The People’s Republic of China Celebrates
its Birthday
With a show of military strength
And Hong Kong celebrates...
in its own way
The Chinese Communist Party
faces unprecedented challenges.
The US-China trade war.
An economic slowdown.
And growing criticism for its human rights
atrocities.
But who cares about that?!
Today’s a party!
A Communist Party.
October 1 is China’s National Day.
And this year,
the People’s Republic of China
is celebrating its 70th birthday.
That’s right, China’s communist government
is almost as old as your grandmother.
In mainland China,
celebrations included floats featuring
China’s happy ethnic minorities—
especially the Uighurs.
And...whatever this is.
Oh, don’t forget the giant missiles.
They’re clearly compensating for their lack
of...
human rights.
Plus, lots of goose-stepping soldiers.
And proof that China is a leader in robotics.
Yeah, that shot was creepy four years ago,
too.
And there was even a portrait of Xi Jinping
waving at..
.Xi Jinping!
And here comes former leader Jiang Zemin,
who is...possibly alive.
And oh hey,
it’s Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam!
Clearly nothing is happening right now in
Hong Kong
that would require her attention.
That’s right, the Communist Party
wants the world to know everything’s fine.
Especially here in Hong Kong,
where people love the Communist Party.
I don’t care what you’ve heard!
Everywhere you look,
there are signs celebrating the 70th anniversary
of the Party.
Mostly around all the closed shops.
And empty streets.
And barricaded subway stations.
Why, it almost feels like martial law.
They're just not calling it that.
At this point, even being outside is a form
of protest.
But Hong Kong police have warned about possible
terrorism today.
Police said in a recent press conference that
“some demonstrators were planning to kill
officers,
set fires and bomb shopping malls.”
The police’s claim was partly based on social
media groups
with very few followers that have sent almost
no messages...
And were registered in Madarin instead of
Cantonese.
Wow, Hong Kong protesters love China so much
they’ve started making their secret plans
in Mandarin.
This sounds like a job for China’s People’s
Armed Police!
Good thing they’ve been secretly moved into
Hong Kong.
Between practically shutting down the city
and warning about terrorism,
it seems that the message from the Hong Kong
government is:
stay home and cower in fear.
Which...is a pretty appropriate way
to celebrate 70 years of rule
under the Chinese Communist Party.
But even though the police
are trying to keep people off the streets,
that didn’t stop Hong Kongers from coming
out and showing
how they truly feel about Communism.
They feel not good.
Protesters are crashing the Party.
Literally.
“So the Hong Kong police have made it pretty
clear
that they don’t want people coming out today.
Why did you come out?”
“The more they don’t want us to come out,
ctually that makes us even more of us will
be coming out.
This is their tactics,
they’re trying to scare us with violence.”
“Are you concerned about what might happen
today?”
“Of course, that’s why I’m covering
up myself!
But, ah, there must be consequences
for everything that we have to do,
but then I feel like I still want to fight
for what I stand for,
and I’m willing to take up the consequences.”
“Our government has not been respecting
for us for so long,
since June,
and they haven’t heard any of our demands,
any of what we want.
And they have keep on denying any of our human
rights.
I think this is very important for us to show
that we are not afraid of what they do.”
“We are concerned whether there will be
more police violence,
there will be more people in jail,
but I think the people of Hong Kong are ready
to fight.”
“Do you have a birthday message you’d
like to send to the CCP?”
“If you want me, asking my feelings,
I would just: ‘Screw you, Chinese government.’
That’s it.”
More than a hundred thousand people
protested throughout Hong Kong,
the majority here on Hong Kong island.
Even though it was illegal.
And after crowds of citizens marched with
defiant hope,
riot police showed up to ruin everything.
But the celebration wasn’t over yet.
It just turned into...the afterparty.
It’s dance party out here.
Whoo whoo!
Yeah, there’s some cool new moves on the
street.
Check out the police-man shuffle.
The Umbrella Hop.
And the please stop tear gassing us we’re
reporters
and we’re the only people up here...boogie.
I bet someone in Beijing right now
is looking at these celebrations and thinking,
boy,
since Hong Kongers love the Communist Party
so much,
maybe we should just get rid of the one country,
two systems policy!
As the heart of Hong Kong
descends into an apocalyptic hellscape,
it almost seems like the Communist Party’s
authoritarian rule
isn’t much to celebrate.
And then elsewhere in Hong Kong,
a police officer shot a teenager point blank
in the chest.
I think the party’s over.
So that was Hong Kong during the 70th anniversary
of the People’s Republic of China.
It makes you wonder if there will be a 71st.
I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
Maybe.
