There’s another reason for holding that umbrella revolution is not an appropriate term for what’s taking place in Hong Kong at the moment – there’s no convulsive social change sweeping the entire society. Thinking of truly great modern revolutions such as France 1789, Russia 1917 and China 1949, each witnessed a fundamental repudiation and overthrow of the old order. True, in some respects daily existence carried on as before – a point Michael Oakeshott liked to make. Nevertheless, in key ways the life of every member of each nation was turned upside down. That’s not the case at all in Hong Kong at present.

Indeed, what’s striking during the protests is how much life proceeds as usual pretty much everywhere other than at the three main sites in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. Walking around Central – right next to the core of the movement in Admiralty – you find that established routines are somewhat affected. Roads are blocked off, buses are rerouted, traffic is notably bad. That apart, life goes on largely as it always has done – so much so that it’s often hard to believe there’s so much drama taking place just down the street. In this sense, then, the Occupy movement and broader democracy protests cannot be described as revolutionary – they simply fall short of any reasonable understanding of the term.

And what about the protest areas themselves? In another indication of how much the city is functioning fairly normally, on Monday evening I hopped on the MTR (Hong Kong’s fabulous subway system) to visit all three prime locations. This was just before the current wave of police clearances began to take place, and in fact a time when protesters were mixing cement to reinforce their barricades. Certainly it was surreal, and even inspiring, to find major thoroughfares – Harcourt Road, Hennessy Road, Nathan Road – taken over by mobile democracy classrooms, tent villages and a vast array of street art and debate. In Admiralty, the celebrated student study sessions were in full swing. In Causeway Bay, someone was giving a physics class. In Mong Kok, a vibrant speakers’ corner was ticking over right in the middle of a major road junction. Even in these places, though, daily life had reasserted itself with shops open and some people passing through on mundane errands.

Hong Kong in the time of Occupy is an amazing sight – none of us could ever have dreamt this would come to pass. But when so much of the city continues to go about its regular business, it’s hard to say there’s a revolution happening here. This also makes me wonder, in a Myanmar context, how deeply the events of 1988 and 2007 affected the wider society. Extensively in the case of 8-8-88 and not very much at all in the case of the saffron uprising? Again, we really need detailed documentation while it’s still possible to gather it.