Is It Hong Kong Or China?
When asked where I’m from, I say Hong Kong. The usual immediate response from people is, “Oh! So China!”. That statement is one that will infuriate every citizen born and raised in Hong Kong. Prior to 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony.However, ever since the turnover to China, Hong Kong remains a special administrative region until the year of 2047. Until then, Hong Kong is able to abide by the one country two systems agreement which allows for Hong Kong to act under its own laws and have an autonomous economy. Up until a couple years ago, China has been upholding their part of the deal. However, in the past two years China has been making moves to establish more mainland power in the international city of Hong Kong. I believe that China’s intentions of doing so are wrong, and I believe that Hong Kong should be a special administrative region indefinitely so that it’s culture and well being can be preserved.
Last September, China opened up a train line that starts in Guangzhou and ends in Hong Kong. This sparked controversy in both “countries” as the people in Hong Kong believed that it was unfair to them because it violated their freedoms. The reason for this was that this rail link is a place where Chinese criminal law will be enforced which completely violates the agreement that China had with Britain when the turnover occurred. (Source 1) The turnover ensured that Hong Kong would be able to enforce their own set of laws until the year of 2047. The government in China knows very well about this agreement, and is seriously testing their limits. They want to get as much control back before 2047. By doing so with this railway line, they can subtly start enforcing more China socialist policies.
In many countries, electing a chief executive is something that it is important. In the year of 2014, there was a mass protest in Hong Kong for democracy. People in Hong Kong were upset about how they weren’t really able to choose their own leaders, and the Communist party in China was basically choosing them for us. What resulted was a huge student led protest that was in the main business district that lasted for 73 days. The business district was not able to function and many people had to work from home. The protest raised awareness for the people and electing a chief executive, and it proved helpful as they had more input in the next election where the person the Hong Kong people favoured was elected into office. (Source 2)If Hong Kong were to be apart of China, we would lose the freedom to elect a chief executive, and the privilege of living in a democracy.
Lastly, China has been making it relatively easy for people from mainland China to enter into Hong Kong. (Source 3) This is another topic that frustrates the people of Hong Kong. It isn’t because of the mainland people, but rather how they act in Hong Kong. Although it may seem that I’m generalising mainland Chinese people, there are tons of news stories from all sorts of news sources (not just local Hong Kong ones) of how people from mainland China act obnoxiously and cause disruptions in the city. If 2047 were to come, mainland Chinese people would be everywhere and the city that Hong Kong people have worked so hard to build and upkeep will no longer be as nice as it used to be just based on how mainland Chinese people have acted in the past.
People claim that China should be allowed to own back Hong Kong because it was originally theirs in the first place. However, people fail to realise the cultural changes that have occurred in Hong Kong. People from Hong Kong are not just Chinese, they are “HongKongese”. People in Hong Kong don’t even speak the language of mandarin (the official language of china), rather they speak a dialect that has become the official language of their region, Cantonese. (Source 5) Not only that but, the official text that is used everywhere is traditional chinese characters, and in China, people officially use simplified. If 2047 were to come, and China were to enforce all of these cultural changes through law and an influx of mainland people, it would be killing a rare breed of culture that should be upheld and appreciated. Lastly, if China claims that they’d like to have Hong Kong back because of its’ economy, they would be completely wrong. Sure, in the past like in the 70s, Hong Kong would have been pivotal to China. However, nowadays China has major cities like Shanghai and Beijing which have far greater GDP’s than Hong Kong. (Source 4)Hong Kong is no longer as economically significant as it was which completely contradicts China’s incentive for their own economy.
Hong Kong is a place that I call home. Now that I’ve been at Bates for the past couple months, it is a place that I miss more than anything. I hope to live in Hong Kong in the way that I have been doing so for the past 18 years. However, if the current agreement with China doesn’t change, I’m leaving at the instant it becomes the year of 2047.
Works Cited
Source 1
Cheung, Eric. “Launch of Hong Kong-China High-speed Rail Link Goes Smoothly, but Fears Remain.” CNN. September 23, 2018. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/23/asia/hong-kong-high-speed-rail-china-intl/index.html.
Source 2
Connors, Adam. “Key Moments in Hong Kong’s Pro-democracy Fight.” ABC News. February 23, 2018. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-28/timeline-hong-kong-umbrella-movement-one-year-on/6802388.
Source 3
“An Influx of Mainland Chinese Is Riling Hong Kong.” The Economist. October 18, 2018. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://www.economist.com/china/2018/10/20/an-influx-of-mainland-chinese-is-riling-hong-kong.
Source 4
Wang, Yue. “Twenty Years After The Handover, Is Hong Kong Losing Its Shine in China?” Forbes. June 30, 2017. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2017/06/29/twenty-years-after-the-handover-is-hong-kong-losing-its-shine-in-china/#2849708457c7.
Source 5
“What Is the Official Language of Hong Kong?” TripSavvy. Accessed October 26, 2018. https://www.tripsavvy.com/what-is-the-official-language-and-lingua-franca-of-hong-kong-1535894.