Am I a Hongkonger or a Chinese - an Introspection to the National Identity of Hongkonger from an Outside Observer

Am I A Hongkonger or A Chinese?

------An introspection to the national identity of Hongkonger from an outside observer

GEJC1120

Xu Ruihong

1155076974

1.Introducting paragraph

2.Main body

2.1 Historical factors

2.1.1 The contribution of British Hong Kong government

2.1.2 The asymmetric of information

2.1.3 Ethnic identity of Hongkonger

2.2 Practical factors

2.2.1 The cultural identity

2.2.2 The social climate

2.3 A contradiction sentiment

3. Concluding paragraph: a vision for the future

Am I A Hongkonger or A Chinese?

------An introspection to the national identity of Hongkonger from an outside observer

1.Introducting paragraph

It is a common phenomenon that when you ask a person whether you love your country mostly you may get a positive answer. Whatever his country is strong or not, rich or not. Like an American or a mainland Chinese, he may take pride in his nation’s powerful military and upward economy. When it moves on to a less development countries, nationals will presumably find some other concentrations which are worth admiring like a profound history or unique culture. This is a common view that almost every one loves his state, however there is a kind of people living in a special area of a country may present a series of confusing questions like “what is love” “how to define nation” etc. Though the subject of identity are people, I still want to describe them as “a kind of people lives in a special area” rather than a group of people with special identity” I will give out the reason later. Once those question are presented, that mean the subconscious patriotism is being challenged. Like Scottish in Britain, Catalonian in Spain and don’t forget the most interconnected population: Hongkonger in China. The amount of those groups isn’t small and they never failed to hit the headlines of the international news.

2.Main body

Obviously, this phenomenon shows a lack of national identity. What national identity refers to is a recognition and belongingness of nationals to one state or one nation. Apart from the necessary factors of forming a nation, the national identity can be deemed as one of the most important fundamental of keeping a national peace and united. On the contrary, lacking of national identity can lead to secession or even endless conflict and war. Like the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, I can still remember the affectionate words given by the prime minister Cameron “Independence would not be a trial separation; it would be a painful divorce.” (David Cameron, 2014) The life of the Spanish government is even harder. Demonstrations and remonstrations call for the independence never stops in the latest decades. Fortunately, Hong Kong is under a much more beneficial relationship with China than Scotland and Catalonia, that indicates Hong Kong cannot leave China while the future China without Hong Kong is also unpredictable. In a word, it creates temporary peace between main land China and Hong Kong, however, as everybody knows, under the surface of peace contains titanic energy of crisis. The umbrella movement in 2014 does have such emotion of independence. Besides, in the match of FIFA World Cup Qualifier Hong Kong VS China, the booing of the national sound and flag as well as the slogan reading “we are Hong Kong” raised everywhere.

...