Sunday, May 22, 2022
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Social licence
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Social licence
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

How Mainland China ‘Lost its Humanity’: Anastasia Lin in The Australian

September 4, 2019
in Anastasia Lin, Columns, Dragon at the Door, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy Program, In the Media, Indo-Pacific, Latest News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A

Mainland Chinese once had as much compassion as Hongkongers, but decades of repression have produced cynicism, writes Anastasia Lin. 

By Anastasia Lin, September 4, 2019

I was stranded in Hong Kong once — and it was a wonderful experience. I’d been selected to represent Canada in the 2015 Miss World pageant in Sanya, China. I learned at Hong Kong airport that Chinese officials had declared me persona non grata for my human rights work, keeping me out of the pageant.

Hong Kong welcomed me warmly. Journalists rushed to the airport to interview me about China’s human rights abuses. Hong Kong people often approached me on the street to voice support; they shared my understanding of freedom and integrity. After living for nearly two decades under the threat of a communist regime taking their freedom, they don’t take it for granted.

Today, the extradition bill that threatens people who criticise the communist regime in Beijing brought millions to the streets, and many more voiced support. We have heard from people in all walks of life — students, parents, bureaucrats, the middle class, even taxi drivers and equestrian associations. What struck me was the difference between Hong Kongers and the people I’d encountered living on the mainland before I emigrated at 13 — when my university professor mother insisted on moving to Canada so we could live in a fair and free society, and where I would receive an education based on truth, not political slogans.

My communist education in China was half political indoctrination. Youths were encouraged to demonise “the government’s enemy”, including Western democracies, Christians, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and now Hong Kong protesters. We feared repercussions if we challenged such rhetoric, and were rewarded for using extreme language and action to marginalise and demonise the targeted minority.

Today, communist government-sponsored media falsely portrays the protests as violent riots. Out of a misguided patriotism, angry Chinese youths intimidate other Chinese people on internet forums.

Chinese student associations overseas, acting as arms of the communist apparatus, are encouraging the “pro-Beijing” students to tear away protest signs, harassing anyone with a different opinion with loud authoritarian-style shouting down, posting on the internet sensitive personal information of individual Chinese students who engage with Hong Kong protesters, and threatening to upload videos to humiliate and — the biggest threat of all — to report them to Chinese authorities.

Last week at the University of South Australia, when a female Hong Kong student was chanting “Hong Kong, stay strong”, the pro-Beijing students shouted back sexist foul language to intimidate her.

The overseas Chinese community was shocked by the ruthlessness in their conduct but, back in China, videos of the event were circulated by the media as “the best example of patriotic education”. This is the classic communist modus operandi: when outclassed, try to outgun.

The mainland Chinese once had as much humanity and compassion as Hong Kong people do. But decades of repression have produced cynicism. People have seen one political purge after another, in which small segments of the population are picked out and publicly persecuted to instil fear in everyone else. That desensitises us to others’ suffering. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, the surviving victims were persecuted, thrown into jail and “disappeared”. The country returned to normal soon after, as if nothing had ever happened. The student protesters’ sacrifice was in vain.

The voice of the pro-Beijing enthusiasts does not represent the voice of overseas Chinese or most citizens in China. Many Chinese people are inspired by the determination of Hong Kong people and have voiced their support, even though informants are carefully monitoring the overseas community. Some Chinese citizens even went to Hong Kong to join the protest.

In Yuen Long last month, men dressed in white T-shirts rushed into a subway station to attack citizens, including pregnant women, parents with small children, elderly people, journalists and even elected officials. Only an hour later, after the perpetrators left the scene, did the police arrive and make no arrests.

Later, Hong Kong people learned it was a co-ordinated attack and police were intentionally passive. Lynette Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto, commented: “This is not the first time thugs have been sent in to beat up protesters. This is more organised, suggesting they are becoming more daring, and the Hong Kong government or pro-Beijing officials are becoming more desperate to put the protests to rest. The underlying motive is quite similar; sending in thugs is an option to evade responsibility. If you send thugs, it’s almost impossible to trace and you can’t hold anyone accountable.”

Yet again last weekend, despite rumours and threats of potential violence, 1.7 million Hong Kongers refused to be scared into silence. They walked together peacefully in the rain to show their resolve and their love for the city.

They remind me of the Chinese dissidents I met in Canada, where I went through the long process of my eyes opening to Western society and detoxing what I had been told as a child. I met those who survived China’s labour camps, the Falun Gongs, the Uighurs, the human rights lawyers who lost everything to protect their fellow citizens.

Some of them recounted being shocked by electronic batons repeatedly, gang-raped, force-fed and having bamboo sticks punctured under fingernails, for doing nothing more than staying true to their beliefs and speaking their mind. But these stories can never be heard inside China because of censorship.

It was a profound indignity to find out my entire belief system was based on a lie. I realised I had been used as a tool by the Chinese Communist Party as a child. It wants to make all Chinese citizens complicit in its crimes. The courageous Hong Kongers are fighting on behalf of every Chinese citizen, who may not even know how they lost their humanity.

If the rest of the world stands up for Hong Kong, perhaps Chinese citizens will find the courage to confront the crimes of the Communist Party. The protests could be the spark that ignites freedom’s fire.

Anastasia Lin is an actor, human rights activist and former Miss World Canada. She is the ambassador on Canada-China Policy for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a senior fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. “Badass Beauty Queen,” a documentary about Lin’s story, is available to view online.

Tags: Anastasia LinChinaDragon at the DoorHong Kong
Previous Post

Hongkongers cannot be compelled to love China: Amy Lai in the South China Morning Post

Next Post

Countering China’s Economic Coercion: New MLI Report by Duanjie Chen

Related Posts

Putin’s biggest achievement in Ukraine: Strengthening and uniting global democracies
Foreign Affairs

Putin’s biggest achievement in Ukraine: Strengthening and uniting global democracies

May 20, 2022
Foreign Policy Program

Videos and Photos: Geopolitics Unbound – Confronting authoritarianism from Europe to the Indo-Pacific

May 20, 2022
MLI experts available to comment on Canada’s ban on Huawei from 5G
Latest News

MLI experts available to comment on Canada’s ban on Huawei from 5G

May 19, 2022
Next Post
Countering China’s Economic Coercion: New MLI Report by Duanjie Chen

Countering China’s Economic Coercion: New MLI Report by Duanjie Chen

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Follow us on

Newsletter Signup

First Name
Last Name
Email Address

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

Inside Policy Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Advertising
  • Inside Policy Blog
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Social licence
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.