For three and half years during the second world war was Hong Kong occupied by Imperial Japan, people lived in fear as they do today. So lets see if we can find some similarities between the two occupations.
The Imperial Japanese army saw to that the Kai Tak airport was extended for their needs, and bridges the occupied areas closer to Japan, the same we can see with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, this structure does bind Hong Kong and Macau closer to PRC and of course simpler to move in large amount of troops if the population would revolt.
The number of hospitals for locals became limited in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation, as many hospitals we converted to military hospitals, it’s not as bad with the PRC at this moment, but the number of pregnant women from the mainland who want to give birth in Hong Kong causes a shortage of beds in hospitals. The mainlanders do this only for then they can migrate to Hong Kong later on.
Japanese became the facto language in Hong Kong and students were to learn it in schools and English was forbidden, we see the same things with Mandarin, it’s forced on students, and English teachers skill level is dropping which leads to younger Hongkongers do not learn proper English.
Japanese culture eduction in schools was important part too, so that the population would become more Japanese than Hongkongers, in the same way national education is introduced in Hong Kong today, where students will learn about the falsified history or PRC and forcing norms set up by CCP.
Press freedom was gone in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation, the English language news paper, The Hong Kong News, was a mouth piece of the Japanese government in the same way as South China Morning Post today is a mouth piece of the CCP. The new national security law in Hong Kong also limits the press freedom and may also impose censorship to what is allowed to be printed.
Film production is Hong Kong more or less has died thanks to mainland productions with more and more CCP type of propaganda, similarly the Hong Kong film industry was dead under the Japanese rule under which time only one Hong Kong movie was filmed, The Battle of Hong Kong.
Sure Japan committed many war crimes and General Takashi Sakai was later sentenced to death for the war crimes done under his rule of Hong Kong, up to 10000 Honkongers had to die during the occupation. We can’t say the PLA has been much better, even if they haven’t yet killed anyone. During the protests in Hong Kong 2019, PLA soldiers were out on the streets beating protesters while disguised as Hong Kong Police.
The Hong Kong Police Force was taken over by the Japanese Kempeitai, in a similar way the Hong Kong Police Force, once Asia’s finest, has been taken over by PAP (PRC Armed Police Force) and the police has begun to use mainland tactics where, everyone is guilty based and if you don’t believe in CPP then the civilian ain’t a human.
The Japanese confiscated properties for their own use, the same happens in Hong Kong today, the Metropark Hotel Causeway Bay has been taken over by the PRC to host the new national security office.
Laws in Hong Kong during the Imperial Japanese occupation was harsh, kind of like the new PRC illegally added National Security Law (it do not fit in what is allowed as part of Annex III).
So the conclusion is clear, the PRC occupation of Hong Kong is as bad as the Imperial Japanese occupation back in 1941-1945.