First of all, what is Hong Kong protest? From late September to early October in 2014, thousands of protesters came out on the streets and occupied the major districts in Hong Kong to demand the universal suffrage for the city. They were angered by a decision by the senior Chinese leadership to set out clear limits on who can run for the position of chief executive, Hong Kong's top leader, in 2017. As they thought that the Chinese government actually rules on who may stand as a candidate in elections, the protesters claimed the so-called "democracy", which the Chinese government had promised to Hong Kong for the handover from Britain to China in 1997. The recent protests have escalated to such a scale that the central Chinese authority has referred it as an “illegal” mass demonstration", which is totally forbidden in the mainland of China.
It is very complicated to talk about the "democracy or dictatorship" issue of China, since there is a big difference in both ideology and political system between western counties and China. So I am not going to talk about and make any judgement of the promised democracy to Hong Kong. However, it is interesting to see some different perspective on this protest. For instance, when many people from mainland of China were aware of the reasons for the protest, they came to ask: why didn't those Hong Kongers protest for the universal suffrage or the right to nominate during the the British colonial period when all 28 Hong Kong governors were British and directly appointed by the British monarchs? And why now to protest? Since the past and current governors have largely been hand-picked by the senior Chinese leadership in Beijing.
Furthermore, there is also a difference between Chinese media portraits of this protest and the media portraits from western countries. In most Chinese news coverage, these questions are both explicitly and implicitly asked: Do the protesters really just demand democracy? Or are they using democracy as an excuse to make trouble in Hong Kong? Or are some of the protestors agitated and supported by western powers to create conflicts between Hong Kong and the mainland for some hidden political and ideological agenda? Interestingly, many western media were well aware of this fact about Chinese media portraits, as BBC reported "Mainland papers condemn the protests in Hong Kong, blaming "radical opposition forces" for stirring up trouble." However, the western news reports seem to simply portrait the Hong Kong protest as a pure promotion for Hong Kong to democracy without addressing the complicated political circumstances in China. I think it is hard to say which one is more objective, because both of them could contain some ideologies and purposes.
It is very complicated to talk about the "democracy or dictatorship" issue of China, since there is a big difference in both ideology and political system between western counties and China. So I am not going to talk about and make any judgement of the promised democracy to Hong Kong. However, it is interesting to see some different perspective on this protest. For instance, when many people from mainland of China were aware of the reasons for the protest, they came to ask: why didn't those Hong Kongers protest for the universal suffrage or the right to nominate during the the British colonial period when all 28 Hong Kong governors were British and directly appointed by the British monarchs? And why now to protest? Since the past and current governors have largely been hand-picked by the senior Chinese leadership in Beijing.
Furthermore, there is also a difference between Chinese media portraits of this protest and the media portraits from western countries. In most Chinese news coverage, these questions are both explicitly and implicitly asked: Do the protesters really just demand democracy? Or are they using democracy as an excuse to make trouble in Hong Kong? Or are some of the protestors agitated and supported by western powers to create conflicts between Hong Kong and the mainland for some hidden political and ideological agenda? Interestingly, many western media were well aware of this fact about Chinese media portraits, as BBC reported "Mainland papers condemn the protests in Hong Kong, blaming "radical opposition forces" for stirring up trouble." However, the western news reports seem to simply portrait the Hong Kong protest as a pure promotion for Hong Kong to democracy without addressing the complicated political circumstances in China. I think it is hard to say which one is more objective, because both of them could contain some ideologies and purposes.