Essay About Umbrella Movement And Yellow Ribbon

Music in American Culture
In September 2014, the Umbrella Movement started in Hong Kong, as many protestors
gathered together in the government district of “Admiralty”. These protestors made up a total
gathering of about tens of thousands of people occupying the streets. The reason it was called the
Umbrella Movement was because of the umbrellas used as a way to shield and protect the attacks
of tear gas used by the police. The umbrella became a symbol of the movement, as many people
began to show their support by carrying umbrellas to the gatherings, or posting images through
social media. Later, the yellow ribbon was used as a symbol as well to show support towards the
rallies. This also symbolized the protesting towards the use of police violence throughout the
rallies, which lasted almost 3 months.
The reason why this rally is significant for me, is that it happened in the city I am from,
Hong Kong. I came to the United States to study during the time of the protest, so I was not able
to be back home to experience what was going on. I was also unable to participate in the rallies
that took place in a few of the districts in Hong Kong. If I was still there, I would have
considered participating along with my other friends. I was only able to follow the news of the
events through my friends and families that were there.
The main issues that these rallies were about was because of the political situation in
Hong Kong was changing. Since 1997, Hong Kong was no longer a British Colony and was
given back to the People’s Republic of China. In 2014, the chief executive of Hong Kong, CY
Leung, declared that open nominations for the city’s next leader in 2017 and 2020 were rejected.
Instead, the candidates would be considered and voted by a chosen elite group, which mostly
contained pro-China leaders. This angered many citizens of Hong Kong, who felt that this
system was not fair to the people of the city. Therefore, protests and rallies began to take place to
show the displeasure towards the new system. This later resulted in the Umbrella Movement and
the Occupy Central movement, where the tens of thousands