A New Zealand-born educator condemned the Western media for its hypocrisy in using what happened in Hong Kong to fit into their narrative of portraying China as an evil empire.

Chris Lonsdale, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1984, said the extensive attention given to what happens in the city is an example of the Western media's hypocrisy.

"If the media were honest in their reporting, then you would see as much coverage about the gilet jaunes in France as you have of the Hong Kong situation; you would have as much coverage of climate marches all around the world as you have of what's happening in Hong Kong," Lonsdale said.

"So there is hypocrisy here, especially in the mainstream Western media, to propagandize by leaving out information and by not reporting things and by focusing attention on other things," he said.

The protracted chaos and violence in the city is convenient for the Western media to try to show that the "one country, two systems" principle does not work. They want to blame the central government for the social unrest, he said.

Lonsdale believes the Western media reports are "completely untrue" and "fundamentally wrong". After graduating from the University of Canterbury in 1980, Lonsdale went to Beijing to study Mandarin and martial arts. He came to Hong Kong in 1984, where he learned Cantonese and instantly fell in love with the city.

Capitalizing on his own experience, Lonsdale made a success by sharing his techniques for learning a foreign language. He even established a company that features an English learning app and has since been traveling between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong and then across Asia. When asked where he is from, Lonsdale says from Hong Kong, China - where the 60-year-old has spent most of his life.

Hong Kong prospers owing to a cultural edge effect - where Chinese culture overlaps with that of the West and creates a magical mix, Lonsdale said. But the current social unrest has seen people speaking Mandarin being assaulted by black-clad mobs while people holding Chinese national flags or singing national anthems being harassed.

Sad to see vandalism

Lonsdale said he was worried some of the rioters believe in "Cantonese ethnocentrism" - which is destroying the city. "We've worked so hard in Hong Kong over the last few decades to create a wealthy, happy place. And these people don't understand what it takes to build this city and they're destroying it," Lonsdale said.

Figures revealed by the government on Wednesday (Oct 9) showed that, since the start of violence and vandalism in mid-June, a total of 42 kilometers of roadside railings were dismantled and 2,600 square meters of brick-paved pedestrian pavement were pried out and dug up. The city's major public transport - the MTR system - was the hardest hit, leaving only eight out of 93 metro stations intact.

He was very sad to see extensive vandalism by black-clad mobs directed at shops, metro stations and banks. What is particularly significant is that one-third of the 2,379 arrested were younger than 18 years. Of these, 104 were under 16.

As a veteran educator, Lonsdale believes one of the problems with Hong Kong's education is it tries to protect youngsters from the consequences of their actions.

The mainstream media also played a role in this by glorifying the violence when they portrayed them as "brave revolutionaries", he said, adding that violence is never a means to an end.

"Anybody who wants the best thing for Hong Kong people and for people more broadly, should condemn violence, not engage in violence, not glorify violence, and should actively start to look for ways to create bridges and conversation and dialogue where we can solve these problems," he said.

Asked what message he would like to give the protesters, Lonsdale said: "To smash stuff is easy. To build stuff is hard. To build stuff that is in the best interests of all the people who are parts of that ecosystem is even harder."

To many people, Lonsdale is an old "China hand" after decades of living and doing business on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong. He believes the nation genuinely wants Hong Kong to be successful under "one country, two systems", but the bottom line is the city must not become a center aiming to take down China.

Lonsdale believes Hong Kong has the potential to be a major builder and contributor to positive changes in China. The development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is inevitable and Hong Kong can either watch it from the sidelines or participate.

The Bay Area is like a freight train coming. "You better board the train, not stand in the way," he advised.

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/14/2019 page4)