Media and Politics in Post-Handover Hong Kong by Joseph M. Chan Francis L.F. Lee

Author:Joseph M. Chan, Francis L.F. Lee [Joseph M. Chan, Francis L.F. Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138607446
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2018-08-14T00:00:00+00:00

Problematizing the National-Local Dichotomy

Internally, the transforming local populace has also shaken the local—centric conceptualization of Hong Kong identity, further problematizing the national-local dichotomy. The continued influx of immigrants over the years has significantly altered the proportion of local-born Hong Kong people in the population mix. In our 2006 survey, 32.0% of the respondents were born in China and 35.8% lived in China for one or more years. The fast human flow and strong mobility between China and Hong Kong in recent years could not be comfortably accommodated within the previous analytic perspective that focuses on the differentiations between people on the two sides of the border. In fact, it becomes highly problematic if we narrate a Hong Kong identity that is based on the exclusion of mainland connections.

In our identity survey 2006, 77.3% of the respondents said that they had relatives, friends or colleagues in China, and among this group, 59.4% said that they had daily contacts with these people. For the Hong Kong people, the experiences of crossing the border will enrich their understanding of mainland China and supplement mediated reality with actual social experiences. Those with stronger ties are less likely to rely on the media as the major source of mainland impression. Local as well as national identification are now rather impinged on the frequency and nature of transborder experience. The survey result in 2006 reveals that those who have lived in mainland and those who visit China more frequently have a stronger affection and pride, and a lesser degree of uneasiness, towards almost all Chinese icons, including national flag, national anthem, mandarin, the PLA, and mainland Public Security (with all mean differences statistically significant at 0.01 level) than those who have never lived in China and those who visit China less frequently. Such results suggest that the changing composition of the Hong Kong population due to immigration of mainlanders over the years is one of the reasons leading to the increasing percentages of mixed identifications. It also explained that people actually change the perceptions of their local and national identities upon close contacts with China. Our survey in fact showed that those who have contacts with friends, relatives or colleagues in China are also likely to have a stronger affection and pride towards these icons than those who have no contacts (with all mean differences statistically significant at 0.01 level). Should these collective affections and pride reflect the degree of identification, transborder connections, and the resulting direct social experiences, are crucial factors for new identity formation. With these direct experiences gradually supplementing the media representations of the mainland, a significant question would naturally be: what is the changing role of the Hong Kong media in shaping local and national identifications?

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