy is no panacea.” (Source: People.cn) China’s external propaganda machine is also at work: an English-language Xinhua article quoted Charles Powell, former secretary to Margaret Thatcher, on “unrealistic” protesters and “biased” western media reports (Source: Xinhua) —in The Telegraph, Tom Phillips points out that Xinhua failed to print Powell’s statement on the right to peaceful protest from the same interview (Source: Telegraph). // Source: CDT
2. On October 1, China’s National Day, a “Shenzhen high school student” wrote an open letter to his peers in Hong Kong, urging them to abandon protest and focus on their studies. The letter first appeared on Shenzhen News Net (sznews.com), and was then reposted by the Global Times. South China Morning Post’s Andrea Chen summarizes the letter and readers’ reactions: // The letter, posted by the Global Times on Wednesday, has been reposted more than 3,200 times, with most microbloggers questioning if the letter was propaganda from the mainland authorities.// Source: CDT, SCMP
3. CCTV has also been doing its part to discredit the pro-democracy movement. The New York Times looks at how the state broadcaster has drawn attention to an anti-Occupy infographic of dubious origins that has been circulating cyberspace: // Moving more confidently to shape the narrative around the pro-democracy demonstrations that have swept Hong Kong for more than a week, Chinese state television has broadcast a detailed infographic on the Occupy Central movement, rendered in trendy, matte shades of brown, orange and blue, and presenting the movement as illegal and backed by “foreign forces,” principally the United States. The infographic, a text version of which started circulating on Friday among state-run media outlets, roused widespread interest on social media in China. Its exact origin is unclear — in its report, the state television broadcaster CCTV merely noted it was “a cartoon that began to circulate online last night.” […] The infographic, “Ten Questions About ‘Occupy Central,’” adopts an informative tone, asking, “What is ‘Occupy Central’?” “‘Occupy’ denotes ‘Occupy Central,’ an illegal gathering currently taking place in our country’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” the infographic reads. The word “illegal” stands out in red, whereas the other words are in white. // Source: CDT, New York Times
4. Ran Liu at Tea Leaf Nation uses the situation in Hong Kong to explain why China’s propaganda apparatus is so effective at influencing Chinese public opinion: […] To mainland Chinese who side with their central government, this peaceful Occupy Central movement is not really a demand for democracy at all: It’s a conspiratorial and dangerous threat to the national interest, the dignity of the state, social stability, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the People’s Republic of China. If these sound like well-worn terms in some Chinese Communist Party-controlled newspaper, that’s because they are; but they have also become part of the everyday language that Chinese use to discuss and understand social and political issues. In fact, this language system, one essentially invented by party propagandists, is one of the major reasons that mainland Chinese have thus far proved much less sympathetic toward Hong Kong protesters than some outsiders have expected. The education system in China not only instills Marxism — which uses class relations and social conflict to explain all social, economic and political matters — but it also excites nationalist sentiments while emphasizing discipline and social adhesion. The result is a whole vocabulary distinct from natural, daily communication — and a population primed to receive it. […] // Source: Foreign Policy
5. Tea Leaf Nation translated a heavily reprinted anti-democracy article that has been shaping many mainlanders view of the situation in Hong Kong since July: // Many Hong Kong residents blame this on Hong Kong government incompetence, but this explanation does not hold water. The true reason is that direct ties between mainland China and the Western world as well as Taiwan have strengthened. Hong Kong’s position as a center for trade arose only because of the difficulties that foreign countries faced in trading directly with China. As these difficulties have now dissipated, why is there any need to take a Hong Kong detour?… 那么，中国政府介入香港事务，是否可以扭转这个趋势、带动香港经济成功转型呢？委员对此也不乐观。香港舆论对于中国政府介入香港事务怀有极大的抵触，对内地普通游客横挑鼻子竖挑眼，归根结底是优越感在作怪。 // Source: Foreign Policy, original text
6. The Washington Post took to the Beijing streets to try to get their own read on public opinion in the mainland. While government efforts to control the narrative seem to be largely effective, the Post’s findings show that the media control keeping most of the public ill-informed is itself widely unpopular. // Gauging public opinion is notoriously hard in China, where free speech on sensitive topics is extremely limited. But in conversations with a range of people in the capital Monday, there appeared to be little sympathy for the protesters’ main demand — that Hong Kong be granted full democracy — and a tendency to blame students, radicals or foreign governments for disrupting life there rather than the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing for intransigence… There was also significant frustration with the Chinese government’s blanket censorship of news media and social media coverage.// Source: CDT, Washington Post
7. Matt Sheehan at the World Post also reports mixed feelings on Hong Kong protests in Shenzhen. Source: World Post
8. Still, // China’s defiant microbloggers used jokes and satire to back Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests breaking through official censors while state media denounced the agitation as “anti-democracy” movement seeds of which were planted under British colonial rule.// Source: Economic Times
9. A number of Beijing artists are detained by the police for supporting Occupy Central. Source: Shanghaiist

