Opinion | Beijing will win over Hong Kong by listening to public opinion, not by silencing it
- Post-handover, the central government sought to understand, then win over, public opinion and, by 2005, people’s willingness to embrace Chinese identity had never been higher
- Recently, however, there are signs that truth and fact are under siege with repeated attacks by state-run media on legitimate sources of information
There have been two – not one – historic Hong Kong handovers to China. The first, which most people know about, was a handover in 1997 of territory and sovereignty from Britain to the People’s Republic of China. The second handover, which is less well known, occurred in June 2005.
During that period, polling data from the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute indicated that, for the first time in modern history, a majority of Hong Kong’s people saw their primary identity as Chinese (rather than Hongkonger).
Unlike the first handover, the second was not one of property, assets or legal status. Instead, it was a handover of identity, allegiance, affection and patriotism.
It was a major historic milestone for bringing ideological unity between the people of two very different systems after many historic upheavals, from the Opium Wars, to the flood of refugees into the city after 1949 (when they witnessed Communist leaders betraying their promises and expropriating their property), to the tragic events in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Proponents of the “China model” assert that the reason China succeeded in developing so fast after 1978 was because of its distinctive features of meritocracy, adaptability, and legitimacy with the people.
Around the time of the “second handover” poll in 2005, the mainland and Hong Kong governments were arguably instilling these features in Hong Kong more than ever before.
