Week 4

10/14/2013

3 Comments

 
         The photo essay Hong Kong: Anger and Protest as City Marks 15 Years Since Its Return to China was chosen from Time World. They were taken on the 30 June and 1 July 2012. There are ten photos in total, which can be divided into two main themes, the protests of Hong Kong people, and the official activities to celebrate the return to China and inauguration ceremony of the new Hong Kong leader.

         The photographer skillfully placed the photos of the two themes in-between each other’s, which showed a big contrast between the protests situation and the official activities. It also showed the big gap between the Hong Kong government and its people.

         From the first three photos, we can see that many of the Hong Kong people were protesting against the new Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying right after his inauguration ceremony. While Leung was swearing-in in the grand hall vowing to make Hong Kong a better place, thousands of people with anger was protesting on the street, showing their unwillingness to receive this new leader.

         I like the forth and the fifth photos the most. Both of them showed people lining up with well order, but their purposes were totally different. The forth was the variety show celebrating the 15th anniversary of the handover. If was colorful and people was jubilant. But in the next photo, people were demonstrating. The color was dull, and the red banner in the middle captured the attention, and also showed how people dissatisfied with the China government.

         The last two photos are also powerful. They were taken at night. The ninth was the fireworks show which was to celebrate Hong Kong’s return to China. It supposed to be happy and hopeful about tomorrow. But then, the following photo showed a protester holding a colonial Hong Kong flag. He looked sad and disappointed, which indicated how the 15 years rule of China disappointed the Hong Kong people.  

alice
10/16/2013 06:25:57 pm

This is an interesting series! As you said, it does show the gap between official celebration and people's dissatisfaction. It is sad to see a society to be so torn apart :( And the sadder thing is there doesn't seem to be a solution in the foreseeable future!

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Denise
10/26/2013 03:14:05 pm

This photo essay is really successful to create a huge contrast between the protesters and the government officials, especially for how the photographer placed the photos, it can leave a strong impression to the audience.

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Hilda
10/26/2013 10:46:52 pm

As a Hong Kong citizen, it is sad to see that there are huge gap between the government and the citizen. I believe that all citizen would like to celebrate the handover and enjoy the public holiday if the government really considerate about the citizen. I agree Alice's point, the most saddest thing is there doesn't seem to be a solution in a foreseeable future. :(

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