Hong Kong and History in the moment

I also found myself thinking about the relevance of Hong Kong to what we're learning, and how what's happening there is in many ways a perfect encapsulation of the themes and history that we're studying. Whether it's the legacy of European intevention, the conflict over forms of government and westernization, the response of a centralized government to internal dissent and crises, and discussions about where China is headed going forward, it seems to be a great connection between the past and the present. Following it in real time is also a good reminder for us, and our students when we use examples like this in class, that although things seem inevitable in hindsight when we look at them in the history books, things are never certain in the present.