question: Why are the protesters in Hong Kong carrying umbrellas?
comment: It has been raining on and off for the last few days in Hong Kong. You can check the weather yourself on Google.
passages: Opening up yellow umbrellas indoors, as well as outdoors, has also become a way of sending in pro-democracy message in silence. Paul Zimmerman, a district councillor and member of the Civic Party, was an early proponent. Two days into the movement, Zimmerman opened a yellow umbrella at an indoor reception after the China National day ceremony which was attended by representatives of the PRC government. The graduation ceremonies of most universities in Hong Kong since October 2014 have seen attendees opening yellow umbrellas inside the hall, or graduates climbing the stage holding open umbrellas. Dozens of supporters arrived at Hong Kong International Airport with yellow umbrellas to send off the HKFS delegation that was set to fly to Beijing on 15 November.
   Art is often held to be an integral part of activism. For the students involved in the "Umbrella Revolution", their art is a primary vehicle of expression and a method of documenting what occurs. Use of the umbrella – an everyday item that protects users against the rain and the sun – by the protesters to deflect pepper spray and tear gas of the police, has given the object iconic status at a political level, symbolising resistance and the underlying social grievances. The occupied streets of Hong Kong have been transformed into an extended canvas of artistic creativity.
  
  Section::::Iconography.
   Since an image of Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (China's Paramount leader post), holding an umbrella won a top photojournalism award in China on 22 October, Xi has been parodied with a cut-out version where the umbrella has been made yellow. The edited image has appeared on stickers, posters, banners and life-size and oversize banners. "Apple Daily" reports that there are at least 13 cardboard cut-outs of general secretary Xi Jinping in Mong Kok, three in Causeway Bay, and one huge vertical banner depicting the image hanging from the pedestrian bridge in Admiralty. These cut-outs, many overwritten with pro-democracy or anti-communist slogans, are popular props for mainland visitors with which to take photographs.
   In Fynes Moryson's "Itinerary" (1617) is a similar allusion to the habit of carrying umbrellas in hot countries "to auoide the beames of the Sunne". Their employment, says the author, is dangerous, "because they gather the heate into a pyramidall point, and thence cast it down perpendicularly upon the head, except they know how to carry them for auoyding that danger".
   A number of installations and sculptures were created at occupation sites, of which one of the largest is a patchwork hanging in the middle of Umbrella Square made of fabric taken from more than a hundred broken umbrellas which were sewn together. The concept was developed by Baptist University art students, to bolster the movement in the early days. A group of about ten other students stripped the fabric from umbrellas that were broken and had been stained by tear gas in the police bombardment of 28 September, and wove them together and deployed it above what is now referred to as "Umbrella Square". Tse, the project leader, hoped that the umbrellas broken by the police, fashioned into canopy, symbolises an extended physical protection for citizens that also serves as a reminder of the presence of other citizens who are behind to support, in other ways. At Admiralty, large yellow umbrellas have been installed at many lamp posts; "Happy Gadfly" concept by mainland artist Miso Zo inspired by "The Gadfly", by Ethel Lilian Voynich. Made from discarded umbrellas, plastic bottles and other discarded materials, the project's originator says the installation symbolises how "They can destroy the movement, but like the fly it will come back." Other sizeable installations include a pepper spray installation at Causeway Bay, a shrine to Kwan Yu at Mong Kok.
   Umbrellas are now a consumer product with a large global market. As of 2008, most umbrellas worldwide are made in China, mostly in the Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. The city of Shangyu alone had more than a thousand umbrella factories. In the US alone, about 33 million umbrellas, worth $348 million, are sold each year.
   BULLET::::- Robert W. Patten, an eccentric figure in Seattle's history and the cartoon figure modeled after him
  
  BULLET::::- The widely reposted image of an unnamed protester, who during the 2014 Hong Kong protests, used two umbrellas to protect himself from tear gas
  
  Section::::Arts, media, and entertainment.
  
  Section::::Arts, media, and entertainment.:Literature.
  
