Out of respect for her privacy, I do not ask her name. She is young, bright, beautiful, and spoke much better English than I did either Mandarin or Cantonese. I found her working diligently in front of her laptop in the “Study Hall” tent, as I wandered through the sprawling cardboard-and-nylon city that marked one of three #OccupyCentral encampments in Kowloon and Hong Kong’s downtown financial centers. A student of psychology at nearby University of Hong Kong, she comes to Occupy “whenever I have free time,” she says. “I was not with the students at the beginning of the protest, but I am here now.”

Despite the bustle of a late afternoon Friday in Asia’s “world city,” the downtown #UmbrellaMovement tent city, now in its 41st day, seemed deserted, save for 2 small press conferences, several clusters of students engaged in study or quiet conversation, and gawking global tourists snapping photos (me included). “What do the students hope will happen here?” I ask her. “We are here because we learn about democracy in school,” she replies, “but our voices are not heard in Hong Kong.” This encampment, erected outside the Hong Kong legislature’s official meeting building, itself dwarfed by the colossal towers that mark HK’s financial center, is as symbolic a place as any for Hong Kong students make their voices heard.