Recently, the University of Toronto has been looking for a new president. According to the recruitment notice, it 'especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to further diversification of ideas'.
While the Canadian university may not end up with a gay, female, Aboriginal president in a wheelchair, the description immediately evokes Canada's liberal society, tolerant to a fault, where diversity is paraded as a national virtue under the rubric of 'multiculturalism'. Canada even has a multiculturalism minister, Hong Kong-born Raymond Chan. As anyone who knows Canada can tell you, the policy promoting multiculturalism expresses less everyday reality than a wish and an ideal. But some of this liberal thinking might be useful for Hong Kong as it struggles to assert its identity within a sovereign Chinese state.
What would it take to reinvent Hong Kong as an emblem of multiculturalism? First, it would take an understanding of what the concept might mean in a Chinese context. Hong Kong is still in the process of defining what it means to be Chinese.
One solution might be a sophisticated approach to language policy, based on encouraging fluency in Chinese and other languages. At a recent gathering, Lung Ying-tai, the celebrated essayist and former cultural minister of Taipei, argued that the base line for Chinese identity was not ethnicity but culture, embodied in the language. 'I have one passport which is not a national passport,' she said. 'My only passport and my only borders are defined by the Chinese language.' In the spirit of multiculturalism, the government might support Chinese instruction for non-native speakers, especially for those entering the school system, as well as educational programmes in Hong Kong's many other languages, starting with English. The objective should be multilingualism, an asset which many Hongkongers have by virtue of history, and which needs to be preserved.
The other big pillar of multiculturalism is, of course, the law. A strong legal backbone is needed to support the practice of tolerance beyond rhetoric. Hong Kong's approach to laws on tolerance has been handicapped by the legacy of a colonial system that encouraged a social and linguistic hierarchy that was the opposite of the philosophy behind multiculturalism. More than a decade after former legislator and Equal Opportunities commissioner Anna Wu Hung-yuk first introduced a bill against racial discrimination, the government is conducting consultation on a race law. The legislation will provide greater security for Hong Kong's minorities, although legal analysts argue that it puts too much emphasis on conciliation and not enough on enforcement.
A language policy aiming at multilingualism, and a legal system penalising intolerance, are steps along the way to a multicultural society. But something more is needed - a sense of fun. While 'multiculturalism' joins other ponderous and preachy new words and phrases, such as 'globalisation' and 'sustainable development', in practice it can lead to the kind of creative buzz that only comes when like meets unlike. In Toronto, and other cities that celebrate their diversity, communities defined by all sorts of criteria throw street parties, festivals, marches with performing bands and artists, and food fairs that welcome all. These plant the seeds for friendships and new ideas. Hong Kong might start with a Philippine pride day and a festival for mainland immigrants featuring the cultural heritage of different parts of China. The lesson of multiculturalism is that it is just as possible to unite around differences as it is to be divided by them.
