The characteristics of a successful nation have been defined by a clearly defined geographical boundary, similar or same shared religious, cultural, and ethnic values, and a strong national and political identity to aid governance. The essay traces the unique characteristics of Hong Kong that existed under British colonial rule for over a century and a half with an apolitical character.
This has resulted in some residents developing a Hongkongese identity, some having Chinese identity, and yet others who had a more cosmopolitan view. Experts argue that none of these identities were tangible and worked well until the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Thereon, the Chinese authority has striven to build a political identity amenable to the Chinese model.
The building of a political identity is never natural and it requires the shapers to have three constituents namely, a belief that political leaders will lead to economic prosperity, physical and psychological security, and inculcation of a sense of belongingness. Building the contents of such a political identity requires education of the masses which the authorities have striven to impart by teaching civic citizenship with an emphasis on reaffirming Chinese roots sans any real political analysis or teachings.
This effort to reconcile a capitalist Hong Kong to a Chinese socialist model has resulted in creating apprehension in the minds of those who hold their Hong Kong identity dear and has, in turn, resulted in a deformed citizenry which is likely to affect able governance that requires a sound political identity as a framework.
Ever since the global acceptance of the Westphalian model of the nation-state, the characteristics of a successful nation have been defined by a clearly defined geographical boundary, similar or same shared religious, cultural, and ethnic values, and a strong national and political identity to aid governance. It is possible to govern a region and a group of people by force and coercion, but such governance can never last. Thus it becomes incumbent to develop a certain sense of ‘belongingness’ to facilitate nation-building and governance.
Hong Kong is a typical example of a city that had city-state governance throughout the colonial period with distinctly apolitical overtones till its hand over as a special autonomous region under China. Throughout its century and half of the existence under British rule, Hong Kong has had a distinctive identity that was termed as Hongkongese that was subscribed to by roughly more than half of its inhabitants as well as a large number who identified themselves as Chinese with connections to the mainland. A small minority believed that they did not subscribe to either category. This feeling of special identity however has been deemed as more amorphous and ambiguous as none of the groups identified with either constituency except as an idea and a preference for Asian values of filial responsibilities and precepts of Confucianism.
The attachment to Hong Kong was in the view of many scholars, purely on a materialistic plane without the ideological underpinnings. Since the early sixties, while still under British rule, the identity crisis in Hong Kong manifested in the riots of 1967 which led the authorities to take steps in youth and community building. The efforts were aimed at building a depoliticized citizenship. The process of inculcating civic responsibility commenced in 1981 and continued through 2002 without really addressing the key issue of building political identity.
The Chinese authorities now believe that the age-old detached, apolitical attitude of the Hong Kong residents that served admirably under the British could no longer work under the “One Country Two Systems’ formula for administering Hong Kong and that a concerted effort by the Chinese authorities to construct a political identity was necessary for able governance.
Constructing a political identity involves creating a political community as also concepts of citizenship that serve to bind the people. These are not natural events and building political identities and communities requires actual political leaders, prospective leaders, and tangible strategies that could be ‘sold’ to the people. These strategies involve making people believe in the ability of the political leaders and political parties to deliver economic prosperity to the people.
The content of such a construct requires that the target audience believes that political leadership can enhance their physical and psychological security and that political power was the best way forward in ensuring this security. The third important constituent in constructing a political identity is linked to a ‘Constitutive’ strategy that makes people believe in their ‘oneness’ and belongingness to the system and the country.
In Hong Kong, building the sense of belongingness runs into several complications as some inhabitants are Hong Kong citizens, some are Chinese citizens and some hold on to their Hongkongese identity, others to their Chinese identity, and yet others that hold that they have both. Thus the requirement of transforming these varied viewpoints or perceptions from an amorphous concept into a process of renationalization is what the authorities were required to do.
Building a political identity requires a concerted effort at educating and influencing people. The way forward towards building such a political identity is through education. The authorities need to educate the young in understanding their roots, their national identity, which is inexorably linked to Chinese history and Chinese culture. The British influence of democratic ideals runs counter to the Chinese communist and socialistic ideals. This implied that the authorities would try and tailor-make the contents of a Hong Kong-specific political identity that would require emphasizing Chinese values, history, and culture and deemphasizing democratic values.
The aim for embarking on such a roadmap was to forestall a capitalist Hong Kong from developing a completely different ‘Hong Kong’ identity that would resist its Chinese identity. The effort to reconcile these ambiguities resulted in producing a civic citizenship education with an aversion to political issues. As a result, today Hong Kong has a deformed citizenry that is neither Hongkongese nor Chinese nor globalized. Governance in Hong Kong continues with its apolitical character with a lot of confusion as the residents are being asked to adopt the Chinese socialist model, Chinese values, history, and system and not ask too many political questions.
Thus the project to construct a political identity in Hong Kong amenable to the Chinese Communist Party has come unstuck as the apprehensions and misgivings of those who adhere to Hongkongese have not been addressed in the methodology so far with its concomitant deleterious effects on governance that are sure to surface as they did during the sixties.