  BULLET::::- "The Umbrella Man", a Roald Dahl short story collected in "The Umbrella Man and Other Stories"
  
  BULLET::::- Will Scott story "The Umbrella Man", filmed in 1937 as "London by Night" (1937)
  
  Section::::Arts, media, and entertainment.:Music.
  
  BULLET::::- "The Umbrella Man" (song), a song by Flanagan and Allen
   Section::::External media.
  
  BULLET::::- Facebook page, Umbrella Movement Art Preservation
  
  BULLET::::- "The political art behind the umbrella revolution – video". Channel 4. 19 October 2014
  
  BULLET::::- CNN video on YouTube
  
  BULLET::::- "Art in Umbrella Movement Part I" "The Works", RTHK, 8 October 2014
  
  BULLET::::- Facebook video from AJ+ about the creation of the umbrella canopy
  
  BULLET::::- Art of the Umbrella Movement on YouTube
  
  BULLET::::- The Yellow Umbrella: A City Fable. This 2009 children's book, by Bruce Dunn, has been read through the lens of Umbrella Movement symbolism.
   Umbrella Movement
  
  The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police's use of pepper spray to disperse the crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city demanding more transparent elections, which was sparked by the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August 2014 that prescribed a selective pre-screening of candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong's chief executive.
   Overnight, riot police was deployed and the protesters blocked the roads to stop the reinforcement of the police from reaching the Central Government Offices. Police used peppar spray, against which the protesters defended themselves with umbrellas. Umbrella would later become a symbol of the occupation protest. Police surrounded the Civic Square not to allow any protesters to enter or exit it.
   An art collective called "Stand By You: 'Add Oil' Machine" launched a project that aimed to display messages of support to protesters. The name refers to "add oil", a term of encouragement in Chinese. The project included a website where people from all over the world could send messages, which in turn were projected onto the side of a building. More than 30,000 messages have been received by the project from 70 countries. The "Stand by You" project received messages of support from, among others, Pussy riot and Peter Gabriel, all of whom were photographed with open umbrellas. Peter Gabriel said: "Water gets everywhere – like the will of the people".
   Their use became widespread in Paris. In 1768, a Paris magazine reported: "The common usage for quite some time now is not to go out without an umbrella, and to have the inconvenience of carrying it under your arm for six months in order to use it perhaps six times. Those who do not want to be mistaken for vulgar people much prefer to take the risk of being soaked, rather than to be regarded as someone who goes on foot; an umbrella is a sure sign of someone who doesn't have his own carriage." 
   John Evelyn, in his "Diary" for 22 June 1664, mentions a collection of rarities shown to him by "Thompson", a Roman Catholic priest, sent by the Jesuits of Japan and China to France. Among the curiosities were "fans like those our ladies use, but much larger, and with long handles, strangely carved and filled with Chinese characters", which is evidently a description of the parasol.
  
  In Thomas Coryat's "Crudities", published in 1611, about a century and a half prior to the general introduction of the umbrella into England, is a reference to a custom of riders in Italy using umbrellas:
   The response of the umbrella became a symbol in Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay districts, Hong Kong to protest about the free election systems in China. The protestors had been camped on the streets and the public parks. The umbrella was used to protect the protesters in defence of the democratic political process in 2014 when police used tear gas in attempts to get them to leave. "Umbrella Revolution" and "Umbrella Movement" have been used to identify this event through British media outlet BBC. through social network services such as Twitter and Instagram made the events in Hong Kong reach many other people not directly involved with the protest with the use of #UmbrellaRevolution and created a worldwide social awareness to how Hong Kong was responding to support of the democratic process.
   Section::::"Umbrella soldiers".
   The photo of Umbrella Man, taken 28 September 2014, depicts an unnamed male protester holding an umbrella in each hand while walking through tear gas fired by riot police. "Business Insider" has described the photo as iconic. It has been re-tweeted thousands of times along with multiple similar photographs tweeted during the protest, which show individuals using umbrellas to protect themselves from tear gas and water. The picture's popularity and that of other pictures caused the media to dub the protests, which were also called the Occupy Central movement, the "Umbrella Revolution".
  
