When travelling abroad, I am often asked what changes have occurred in Hong Kong since the handover. In the early days, this was not an easy question to answer without putting my interlocutor to sleep. Recently, the answer has been simple: 'The greatest change has been the rise in the sense of citizenship.'
Before the handover, we were colonial subjects. Many were fearful of the world after 1997, and it is difficult to develop a feeling of citizenship in a place of uncertain future. Most residents were content to make money and secure a future somewhere else. With so little time to make a fortune, we were by and large unsentimental about history, heritage or countryside. Our rulers, facing the tremendous pressures of a rapidly growing population, could not afford to be sentimental. In this way, much of our historic and natural heritage was destroyed with little comment or protest.
Cue 1997. People began to realise that Hong Kong had a future and that they are a part of it. Now there is a completely different feeling of belonging, of being citizens rather than subjects. This has led to some fundamental changes in the outlook and aspirations of Hongkongers.
Here we have the elements of a great disconnect between the aspirations of the new and growing body of citizens, on the one hand, and the outlook and mentality of our present administrators, on the other. Strangely enough, that mentality is colonial: it is the mentality of the administrative officer - upright, all-knowing and paternalistic.
The attitude is unsentimental. It was bred by a development model that has worked over the past 50 years, and which faced severe challenges successfully: 'Why shouldn't we continue to fill in the harbour? Why shouldn't we continue to tear down old buildings for redevelopment? Why shouldn't we continue to build roads wherever we want? Haven't these things been the keys to Hong Kong's success?' The answer to these questions can be found in the community's changing views of what constitutes quality of life: history, heritage, environment. Our citizens have become more sentimental.
This disconnect is well illustrated by the controversy over the demolition of the old Star Ferry pier. A survey of public attitudes towards the harbour last year found some surprisingly sentimental responses from citizens - especially young people, some of whom even described speaking to the harbour as their 'friend'. The response of these young citizens to the imminent demolition of the old pier has been to occupy it in an effort to save it.