5 July 2020, NIICE Commentary 5502
Shreya Shaw 

The foundation of Hong Kong laid with the imposition of former border controls between China and Hong Kong after 1949, was reinforced by the increasing devolution of powers from London to Hong Kong from the 1950s to the 1970s, and then the de jure recognised by the Sino- British Joint Declaration of 1984 and Hong Kong’s basic law in 1990. That time Britain handed over a young HK nation to China. When China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, and they were dealing with a new nation or at least with a group of people who considered themselves different from their sovereign. The citizens of Hong Kong referred to as ‘si man’ in Cantonese, which means ‘city person’. This classification used to distinguish the citizen of the city of Hong Kong from the citizens of the whole Chinese state as ‘People of the city’ servers a label of identity for Hongkongers. After 1 July 1997, Hong Kong became a unique region within the Chinese territory. It could run its administrative, economic commerce and trade but military and foreign affairs  was led by the Chinses government. Hong Kong follows the policy of ‘One Country Two Systems’. According to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the city has its freedom, sovereignty, free press, education, civil society and other systems.

Identity Crisis at Hong Kong

Hongkongers native language is Cantonese while Chinese use Mandarin as the standard language. In 2016-17, the Hong Kong schools transformed their official language from Cantonese to Mandarin as the standard official Chinese language. According to the Education Bureau (EDB), 72 percent of primary schools, and 37 percent of secondary schools were using Mandarin, which helped the youth to read Chineses studies and ancient texts and poetry before the Song Dynasty. In this sense, the Chinese government’s efforts to actively promote Mandarin in Hong Kong was about mustering patriotic sentiments among Hong Kong people. According to the research survey done by the University of Hong Kong (HKU), people who identify themselves as ‘Hongkongers’ in narrow or broad sense records high since 1997, in contrast, the proportions of people who identify them as ‘Chinese’ in narrow or broad senses expressed the record low. Hence, the identity the HKU’s Index Survey highlights that 53 percent people identified them as Hongkongers, while 11 percent identified them as Chinese, 12 percent identified as “Chinese in Hong Kong”. On the other hand, 23 percent identified themselves as “Hongkongers in China”.

Differences in 2014 and 2019 Umbrella Movement

The world has witnessed the ‘Umbrella Movement’ in Hong Kong after the Extradition bill in 2019, where the masses of Hong Kong marched and protested for their ‘Universal Suffrage’ right, while Chinese government wanted to control the  civil liberties of Hong Kong, and it created unrest within the city. The history of ‘Umbrella Movement’ or ‘Occupy Central’ started on 28 September 2014. It was the protest raised by the young students of Hong Kong universities, professors, lawyers and businessman with the demand of the universal suffrage. After the huge protest and unrest, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, withdrew the Extradition Bill. However, people from Hong Kong were in favour of reviving them as they were sure that the Chinese government would try to introduce the bill again. The  protests affected Hong Kong’s economic activities, trade and commerce as it is a busy financial hub of Asia.

Five years later, the protest again rocked Hong Kong on 9 June 2019 which continued for more than a hundred days. The city witnessed marches, violent clashes and protests with police and other groups. While in 2014 the protest was led by Joshua Wong, Nathan Law Kwun- Chung, the university students and Student’s Union there was no prominent leader in 2019 to lead the movement. Protesters discussed the activities online using mobile apps. In 2014, the slogans were “we want prominent universal suffrage”, “hopes rest with the people change starts with the struggle” but in 2019 the slogans were “liberate Hong Kong revolution of our time”, “five demands not less one”, “there are no riots only tyranny”.

Way ahead 

A constant discontent and civil unrest occasionally burst out into violent confrontations in Hong Kong. Identity and linguistic issues are effective agendas to  force the political change in Hong Kong. The blocking of the extradition bill, Article 23 laws, the Cantonese people’s identity issue and the national education curriculum are all linked to it. The Cantonese speaking people of Hong Kong and the Mandarin speaking Chinese from mainland Chinese have different stands on the issue. Both groups have different sentiments as they carry different cultural values with them.

In September 2019, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Carrie Lam said that the withdrawal of the extradition bill and the anti-extradition protest led to increase in violence and vandalism. Hence, the government proposed to amend city’s two extradition laws – the Fugitive Offenders and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters ordinances. On the other hand, Martin Lee, the former Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association and former Member of the Drafting Committee of the Basic Law for Hong Kong criticised it stating that after 1997, China wanted very much to take Hong Kong back and just not Hong Kong but also Macau and Taiwan. He emphasised that Chinese leader wanted Hong Kong to lead China forward, but Deng Xiaoping and his successors did not have the convictions to pursue his greater China dream, hence they internationalised Hong Kong’s issue first which was later supported by the Britain and many other countries, including the US and the EU. Lee advocated for the pro-democratic movements in the city and believed that democracy is suitable for every country in the world and he had the conviction that sooner or later, the whole world will have democracy, including China.

Though Lee came with such conviction, there are no signs of Hong Kong getting free from the Chinese control. It is also highly unlikely that China would transform itself into a democratic country as the Communist Party of China has got much more firm control on the nation. There has been change in the Chinese Constitution which allows any person to hold the post of President for more than two terms. In days to come, President Xi is likely to get stronger hold on Hong Kong, Macau and might show aggressive posturning towards Taiwan. Through new security law, Beijing will have firm control on Hong Kong which will not allow any group or people to easily organise protests, violence and mass movements.

Shreya Shaw is a Research Intern with NIICE. Views expressed in the article are those of the author.