Advertisement
Opinion | Hong Kong should not fear change under China, because even the mainland is changing, too
- Anson Au says Hongkongers’ worry of losing their separate identity is misplaced, as no culture can be frozen in time, particularly in a globalised world
- China’s phenomenal transformation over the past 40 years is a lesson in how culture and identity are dynamic and malleable
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Will Hong Kong maintain its unique cultural identity, or will everything that makes us who we are be flattened underneath a political machine steamrollering towards us from Beijing? These questions stir perennial debate. Recent developments aimed apparently at popularising the teaching of Mandarin in Hong Kong schools and the political suppression of the advocacy of Hong Kong independence and self-determination have fuelled a climate of fear in the city.
Advertisement
Some commentators believe an intolerant Beijing is “coming for us” and the end game at hand is the destruction of Hong Kong’s unique identity. This echoes popular fears that the mainland’s brand of strongman politics will come to dominate Hong Kong as we approach 2047.
But these fears are misplaced and lack historical perspective.
First, social research shows that any identity is bound to change over time. At the individual level, identities change as people take on different roles, move to different places, become connected with different people and disconnected from others, and fall under the sway of new technological and social innovations. This is even truer of entire societies, which are made up of ever-changing people and whose cultures constantly adapt to new social forces.
Watch: Hong Kong’s transformation over the past 45 years
Advertisement