http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/world/asia/hong-kong-and-tiananmen-protests-have-major-differences.html 2014-10-03 00:22:17 Hong Kong and Tiananmen Protests Have Major Differences While the Chinese flag flies over Hong Kong, the demonstrations there spring from a very different political system. === The protests in Hong Kong have drawn comparisons to the massive student-led movement that occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. While the Chinese flag flies over Hong Kong, the demonstrations there spring from a very different political system influenced by the British, who ruled the territory from 1841 until 1997. Q: A: Demonstrators in Hong Kong are engaged in a peaceful extended protest in the heart of a Chinese city. They have focused The Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily, published a front-page editorial 25 years ago denouncing the Tianamen movement. On Thursday the paper But there are major differences. Beijing is the capital of China, and the protests in 1989 were intensely embarrassing for its leadership, coinciding with a historic summit meeting with the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Hong Kong is more than 1,200 miles away from Beijing. And in the ensuing quarter-century, China’s economy has globalized. Hong Kong is China’s financial window to the world, and any violent crackdown in Hong Kong would have stark effects on financial markets around the world and could hurt China’s economy. Q: A: Lately, however, Chinese officials, Q: A: Article 45 British colonial governors were picked by London, and, since the handover 17 years ago, Hong Kong’s chief executives have been chosen by a small group dominated by Beijing loyalists. The current chief executive, Mr. Leung, was elected in 2012 with 689 votes from an election committee of fewer than 1,200 people. In 2007, the People’s Congress The decision in August to limit, not expand, access to the election provoked pro-democracy activists. For more than a year, Beijing did not blink. Now, the movement, called Q: A: