Please be more like sheep.
Believe it or not, that’s the Lunar New Year message for the people of Hong Kong from the city’s leader C.Y. Leung.
“In the coming year, I hope that all people in Hong Kong will take inspiration from the sheep’s character and pull together in an accommodating manner to work for Hong Kong’s future,” he said.
Hong Kong’s leader is hoping his flock won’t rock the boat after one very tumultuous year.
For 79 days in late 2014, student-led protests for democratic open elections took over major streets in the heart of the city. It was the biggest political challenge to Beijing since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
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Such global attention is coveted by the territory’s pro-democracy activists.
“What we need is international public opinion to keep a watch on China, so that they should leave Hong Kong alone,” says Lee.
“We in Hong Kong, we have nothing. We don’t have arms, we don’t have anything to protect ourselves. We have just the people.”
And people in Hong Kong are nothing like sheep, especially its young activists.
They are dauntless and determined to have a say in Hong Kong’s political destiny.