OCCUPY – MEDIA COVERAGE

 Media coverage in mainland China

October 8

1. “占中”让香港商家黄金周难“掘金”People’s Daily
2. “占中”要打烂香港经济的饭碗？（港澳在线）People’s Daily Overseas

October 7

1. 国平：回归法治和理性是正确方向 People’s Daily
2. 专家学者认为“占中”严重损害香港法治 People’s Daily
3. “占中”引发大塞车 消防员步行百米救火 People’s Daily
4. 中央与香港反对派的真正分歧是什么？CRI Online
5. 美智库研究员爆“华盛顿撰写‘占中’剧本” China Daily
6. “占中”造成香港经济损失堪比“非典”Xinhua

October 6

1. 寒竹：“占中”是在开民主的倒车（人民论坛）People’s Daily
2. 非法“占中”扰民生　社会一片劝撤声 People’s Daily
3. 国平 ：人间正道是沧桑 People.cn
4. 国平：为香港主流民意喝彩 People.cn
5. 国平：勿让民粹主义绑架香港 Huanqiu

October 5

1. 国际舆论和海外华侨华人谴责“占中”非法集会——扰乱社会秩序践踏香港法治 People’s Daily
2. 支振锋：在法治共识下推动香港未来发展 People’s Daily
3. 难忍“占中”乱象反对声浪迭起 People’s Daily
4. 专家学者认为“占中”严重损害香港公共利益扰乱正常生活秩序，引发国际投资者担忧 People’s Daily
5. 国平：抵制“占中”，还香港一片净土 Xinhua
6. 国平：“占中”式街头政治玩不出好结果 People.cn

October 4

1. 本报评论员：坚决维护香港的法治 People’s Daily
2. 李靖之：理性务实才是香港政治发展的正道（人民论坛）People’s Daily
3. “占中”损生计，齐盼早收场 People’s Daily
4. 内地学者质疑“占中”动机 People’s Daily
5. 海外华界谴责“占中”破坏香港稳定 Xinhua
6. 颜色革命:西方媒体定性香港“占中”CRI Online
7. 邹平学：“占中”在三方面严重冲击香港法治传统 Xinhua

October 3

1. 本报评论员：坚决维护全国人大常委会的决定 People’s Daily
2. “占中”冲击各行业　居民生活受干扰 People’s Daily
3. 专家学者表示“占中”斫伤香港经济发展活力 People’s Daily
4. 西方学者质疑“占中”组织者动机 People’s Daily

October 2

1. “占中”已不是在行使正常的表达自由 People’s Daily

October 1

1. 本报评论员：珍惜良好发展局面维护香港繁荣稳定 People’s Daily
2. 香港各界呼吁恢复正常秩序（港澳在线）People’s Daily Overseas
3. 国平:“占中”让香港法制蒙羞 China News
4. 國平:“亂”非港人之福也非港人之願 Guangming Ribao
5. “占中”堵塞香港正常发展的通道 Xinhua

September 30

1. 国平：爱国爱港就该为香港的前途着想 Guangming Ribao
2. 国平:理性对话是推动香港普选唯一途径 China Economic Net

September 29

1. 国平：没有人比全体中国人更关心香港的前途命运 People.cn

Other Hong Kong media coverage

• 練乙錚：梁特彈壓狂態畢露佔中世代華麗登場 Source: HKEJ