The upper middle class and the elite aren't the same thing. The elite are the 1% or even less. The upper middle class is the top decile or maybe more generous the top quintile. Given the massive inequality in HK, there is a world's realm of difference between two that most don't
don't truly appreciate. The HK upper middle class is correctly identified as the nucleus of the rioter demographic whereas Beijing's loyalist factions are actually bimodal, the proles and the highest echelons of the native elite, who ironically all happen to be landlords.
It was a compromise by Beijing during handover, let the local elite landlord class do whatever they want, and no problems are caused. What they wanted was basically to raise rents to the level of penury on everyone and the upper middle class is being ruthlessly pushed. Rather
than being the target of the bourgeois riots, they have managed to tactically disappear in HK's political landscape when convenient and left the local government and Beijing take the brunt of all class hostilities. I'm not sure if this was cleverness or mere incompetence at
solving incipient problems but it is what it is. The anti-China protesters are those of middling status, desperate to preserve the shreds they hold dear who at best can vacation in Japan a few times a year and eat over priced tourist ramen. The actual elites have multiple villas
in Shanghai and Beijing and wherever else they want and can go anywhere they want. The poor lumpen proles of HK are the ignored element, like everywhere else in the world. They don't have the media savy to make themselves known though they too constitute the second prong of
Beijing's constituency. The pervasiveness of SE Asian helot labor in HK means it is more widespread than among the elite families, more than 400k total. Because of how cheap it is, the biggest abusers are upper middle class families.