  Section::::Preservation.
   During Streynsham Master's 1676 visit to the East India Company's factory in Masulipatnam he noted that only the governor of the town and the next three officials in seniority were allowed to have "a roundell [i.e. umbrella] carried over them."
   As an everyday item that protects users against the rain and the sun, the umbrella has, in the past, symbolised political weakness. In the context of the Hong Kong protests, it has been used to shield against the pepper spray and tear gas of the police, thus has become a political symbol of resistance. Physical umbrellas in all their guises have been used as subjects or as objects. The eight-lane expanse of road freed by the occupation has been transformed into an extended canvas for artistic expression. One artist explained that due to the lack of physical public space in Hong Kong, people's imagination is suppressed. She added that: "When the rules that bind your action are suddenly lifted, you are given the freedom to redefine everything." Artwork featuring the form of umbrellas are in abundance. Examples of works include umbrellas drawn on or decorated with calligraphy, balloon twisting into umbrellas, and mobiles of origami umbrellas. Colette Gaiter, an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Delaware, praised the quality of the artwork as possessing "an elevated aesthetic sensibility even in the ubiquitous handwritten signs and Post-it notes".
   The Umbrella Movement started on 28 September 2014, when initiators of the Occupy Central movement announced the commencement at a rally taking place the Central Government Complex on Tim Mei Avenue. Police blocked all entrance to Tim Mei Avenue to obstruct Occupy Central supporters, and arrested demonstrators inside the Central Government Complex by 1:30 pm. A crowd gathered and anti-surrounded the police outside Tim Mei Avenue to stop police's transference of the arrested demonstrators. Police used pepper spray and tear gas to disperse the crowd, while the crowd use umbrellas to fight against pepper spray and tear gas. The umbrella becomes symbol of this movement, and thus called the Umbrella Revolution or the Umbrella Movement.
   Section::::Parodies of Xi Jinping and police banners.
   At home the "umbrella stand " is used to hold umbrellas when not in use. In offices, the use is limited to rainy days when employees and visitors need to carry an umbrella: By folding and inserting the closed umbrellas upon entering the building and collecting them again when leaving the building. The action in this case is to prevent entering the wet umbrella in the building wetting the floor all over.
  
  Section::::Umbrella containers.
   On 29 October, the full-month of the Umbrella Movement, some distance runners conceived the idea to support the Movement and to show solidarity with protesters by running a course which shown an umbrella shape on the map of Hong Kong.
  
  Section::::Organising history.
   The use of the parasol and umbrella in France and England was adopted, probably from China, about the middle of the seventeenth century. At that period, pictorial representations of it are frequently found, some of which exhibit the peculiar broad and deep canopy belonging to the large parasol of the Chinese Government officials, borne by native attendants.
   Initially an informal term by the occupiers, "Umbrella Square" became a recognised name as people continued to occupy the site. The name became incorporated into maps. During the 2014 Hong Kong protests the area was home to around 2,000 tents of varying sizes, many of which were given addresses by the residents. It was reported that postal services delivered to Umbrella Square tent addresses, although the Hong Kong Post officially denies having done so.
  
  Section::::Culture.
   Art works and installations have appeared at protest sites, attracting interest from the world's media. These include the walls of the circular staircase leading up to the pedestrian skybridge near the entrance of Hong Kong's Central Government Office covered with multi-coloured post-it notes bearing messages of good cheer or defiance, named the "Lennon Wall" after the Lennon Wall in Prague, Czech Republic. John Lennon's song "Imagine" is often quoted on pro-democracy posters and banners, and became one of the anthems of the occupation. In addition to the use of traditional protests songs, banners, logos for the movement, installations and sculptures of all sizes have been created, including 'Umbrella Man', an iconic 3-metre statue created out of wood blocks, with an arm outstretched holding an umbrella. The umbrella and the yellow ribbon have inspired a large number of memes. The 28-metre banner hung on Lion Rock also inspired numerous memes, and a 3D scale model. An image of Xi Jinping holding an umbrella that won a top photojournalism award in China inspired another bout of meme-creation, and has appeared on banners and cardboard cut-outs. There are efforts to preserve the art, but the city's government-funded museums are uncooperative.
  