Umbrella Revolution

A pro-democracy protester carries a yellow umbrella, symbol of the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement, while gathering with other protesters at Mong Kok shopping district in Hong Kong on November 27, 2014.

Hong Kong’s leaderless protests may mark a new evolution in leadership

Justice

Just who runs protests in places like Kiev and Hong Kong? It’s not an easy question to answer, but that doesn’t mean the protest movements in those places lack energy or direction. In fact, their loose structure may be a new model for political organization.

Many protesters say their pro-democracy campaign is neither a revolution nor about "defeating" Beijing. But for Hong Kongers, issues of national identity and their relationship with China are still complicated.

Hong Kongers battle for their identity as well as their political rights

Leung Kwok-hung – aka “Long Hair” (on left) – was among a small group of protesters keeping vigil outside the office of Hong Kong’s chief executive on Monday morning.

A veteran Hong Kong protest leader says this isn’t a revolution — yet

Global Politics
The 82 year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen (center) is the former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong and a supporter of the student-led pro-democracy campaign in the Chinese territory.

Christians take a prominent role in Hong Kong protests

Belief
A protester's signs urged Hong Kong citizens to "wake up" and join demonstrations, because "Beijing is not trustworthy, and democracy is a broken dream".

Hong Kong’s leader offers to meet protesters, but refuses to resign

Global Politics
Two signs (left and center) ask protestors to patronize independent stores who've been impacted by the street closures. "Mommy, don't worry about me," says the sign on the right. "Today I found out what the world is like."

Hong Kong’s protests are less ‘occupy’ and more ‘take back our city,’ says one couple

Global Politics

Charlie Schroeder and his wife, native Hong Konger Wendy Mok, moved back to the city two years ago. Now that protests are jamming the streets, they see the pent-up frustrations of many young Hong Kongers being expressed, hoping to make China pay attention to their concerns.

Mary Kay Magistad in Hong Kong

Beijing’s usual playbook of control won’t work in Hong Kong

Global Politics

Reporter Mary Kay Magistad spent 20 years reporting on China, and says Hong Kong’s ingrained culture of law and rights is too powerful for Beijing’s normal methods of control to work. And that’s in large part because Beijing has ignored the city’s real opinions.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty after 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover ceremony shows the Chinese flag flying after the Union flag was lowered on July 1, 1997.

Hong Kong still holds powerful symbolic meaning for China

Global Politics

Hong Kong isn’t just a city — it’s the place where China was able to strike a long-awaited blow at the Western powers who subjected China to decades of colonial humiliation. That’s how Beijing still views the city, and that powerful past means compromise on the current protests is all that much harder.

Protesters stand on a bridge as they block the main street to the financial Central district outside of the government headquarters building in Hong Kong on September 30, 2014.

In central Hong Kong, the protest movement keeps growing

Global Politics

Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Revolution seems to only get bigger as the days go by. At the center of the protests, demonstrators say they’re not planning on leaving any time soon, even as their demands to Beijing remain unclear.

A Chinese national flag, at center, flies upside down on September 29, 2014. Chinese living in mainland China know very little of the pro-democracy protests taking place in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has grabbed headlines around the world — except in Beijing

Conflict

There might have been a lot of coverage of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, but the story barely made a blip in mainland China. Chinese government officials have tightly controlled reporting from Hong Kong, and even blocked Instagram for the first time.