Hundreds of Hong Kong residents are lining up in front of the British Consulate General for hours each day to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II, leaving piles of flowers and handwritten notes.
The collective outpouring of grief after her death last week is perhaps the most ardent among the former British colonies, where mourning has been generally subdued. It's seen by some experts as a form of dissent against increasingly intrusive controls by communist-ruled Beijing, which took over the territory in 1997.
With its July 1, 1997, takeover China promised to leave Hong Kong's Western-style civil liberties and institutions intact for at least 50 years. Many raised in the former territory grew up hoping for still greater freedoms. “Some people, for example, who agree with the kind of universal values that the U.K. stands for, and that were incorporated in our Bill of Rights at the end of colonialism could participate in this as a form of protest,” Burns said.
Commenters on mainland Chinese social media sites have blasted veteran actor Lau Kar-ying, for posting a selfie outside the British Consulate on Instagram with a caption including the line, “Hong Kong was a blessed land under her reign.”
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