The Umbrella Movement. What was it? The Umbrella movement was a protest for universal suffrage that Hong Kong was promised in their basic law after election of their Chief Executive. It was the constitution that laid out how the city was to be governed after its return from Britain to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

     It was the first time in five years since Hong Kong had a mass protest. Street demonstrations began in 2014 and arose again. The protest in 2014 was initially an emancipatory social movement for democratic reform. The umbrella movement started once it became a part of China after the British left. According to Holliday & Wong (2003), the constitutional principle, one country two systems, guaranteed that Hong Kong maintained its democratic currency systems, as well as freedom and human rights. Government decisions concentrated on financing their ventures resulted in criticism of the higher ups in Hong Kong. The government’s economic policies created disturbance among people in society, leading to the expression of citizens’ grievances and frustration. The name came about from the use of umbrellas as a shield for resistance to the Hong Kong Police’s pepper spray against a crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city demanding more transparent elections for the Hong Kong Chief executive in 2017.

     The region began to move together as a unit. They used passive protests and banners and symbols to show that they are standing up for themselves, but without and cause of violence.

     There was the Class of 2014 Hong Kong boycott campaign that supported the Umbrella Movement. Many secondary/elementary/middle schools established political reform concern groups for supporting student protests and the Umbrella Movement.

      “I want real universal suffrage”. That was the grand message behind the movement. A giant banner saying that were hung in Hong Kong universities such as University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, City University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong secondary schools such as King’s College, Queen’s College, Immaculate Heart of Mary College, St. Paul’s College had small copies of Lion Rock banners hung.

     The movement became something that wasn’t just politics anymore. It seemed like everyone had the same ideas, not everyone was going to rallies or at the front lines of it all, but they supported it. It’s so easy to identify with someone if you think they are the same as you. For the people of Hong Kong being a part of this movement was like something you had to do as a people. To go to someone who looks just like you is probably the most effective way of finding help.

     On October 23rd at the peak of Lion Rock, rock climbers hung a giant banner “I need real universal suffrage”. This action flipped another switch in Hong Kong. The Lion Rock banner was taken down by the government the very next day. Since then, the people launched the idea of “demolish one, hang ten” on each of the Hong Kong mountains and islands banners read “I need real universal suffrage”. The Lion Rock had banners hung many times during and after the occupation. There were other little things like short films or grand things like protests of thousands of people.

     Sometimes it takes a grand gesture to initiate an uproar in energy towards a cause. It can be climbing up a mountain and hanging a banner. Joining a political reform concern club at school. Petitioning from a completely different country or going to rallies and risking your safety for a greater thing than just yourself. I think what brought this together was the feeling of togetherness. No one was told to not show up uninvited or something. The umbrellas represented self-respect and many respected that. This movement had nothing to do with gender, color, or identification, just self-respect that’s something universal, an idea people worldwide can get behind.

The name and symbol were something so unique, and the idea behind it was something so relatable that it couldn’t be hated or looked down upon. The people of Hong Kong truly had a solid argument that many couldn’t argue with.