https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/hong-kong-national-security-
For a place that has been stripped of its democratic rights during a pandemic, Hong Kong still has days that feel routine.
Finance workers gather for happy-hour beers. Hipsters photograph latte art in tiny cafes designed for Instagram. Masked commuters pack the subway at rush hour, and on weekends, trails are jammed with hikers scrambling up hills to catch the sunset.
April 15, however, was not a normal Thursday. That occasion, the first “National Security Education Day” since China imposed a tough security law in June, was the most visible display of Hong Kong’s fall from a relatively free, boisterous territory to an Orwellian place that resembles the repressive mainland.
The propaganda scenes were a contrast to 2019, when reporters documented Hong Kong’s largest revolt against Chinese rule since the 1997 handover by Britain. Directed at children and designed to rehabilitate the image of the Hong Kong Police Force, last week’s campaign showed how the authorities are enforcing a single narrative of the protests — meddlesome foreign forces stirring up trouble — and how no expense will be spared to fully integrate the financial center into China’s authoritarian system.