News Exercise #54

1) What was being celebrated in Tiananmen Square, and what was the mood there?
2) What did the reporter contrast it with?
3) Why are the protests having little impact in the rest of China?
4) What has happened to people in mainland China who have shown support for the people in Hong Kong?
5) At 1:07 the reporter summarized the situation: “On the ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____.
6) The reporter said not to mistake the president’s muted response as a quiet acceptance of the protesters’ demands. What did she mean by “muted response” and “quiet acceptance”?
7) What is the president’s reputation?
8) According to Victor Gao, how realistic is the protesters’ aims?

Answers:
1) They were celebrating another year of China’s communist rule. It was calm and orderly.
2) She contrasted it with the noisy pro-democracy demonstrations on the streets of Hong Kong.
3) Few people know much about it because of the “tightly scripted state media reports” only stating that the demonstrations are “a nuisance, choking the city”.
4) They have been harassed by police.
5) “On the mainland they are downplaying the excitement in Hong Kong.”
6) She meant that he has not made any public announcement about the demonstrations, but that this doesn’t mean that he plans to listen to their concerns.
7) He is a political hardliner who will not give up political power easily.
8) “They are living in a fantasy.”