Almost 20 years after Hong Kong’s reunification with China, the tension between the two places still shows no sign of improving.
When Jiang Zemin, then-president of China, announced the establishment of “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of People’s Republic of China” on 1st July, 1997, few would have anticipated the hatred would continue to exist for such a long time, let alone the boiling point whereby Hong Kong Special Administrative Region-People’s Republic of China tension has long been noticeably reaching.
The tension is so strong because the difference is so big. While Chinese speak the renowned Putonghua, Hong Kong has its own unique dialect called Cantonese, and – of course – English is common too. According to the 2006 Population By-census by Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, 7.1 percent of Hong Kong’s population is of nationalities other than Chinese (Hong Kong people included); in mainland China, however, a mere 0.007 percent of its population is foreigners.
Much as the Chinese culture slowly spreads throughout the world, the number of foreigners living or staying in China has always been few and far between. There is no denying that the strong culture is somewhat domestic-oriented and hard to comprehend, but the strict immigration law certainly does not help either. Compared to mainland China, Hong Kong seems to be a much more multi-cultural place; passport owners of 147 countries are given visa-free access to Hong Kong and vice versa. Therefore, Hong Kong has become one of the most popular choices for tourism as it is in some way an “easy” choice for tourists to pick.
But then there are always trailblazers whose ambition is to swim against the tide. Some might call them brave, some might call them stupid.
Some called me, a Hong Kong teenager, stupid, when I gave up an offer from City University of HK and opted to further my education in Nanjing University in China instead. You might be forgiven for thinking that studying abroad (well, psychologically rather than geographically) is no mean feat, but my decision to study journalism, of all majors in China,is even more challenging.
The Communist Party is the ruling party in China, and thus the news media work as the voice of the party and the country as a whole. Obviously, in order to carry out this function, loyalty to the Party and the State is strongly needed. Therefore, the process is unlike journalism in Western countries, which poses a challenge to me as the atmosphere in Hong Kong is more Western than Chinese.
When I arrived in Nanjing on 30th August, 2013, everything was completely new to me. I did not have a single friend or relative in Nanjing, I could not speak understandable Putonghua, I had not even touched renminbi before… All in all, I knew barely a thing about mainland China.
Since the moment I stepped foot into the territory of China have I realised the cultural gulf between Hong Kong and mainland China, but my experiences in Nanjing have been mostly fruitful. As happy and stable as my time here on the mainland has been, the tension, on the other hand, has also been ascending.
The relationship between Hong Kong and China reached an all-time low in recent years. From 28th September, 2014, the Occupy Central movement (a.k.a. the Umbrella Revolution) broke out and lasted for 79 days. Protesters of this civil disobedience campaign blocked roads and paralyzed Hong Kong’s most prosperous financial district as a way to force the Beijing and Hong Kong governments to agree to implement universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council elections in 2020, according to accepted international democracy standards. During the 79-day campaign, several key moments badly disappointed Hongkongers. On 28th and 29th September, the action of tear gas dispersion from police shockingly broke up the protestors, leading to the coining of the name “Umbrella Revolution” in reference to the umbrellas used for defence against tear gas, later as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government. In addition, a handful of dispersal and clearance operations unfortunately ended up with unprecedented chaos between police and citizens.
If there was any chance of cultural integration for both places post-1997, there is little anymore. The Umbrella Revolution and how the government handled the situation afterwards have effectively ended any slightest hope of that.
Dr. Kenneth Law, principal of Hong Kong Heung To College of Professional Studies, expressed his point of view on the long-standing Hong Kong-China conflict.
“Occupy Central has of course worsened the relationship between two places. Young people and educated people in particular feel very strongly about that. It is because when the movement was ongoing, some parties and media intentionally put the blame on the Beijing central government and Chinese tourists. According to government stats, there were 112 thousand of 15 to 39-year-old Hong Kong people working in mainland China in 2004, the same number significantly went down to a mere 46 thousand in 2012. However the stats for people over 40 remain stable over the years,” he said.
Dr. Law also cited a research report from Hong Kong Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre in 2014, which revealed that 18 to 29-year-old Hong Kong citizens were less willing to work in mainland, citing the main reason as a lack of confidence in the country’s law and social system.
Similar statistics abound. In January, 2015, Hong Kong’s career guidance organisation Hok Yau Club interviewed 2,969 pre-high school graduates; only 15 percent of them would consider studying in China. For those interviewees who did not see China as an option, environment, political systems and credentials are their main concerns.
Since the Umbrella Revolution, things have gone from bad to worse.
This time it is about something that should have no relation with politics in essence; sport. As ironic as it was, China National Football Team and Hong Kong Football Team were drawing the same group for the FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, meaning both teams would face each other, at home and away. Before the start of the campaign in June2015, the China Football Association (CFA) released a set of posters representing every opponent and some “passionate” slogans. The one concerning Hong Kong was highly controversial as it mentioned that the HK team consists of players with three different skin colours in a reference to Hong Kong’s naturalization policy. Even though CFA issued an apology afterwards, the controversy was far from over. On 11th June, Hong Kong took on Bhutan and earned a victory. However, when the national anthem of China was played before the match, some radical Hong Kong fans booed the anthem in response to “Poster Gate”, resulting in the HKFA being fined and warned by FIFA.
Many would agree that the aforementioned incidents are shocking and spectacular enough, but still they paled in comparison with the actual match between the teams. The attention was turned away from football towards politics, unfortunately but inevitably. The media and netizens were having a strong war of words as well, yet in the end, and peacefully, both rounds ended up nil-nil draws.
There are two sides to every coin. Although the negative voice tilts too far in one direction, perhaps to everybody’s surprise, I was the one who clung to the belief that China is becoming better and that plying my trade here would eventually stand me in good stead.
Two and a half years in mainland China and I believe I am slowly reaping the rewards. Even though I never performed that well in the exam, I still was admitted to a top-five ranked university in China, as the scheme in which I participated was only for Hong Kong students who hope to go to China. As mentioned before, the number is not high, thus the scheme is not competitive. That, I would call a soft tactic from the central government to integrate the two cultures. How subtle politics are.
Academia aside, I received almost every opportunity that presented itself to me. In the second year, I became the vice-president of Student Union of School of Journalism and Communication. What’s more, because of my diehard interest for football, I fortunately became the president of Nanjing University Football Association. I don’t just play football, I organise football. One of the sports instructors here, Li Jun, was the 2013 China Super League Golden Whistle Award winner; I gained an invaluable chance to learn from him. These kinds of experiences really fulfilled me and made me grow.
When Hong Kong reunified with China in 1997, a comedian in Hong Kong half-heartedly commented on the situation, saying that it was more like China reunified with Hong Kong, judging by the developments of two places. Well, things are not like that anymore. Several mainland cities, such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing etc. are overtaking Hong Kong as Asia’s leading economic zones.
The relationship between Hong Kong and China is definitely in terminal decline; sadly nobody seems to be able to at least alleviate the tension. One way or another, the interaction between Hong Kong and mainland China will forever go on and on, positive or negative. Wishfully thinking, I wish more teenagers try to follow my path and literally feel how good, or bad, China really is.
