HONG KONG — For years, this city was neither genuinely democratic nor entirely authoritarian. Its politics had both democratic and authoritarian elements, though on balance those were more democratic than authoritarian. Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” arrangement with the Chinese government in Beijing afforded it a high degree of autonomy. The territory was able to maintain the rule of law by constraining the local government’s powers and protecting citizens’ fundamental rights.

Not anymore. In the aftermath of the Umbrella Movement in late 2014, a series of protests and an occupation that paralyzed major Hong Kong streets for 79 days, the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.) has adjusted its approach. The Chinese government in Beijing has increasingly cracked down on Hong Kong politically, while steadily integrating the city’s economy into the mainland’s.

Hong Kong is now linked by high-speed train to mainland China, and a new mega-bridge connects the city with the Pearl River Delta. But the glossy surface of greater economic ties cannot mask dark sociopolitical realities. Through many agents in both the public sector and civil society here, the C.C.P. is using a combination of coercion and economic might, as well intimidation, deception and confusion to weaken remaining forms of dissent. Having placed a lackey at the head of the Hong Kong executive branch and muffled pro-democracy voices in the local legislature, known as LegCo, its principal targets today are what is left of the political opposition, civil society and the independent judicial system.

Hong Kong’s fundamental laws, called the Basic Law, are subject to the final interpretation of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. Resort to that power, after long being treated as an exception, has been normalized in recent times, in an effort to provide a semblance of constitutional backing — seasoned with arbitrary meanings — for the Chinese government’s repressive measures.