Hong Kong Identity - An Essay Example

Between 26th September and 15th December 2014, a series of street protests referred to as the Umbrella Movement took place in Hong Kong. Protestors were advocating for more political freedoms, and used umbrellas to shield themselves from pepper spray. Masterminds of the protests stated that it was more of a civil disobedience movement than a revolution. A scholar called Arif Dirlik is of the opinion that those protests were the latest chapter in the creation of a Hong Kong identity that became somehow urgent in the 1980s with the likelihood of a return to motherland China. This essay examines the Umbrella Movement with special reference to what is understood by Hong Kong Identity.

To understand how the Umbrella Movement relates to the Hong Kong Identity, it is worth looking at its anatomy. The movement was put in motion by a group known as Central With Love & Peace. It also involved several student groups such as Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students. Full democracy was the movements main demands. Participants wanted the right to direct choose the Chief Executive, who is the head of Hong Kongs government. This was contrary to the wishes of the China, which took over sovereignty of the city-state in 1997 after it ceased being a British colony. The Chinese government wished to vet those who vie for the Chief Executive position, and insist candidates must be screened by an electoral committee made up oligarchs and tycoons. Another demand was the resignation of Leung Chun-ying, the then chief executive who had refused point blank to step down. He was widely unpopular because of a perception that he prioritized the interests of China over those of Hong Kong.

China does not want give Hong Kong more freedom just yet as the Chinese Communist Party wishes to maintain political control. Allowing the most international Chinese city- which happens to be rather porous- select its own leader could present complications to the party. This is because if an opponent of the party is voted in as chief executive, it would show the rest of the country that democratic change is possible. Also, China is aware that the city-state is a special case given that it was once a British colony. Hong Kong enjoys freedom of movement and information, its press has reasonable freedom, and has an independent common law and judiciary. While the Communist Party is of the opinion that such semi-autonomy suits Hong Kong, the young and well-educated residents, who were the organizers of the Umbrella Movement, want more. Since they are familiar with freedoms similar to those enjoyed in the West, they desire the political empowerment that accompanies it. Hong Kongers feel they dont have much in common with those living in mainland China, and wish to be politically autonomous.

For a region whose size is a mere 400 square miles, the city-state seems to have experienced more than enough protests during the twentieth century. The Umbrella Movement was the latest incidence in a lengthy history of political conflict in the Hong Kong. In 1967, communists in the city-state, then a British colony, went up in arms in solidarity with the Cultural Revolution spreading in China. When Britain gained control of the area in 1842 following the first Opium War, it appeared to be a barren and unproductive island. However, by the second half of the twentieth century, Hong Kong was gradually turning out to be a thriving business center. In 1967, a stark contrast was highlighted pitting the Communist mainland China and the nearby areas in terms of cultural differences. That year, the initial protests appeared to have originated spontaneously among the Hong Kong workforce. However, China showed some remote support for the movement, and even gave an ultimatum that all protestors who had been arrested to be freed. All in all, the support had nothing to do with questioning British control of the region.

In July that year, gunshots from across Chinas border caused the deaths of several Hong Kong police officers, prompting Britain to respond by deploying troops. This marked the earliest armed confrontation between Chinese and British forces in the area since the start of Communist rule in China almost two decades previously. Although the stand-off pitting the two powerful nations could have escalated, tensions had simmered by early august. Such a bitter history did not deter Hong Kong and mainland China from adopting a closer relationship in the next decade. In fact, the two went on to rely on each other, especially economically. In 1979, it is reported that China sent exports amounting to $2 billion each year to Hong Kong, with a similar amount going back to the mainland in the form of taxes from residents and revenue from Chinese business organizations found there. Companies in Hong Kong depended on Chinese labor, and the Chinese government utilized the island as outlet for its trading activities with other parts of the world.

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 went a long way in helping the independent political identity of Hong Kong take shape. A top factor that influenced the 1984 decision on what the region would look like in 1997 after Britain handed over control was economic interdependence. The agreement stipulated that the capitalist economy and current system of law would continue even as Hong Kong became a Chinese territory. However, the period of transition that lasted almost a decade was characterized by a lot of strife. At pro-democracy demonstrations reached fever pitch in mainland China in 1989, about a sixth of the entire population of Hong Kong took to the streets in solidarity with the cause. At the same time, many residents did not think China would be any better than Britain as there were signs that the Chinese governments grip on the city-state might be tighter than they expected. Also, the British government made it quite difficult for Hong Kong residents to migrate and settle in Britain; a situation that made many of them feeling torn between two cultures. Following the Tiananmen Square massacre later that year, the identity of the modern Hong Kong resident began crystallizing. Hong Kongers became both firmly Chinese and pro-democracy.

