Urbandictionary.com defines “Big Brother” as: The Government. They know everything about everybody. Careful what you say, Big Brother is watching.
A term with a decidedly negative connotation in modern Western culture. A connotation that is also a complete inversion from the instinct and intention it originally sought to convey. I can't speak for all elder siblings, but I happen to be one and today, firmly in maturity and personal growth, it happens to be that I feel toward my younger sibling, above all else, the same call to protection that my presence, and sincere wish, required the day they were born.
In maturity, if we're lucky, we come to think of our actual big brothers as a superhuman with a set of abstract personality traits the English language has, as yet, failed to define. The closest I can come to is: Our superhero best of all best friends past and present.
While growing to full maturity, we had other positive forces in our lives but they weren’t like our elder siblings especially big brothers. Educators who felt the call to teach be the deciding factor in becoming one, we usually remember as sensing in their presence, a similar call to protect as that of our elder siblings. The key difference being that a teacher was never truly a friend or peer. And when we look back at the educators who most affect our perspectives today, we most likely remember the ones who showed selflessness and genuine care while primarily teaching us. Our big brothers however, and again, if we were lucky, were sometimes our favorite teachers as well as our truest friend.
Many have pejoratively described Beijing’s National Security Law for Hong Kong as Big Brother-ish in the Western sense, and not the human-based sense of actual big brothers. The law, introduced in 2020 when it became glaringly apparent that the 2019 protests were funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and factions of the US State Department, became a necessity for the protection of China as a sovereign nation, and the HKSAR, a Chinese special administrative region that Beijing has the right to protect
Of course, back in immaturity, there were times when we were not on friendly terms with our big brothers because of arguments and perhaps we turned to influential friends or teachers for guidance. Perhaps even for extended periods of time, however, even in those times of sibling turmoil, we always knew that our elder sibling’s instinct to protect would always be there above all else.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has grown to full maturity from a tiny fishing village into a powerful force on the world stage, as has China grown into maturity from a collection of kingdoms into a much more powerful force on the world stage, even frightening some world powers with its mere presence. From this, a symbiotic parallel can be drawn between an actual caring elder sibling and the big brother-like intention a state may have for its people.
In the West, the negative connotation the term “Big Brother” now has is largely due to governments’ past and present actions toward their people. The question we must ask ourselves in the HKSAR is whether Beijing is deserving of the same negative connotation in being our “big brother”?
While the West has been suffering from a sustained erosion of family values, here, it is an issue the HKSAR and Beijing have always agreed upon. Family is important, and while we can't choose our family, family members can choose whether they wish to follow a set of values and responsibilities that ultimately benefit the family.
Many have pejoratively described Beijing’s National Security Law for Hong Kong as Big Brother-ish in the Western sense, and not the human-based sense of actual big brothers. The law, introduced in 2020 when it became glaringly apparent that the 2019 protests were funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and factions of the US State Department, became a necessity for the protection of China as a sovereign nation, and the HKSAR, a Chinese special administrative region that Beijing has the right to protect.
At the time, China was unfairly condemned by other countries that not only have national security laws but also entire, highly funded state apparatus dedicated to enforcing them. Many criticized Beijing, saying it had overreached when it introduced the NSL for Hong Kong.
Article 23 of the Basic Law requires Hong Kong to enact national security laws on its own. The Basic Law does not mention when this is to be done; and the opposition camp in the city had been vocal against any such legislative attempt since 1997. Then, revelations in the aftermath of the 2019 protests made not enacting one a severe national security threat to China’s sovereignty security and Hong Kong’s security.
I’m certain that had the second demand in the “Five demands, not one less” slogan which came to be the mantra of the 2019 protesters — for a commission of inquiry into “police brutality” — been implemented, it would have had ideas about the HKSAR’s security and aside from the curious reality as to why such a demand would be included alongside those more consistent with the thinking of the 13 to 21 year olds protesting in 2019, I’m also fairly certain this commission would have consisted mostly of non-Hong Kong residents, with perhaps an entire advisory apparatus the public would have never even known the names of.
The NSL governing the HKSAR has been in effect for just shy of three years. When we examine the actions these laws have had to enforce, we should step back and objectively ask ourselves: Have they been an overreach or toxic display of immature power by Beijing over residents of the HKSAR?
We also need to ask: If we treat nations as people and look at how much they’ve matured, do we see more maturity in China’s development or more immaturity? The friendship between a big brother and a sibling is rarely ever always a smooth one but, if we’re lucky, becomes so in full maturity. Similarly, full maturity in national and civic relations should put the sometimes bad history between a government and its people into a deeper perspective and understanding. Again, I cannot speak for all elder siblings, but even when mine did not consider me a friend, the call I felt to protect them first never left my heart.
The author is a writer, columnist and historian based in Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.