Photo: IC

Most of the radical demonstrators in Hong Kong are young people. This is a group that is sensitive to slogans such as democracy and freedom and can be easily incited. In addition, there are young people who are weighed down by the pressure such as buying an apartment. These people would like to vent on the internet their dissatisfaction and look for approval and companionship. And when there are political protests in the streets, some people can't help but get involved.

The combination of fun, being goaded and instigated by others, and being held back by the milieu of the event have jointly pushed some young people in Hong Kong to the forefront of radical demonstrations and even engage in violence. Western praise accentuates their illusion that they are involved in a just cause. 

In fact, there is a negative political vocabulary to describe the demonstrators around the world, that is, the mob. This term is not intended to humiliate the demonstrators, but rather sums up who they are. As long as people join demonstrations at the square, they are easily instigated, likely becoming a different person from the normally cautious and law-abiding one and taking part in collective contempt for the rule of law in the general atmosphere of the demonstration site. Most, they are bound to be manipulated by very few political leaders. This is the pattern of political demonstrations around the world.

Questions are already being asked about where the children of leading activists in Hong Kong are, and which of their children are leading the charge. As a result, from Anson Chan to Martin Lee, their children have all been sent abroad, and their children would never be involved in a dangerous clash with the police.

There are often two kinds of people at the scene of violence in Hong Kong. One is the real thugs. They were thoroughly brainwashed, determined to make enemies with their country, and their aim is to bring chaos to Hong Kong. But objectively speaking, such thugs are not many in Hong Kong. Many more just followed, and some of them fell in, but they don't really want to make Hong Kong more chaotic, because it's their livelihood that is at stake and they have nowhere to go.

Hong Kong is experiencing turmoil, not only does the mainland society sees it this way, in fact the whole world sees it this way. Politicians in the US and other Western countries are goading radical protesters in Hong Kong. Washington needs the young people of Hong Kong to fuel its aggressive campaign against China.

Involvement in the current violence will ultimately be a stain on the lives of all those involved. There's a high probability that these people will pay a price later in life. 

The West's help to young dissidents will be very limited. Very few student leaders have won scholarships to Western universities or been accepted by Western institutions. But they will soon be marginalized and forgotten. 

The future of Hong Kong's young people can only rest on the support of a stronger and stronger motherland. Hong Kong is too small, and the motherland can multiply Hong Kong's advantages and provide additional opportunities.