All that prelude is to say, coming in to the Hong Kong protests from a
less developed country like the United States is disorienting. If you
have never visited one of the Zeroth World cities of Asia, like Taipei
or Singapore, it can be hard to convey their mix of high density,
mazelike design, utterly reliable public services, and high social
cohesion, any more than it was possible for me or my parents to imagine a
real American city, no matter how many movies we saw. And then to have
to write about protests on top of it!It’s hard to write articulately about the Five Demands when one
keeps getting brought up short by basic things, like the existence of
clean public bathrooms.The time and location of protests are set via social media
alchemy; once you get notified about one, you descend through a spotless
mall onto a bright and clean train platform, get whisked away by a
train that arrives almost immediately, step out into another mall, then
finally walk outside into overwhelming heat and a gathering group of
demonstrators.When it’s over, whether the demonstrators have dispersed of their
own will, or are running from rubber bullets and tear gas, you duck
into another mall, and another train, and within minutes are back in a
land of infinite hypercommerce, tiny alleys and posh hotels with their
lobby on the 40th floor of a skyscraper.