China's President Xi Jinping has made the restoration
of his country's power and dignity
the central theme of his presidency.
But Hong Kong, a part of China's sovereign territory,
has descended into violent anarchy.
Universities have turned into battlegrounds.
Protesters are hurling Molotov cocktails at the police.
But they appear to retain a strong measure of support
from the population.
Chinese troops have appeared on the streets,
but so far only to help clear the roads.
The spark for the first demonstrations in June
was the introduction of a bill allowing
extradition of criminal suspects from Hong
Kong to mainland China.
By most accounts, that was an idea
pushed by Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive.
But Mr Xi bears a broader responsibility.
In the seven years since he came to power in Beijing
the Chinese state has become significantly more
authoritarian.
Preparing the ground in Hong Kong for a backlash
against rule from Beijing.
An anti-corruption drive has seen prominent figures
disappear from public life on the mainland
and a rash of suicides among Communist party officials.
And more than 1m people have been
interned in re-education camps in the province of Xinjiang.
The treatment of Xinjiang is often
cited by demonstrators in Hong Kong
as a sign of just how far Beijing
will go to crush cultural and regional diversity.
During the Xi period, the mainland's intolerance
for free speech and thuggish attitude towards the law
has seeped into Hong Kong itself.
The case of some Hong Kong booksellers,
who were kidnapped, then detained on the mainland
sent a chilling message.
So did the decision to ban elected lawmakers
from the Hong Kong assembly for mangling
loyalty oaths to China.
Prominent anti-Beijing political activists,
such as Joshua Wong and Edward Leung, were imprisoned.
Mr Wong is now out of jail while the still imprisoned Mr Leung
finds his slogan "Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now,"
chanted on the streets.
During the Xi years China's gone backwards politically.
Maoist era slogans have been revived
and Xi Jinping thought has been written
into the Chinese constitution.
Free speech has been further restricted.
Civil rights lawyers have been locked up.
And non-governmental organisations have been closed
down.
So it's hardly surprising if Hong Kong now
regards the prospect of full integration
with the mainland with horror.
And that date no longer seems impossibly far off.
The most radical demonstrators are often
in their teens or early 20s and they'll
be in the prime of their lives when the second handover takes
place in 2047.
The current revolt raises questions,
not just about Mr Xi's handling of Hong Kong,
but about his entire political project.
The president's mantra is the great rejuvenation
of the Chinese people.
And central to that is the restoration
of national territorial integrity.
Just as disturbingly for Mr Xi's vision,
the rebellion in Hong Kong undermines a central tenet
of the patriotic education pushed by the Communist party.
Namely, that there is one China and that
all Chinese people long for nothing more than to be united.
It's now clear that millions of Hong Kongers
do not feel that ethnic solidarity overrides
their political concerns about mainland China.
On the contrary, they're increasingly
asserting a separate Hong Kong identity
that's often tinged with prejudice against mainlanders.