For 79 days last autumn, thousands of citizens blocked Honk Kong’s main streets.<br /><br /> The Umbrella Movement beginning late 2014 opposed Beijing’s plan for electoral reform, the adoption of which would intervene in how the city is governed.<br /><br /> As it stands, Honk Kong’s government is led by the Chief Executive, chosen by the 1,200-member Election Committee, consisting of individuals and bodies defined in the Special Administrative Region’s constitutional Basic Law. <br /><br /> The Chief Executive nominates principal officials for appointment by Beijing.<br /><br /> The reform proposes that the Committee name three candidates who would then be elected by universal suffrage, by Hong Kong’s five million permanent residents.<br /><br /> The reform’s opponents brand this undemocratic. <br /><br /> They don’t want undue influence over who is a candidate. <br /><br /> Beijing agreed in 1984 that after Britain handed the former colony back to China in 1997, Hong Kong would keep its capitalist system and various freedoms for 50 years. <br /><br /> Today’s Ch
