HK firms on edge as democracy rally blockade looms
Source: AP-Excite
By KELVIN CHAN
HONG KONG (AP) — As activists vow to shut down Hong Kong's financial district in protest at China's attempt to hobble democratic elections in the city, businessman Bernard Chan is preparing for the worst.
Chan's investment company has added backup phone lines, bought extra laptops and stockpiled instant noodles in case its headquarters downtown is caught in the middle of the protest.
Activists have threatened for more than a year to rally 10,000 protesters to freeze the Asian financial center's central business district to press their demands for full democracy. Chan drew up contingency plans after the chances of such a showdown escalated in recent months.
The former British colony came back under China's control in 1997 but retains its own legal and financial systems and a high degree of control over its affairs. Beijing has promised to let voters, rather than an elite committee, elect the city's leader starting in 2017 but democracy groups and authorities are edging closer to confrontation over who can select candidates.
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In this July 2, 2014 photo, protesters are taken away by police officers after staging a peaceful sit-in overnight on a street in Hong Kong's financial district. As activists vow to shut down the financial district in protest at China{2019}s attempt to hobble democratic elections in the city, businessman Bernard Chan is preparing for the worst. Chan{2019}s investment company has added backup phone lines, bought extra laptops and stockpiled instant noodles in case its headquarters downtown is caught in the middle of the protest. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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Even one person can change public opinion in Asia. Photo below.
http://www.businessinsider.com/famous-tiananmen-square-tank-man-photograph-contact-sheet-2014-7
JUL. 22, 2014, 5:40 PM
CHRISTIAN STORM
This iconic image appeared in news reports around the world, and is one of the most famous photos ever taken.
On June 5, 1989, one day after China's government began violently cracking down on protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a lone man, dressed in black pants and a white shirt, decided to take action against an approaching line of military tanks, en route to suppress protestors.
In an act of nonviolent protest, the man, who to this day remains unidentified, calmly walked in front of the procession of tanks, forcing the lead tank to halt. As the tank tried to move around him, the man repeatedly shifted his position, continuing to block the progress of the tanks and creating a symbolic gesture of opposition that still holds power today.
Photographer Stuart Franklin, a contributing member Magnum, a famous photojournalist and photographer collective, was there, shooting from a balcony at the Beijing Hotel.
The following day, after his roll of film was smuggled out of China in a packet of tea and delivered to the Magnum offices in Paris, the "Tank Man" image appeared on front pages everywhere. Three other photographers also snapped the scene, but Franklin's image is arguably the most iconic, having appeared in Time and Life magazines, and winning him a World Press Award.
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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/famous-tiananmen-square-tank-man-photograph-contact-sheet-2014-7#ixzz38NpsadI5