On China's Mainland, A Less Charitable Take On Hong Kong's Protests-listen to the story

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have impressed people around the world with their idealism, politeness and guts. But in mainland China, the view is different.

Because the Communist Party controls the news media there, many in China don't know that much about the demonstrations. And those who do are likely to see the protesters as spoiled troublemakers.

To understand how many Chinese have viewed the protests, it's worth considering how different Hong Kong, a wealthy, cosmopolitan city, is from mainland China.

The former British colony is more like New York than Beijing. It enjoys far more freedoms than the mainland, including free speech and an open Internet. So when protesters took to the streets to demand electoral democracy, some on the mainland saw them as asking for too much, too soon.

People like Mr. Hua, who works at Shanghai's prestigious Fudan University, and who refused to give his full name or job title because he was afraid of getting in trouble with the authorities.