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Defining Fellow Compatriots as ‘Others’ ‐ National Identity in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Elaine Chan
Elaine Chan*
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong
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Extract

Recent theoretical discussion and Empirical Evidence have shown that national identity is important at both collective and individual levels. The issue of national identity is particularly relevant to the community of Hong Kong, which was reunited with the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 1 July 1997. The fact that 97 per cent of Hong Kong's population is Chinese does not guarantee the automatic development of a sense of national identity. Mutual understanding between the people of the two places is not as easy and natural as one might expect, for objective differences, such as those found in the political, legal and economic systems, make the ‘other’ more stranger than kin. Such difficulties were compounded by the phenomenon that, unlike in many former colonies, the people of Hong Kong did not abhor their outgoing British rulers; in fact many were quite nostalgic about the colonial period.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , October 2000 , pp. 499 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 2000

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References

1 Unlike many other colonies, Hong Kong society was generally satisfied with its colonial ruler. A poll found that 39.4 per cent of respondents had affectionate memories of the British administration, compared to 20.6 per cent who had negative feelings (Apple Daily, 30 June 1997). Another poll reported that two-thirds of respondents believed that the British government had done more good than harm in the development of Hong Kong (Pop Express, Social Science Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Special Release of 19 June 1998). See also Siu-kai, Lau, ‘The Rise and Decline of Political Support for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’, Government and Opposition , 34:3 (Summer 1999), pp. 352–71Google Scholar.

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28 Ming Pao [Chinese language Hong Kong newspaper], 4 February 1998.

29 Ibid., 20 August 1998.

30 Pop Express, Social Science Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Special Release of 25 June 1998.

31 Pop Express, Social Science Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Special Release of 30 June 1998.

32 Ming Pao, 2 June 1998.

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35 The process of labelling Mainlanders as ‘others’ did not begin with this CFA ruling. As Ma has demonstrated persuasively, Mainlanders were portrayed as outsiders in popular television serials in the 1970s and 1980s. See Kit-wai Ma, Eric, Culture, Politics, and Television in Hong Kong, London, Routledge, 1999.Google Scholar It seems that the right-of-abode issue was the first large-scale stigmatization of Mainlanders carried out by the government, and ironically this took place after Hong Kong had become part of the PRC.

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37 South China Morning Post [Hong Kong English language newspaper], hereafter cited as SCMP, 29 April 1999; Ming Pao, 29 April 1999.

38 Ming Pao, 30 April 1999.

39 SCMP, 29 April 1999.

40 Sing Tao [Hong Kong Chinese language newspaper], 29 April 1999.

41 Ming Pao, 2 May 1999.

42 Ibid.

43 SCMP, 29 April 1999.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid., 30 April 1999.

46 SCMP, 6 May 1999. For an interview with the Assistant Commissioner of the Census and Statistics Department on how the survey was conducted, see Ming Pao, 2 May 1999.

47 SCMP, 6 May 1999.

48 ‘30 pc may not claim abode right’, SCMP, 6 May 1999.

49 SCMP, 6 May 1999.

50 Ming Pao, 30 April 1999.

51 Altogether ten top officials attended the Legislative Council session. They included: the Acting Chief Secretary for Administration, the Secretary for Health and Welfare, the Secretary for Security, the Secretary for Transport, the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, the Secretary for Education and Manpower, the Commissioner for Census and Statistics, the Director of Immigration and Government Economists. See SCMP, 6 May 1999.

52 SCMP, 7 May 1999.

53 Ibid.

54 Ming Pao, 7 May 1999.

55 ‘Influx may hurt SAR visa status’, SCMP, 9 May 1999.

56 ‘$710b for migrants in 10 years’, ibid., 7 May 1999.

57 For challenges to various government estimates, see ‘Spending figures fail to pass test’, SCMP, 9 May 1999; ‘Lee Cheuk-yan and Ho Hei-wah question Census’ estimation formula’, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 11 May 1999.

58 Ming Pao, 7 May 1999.

59 See ‘Figures based on too many assumptions’ and ‘Legislators urged for a review of the validity of estimation’, ibid.; ‘Loopholes in the estimation of Mainlander children’, ibid., 15 May 1999. A pressure group, The Human Rights Monitor, reported that the HKSAR government had overestimated the number of potential Mainland immigrants by more than 1 million. See Release, Press, ‘New Survey on Right of Abode Casts Doubt on Government’s “Taxi Method” Survey’, Human Rights Monitor, 18 10 1999.Google Scholar

60 ‘Nearly 80 per cent thought that the ruling was wrong’, Wen Wei Pao [Hong Kong Chinese language newspaper], 8 May 1999.

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62 The survey was commissioned by The Better Hong Kong Foundation and conducted by Asia-Pacific Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It was a telephone survey carried out on the evenings of 9 and 10 May. See Wen Wei Pao, 13 May 1999.

63 The Legislative Council, which is supposed to represent public opinion, resolved to support the government’s request to get the Standing Committee of the People’s National Congress to reinterpret the laws involved in the ruling. See Ming Pao, 20 May 1999. The Standing Committee eventually overruled the decision of the CFA. It ruled that the CFA’s interpretation did not reflect the ‘true legislative intent’, and that children born before one of their parents had Hong Kong residency did not have right of abode. The reinterpretation substantially reduced the number of potential Mainland immigrants. See SCMP, 27 June 1999.

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65 ‘Polls show that abode right issue disintegrated Hong Kong society’, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 7 September 1999.

66 Triandafyllidou, Anna, ‘National Identity and the “Other”’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21:4 ( July 1988), pp. 593–612.Google Scholar

67 ‘Polls show’, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 7 September 1999.

68 ‘Speed abode cases, says top official’, SCMP, 7 August 2000.

69 ‘Mainlanders face backlash’, SCMP, 4 August 2000.

70 Ming Pao, 12 August 2000.