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The Infinite Heartbreak of Loving Hong Kong

thenation.com · 2,430 words · saved by 1 readers

As China moves to impose a law that would criminalize dissent, Hong Kongers are facing a dark new era.

Hong Kong’s Lion Rock, January 2018. (Wilfred Chan) May 23, 2020 Twenty-three years after the end of colonial rule in Hong Kong, the Chinese government has announced that it is imposing a long-dreaded “national security” law on the territory, effectively criminalizing dissent . Just as stunning as the content of the law is how it will be passed: Instead of moving through Hong Kong’s legislature—which is already rigged in favor of the city’s unpopular pro-Beijing establishment—the law will be enacted unilaterally by China’s top lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.

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