Pro-democracy protests in the region would make a return in 2003. During the early 1990s, Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, came up with a plan to make the regions government even more democratic. However, this was strongly objected to by the Chinese government. So when the handover occurred in 1997, there were lingering questions of whether democracy would hold water and for how long it would despite the facade of a smooth transfer. That concern would turn out to be credible just a few years later. In 2003, people in Hong Kong participated in what turned out to be the largest pro-democracy demonstration since 1989. The Chief Executive had promised to keep the region in its place, but it turned out to be mere talk.

Not all residents of Hong Kong supported the Umbrella Movement of 2014. Many, particularly the older generation, are not enthusiastic about it as they are afraid of provoking and antagonizing mainland China. It seems memories of how the Tiananmen Square protests were violently suppressed are still fresh in their minds. They also observe the political climate in Beijing as being somewhat harsh, and come to the conclusion that the movement does not have a future. According to those who oppose the Umbrella Revolution, challenging the Communist Party is likely to spur the Chinese government to revoke the freedoms that residents of Hong Kong are currently enjoying. The older generation also seemed worried about economic stability. Life in a region experiencing high inflation was already difficult enough without the protests that brought the city to a standstill. To make matters worse, all this is done for a cause that is unlikely to be achieved anyway.

For a long time, residents of Hong Kong have enjoyed a hybrid identity; that of being both Hong Kongers and Chinese. Nowadays however, this is no longer the case as a significant identity shift has taken place. The younger generation has adopted a trend of perceiving themselves as purely as people from Hong Kong as opposed to being Chinese. The era of dual identity came to an end, and the regions millennials think of it as abnormal. This mentality was fast-tracked by the Umbrella Movement. Failure of an approach that involves non-violent civil disobedience and a notion that there is no way to initiate dialogue with the Chinese government, have only served to motivate youth in Hong Kong. It is ironic that the Hong Kong government has unknowingly been fueling the ideology of independence. It has done this publicly targeting the idea and then cracking down on citizens advocating for the ideology since the 2014 protests broke out. Labeling pro-democracy campaigners as separatists, when the inclination towards independence was initially a marginal ideology not part of the Umbrella Movements main agenda, has had an eye-opening effect. It spurred the notion of independence to be widespread throughout the city state.

The identity crisis is bringing about a political vision of the region as its own independent state, and an anti-China cultural perception. For a long time, the Chinese government has relied on Hong Kongs Chinese roots to ensure there is political loyalty in the region. However, the governments strategy of enforcing patriotism while keeping democratic politics at bay has brought about some undesirable effects. Instead of drawing together a large group of young people in Hong Kong, it only alienates them. The older working-class citizens may still be bound by certain patronage lines that make them relate to pro-mainland supporters, while the elites are for economic partnerships with mainland China. However, the younger, middle-class and well-educated generation are rebellious towards the traditions followed by the older generation as well as the state-sponsored nationalism that is prevalent in mainland China.

The rebellion orchestrated by the Umbrella Movement is partly influenced by a reasonable fear that mainland China will interfere with Hong Kongs politics, given that the city-state is entering an era of censorship never seen before. For instance, 2016 was awash with reports of Hong Kong booksellers being kidnapped, as well as detainment of academic critics. There is also an unusual and aggressive rejection of anything Chinese which appears to overlook the history of Hong Kongs cultural and economic independence with mainland China. People from the mainland are often referred to using a Cantonese derogatory term wong chung, which means locusts. An anti-locust protest was carried out in early 2014 along Canton Road-a place with many shopping malls where millions of tourists from the mainland flock each year-whereby protestors waved placard that read Go Back to China. Such xenophobic memes have become the norm since the Umbrella Movement began, and user terms like pathogen and plague to describe the behavioral differences between the Chinese and residents of Hong Kong.

Overturning of political norms in Hong Kong was further witnessed during the Legislative Council elections held in September 2016. Six radical campaigners won seats in the top law-making organ on platforms that advocated for various aspects of independence and self-determination. The inclusion of new blood in the Council invokes changes to the manner in which opposition politics operate in Hong Kong. A significant percentage of the votes cast were for activists advocating for a radical overhaul of the relationship between the city-state and mainland China. However, these elections were marred by controversy were prevented from running. Some of the reasons were that the contestan...