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Theme: When I get the chance to visit Hong Kong, I would like to...

The Hongkonger’s identity

Nicolas Ito / Waseda University

Hello everybody.

My name is Nicolas Ito. I’ve spent 13 years in total abroad. 5 years in England and 8 years in France. I Have a French mother and a Japanese father, so I have been raised in a dual-cultural environment, if not tri-cultural for having lived in England. Because of this, the question of “where do I belong?” was quite an issue during my high-school years, and it took me quite a while until I was comfortable about myself.

You may be wondering why I am talking so much about myself. Well. It’s because I want to draw a parallel between myself, and some elements which can be found in Hong Kong.

We can start with my name. Like I said, my name is Nicolas Ito. Nicolas is a European name, and Ito is a Japanese sir name. This is like Jackie Chan, or Stephen Chow, who are great names in Hong Kong cinema. Jackie and Stephen are European names. On the other hand, Chan and Chow are Chinese names.

Next, there is the multi-cultural aspect. Hong Kong was a British colony right until 1997. It is a place where the people have always lived under a strong british influence. From what I’ve heard from people, for I have never been to Hong Kong, it is a very Occidentalized city, where traces of the british occupation are still to be noticed. For example, a majority of people speak English and Cantonese. They play pool, and horse riding is a very active sport. Furthermore, I have heard that there are quite a number of immigrants from inside, and outside China. So they too add another dimension to this cultural melting-pot.

From personal experience, I think the mixing of different cultures and different values can make the determination of the person’s, or the population’s identity a delicate matter. Therefore, the most important thing I’d like to know about Hong Kong concerns the honkonger’s identity. You may also call it the social situation in Hong Kong, for I think both are very closely related. Identity is one of the elements which drives a person, and by that, it drives a social system.

For example, I’d very much like to know what the young people in Honk Kong think about their identity. Since Hong Kong was restored to China only 11 years ago, the people who were children then would be now teenagers or adults, and they would be part of the generation who would have lived through a period of transition. I wonder if this transition has affected their identity. I am guessing that the hongkonger youth has access to a much richer education then the average mainland Chinese youth. Does this aspect make them different from the young people on mainland china? More importantly, do they feel different from the young people on mainland China?

In fact, this is a question I’d like to ask everyone in Hong Kong: Do they feel different from their kindred on mainland China? Considering that the british occupation left them with a higher level of education and life, I’d guess there would be some sort of a feeling of superiority regarding the people on mainland China. Furthermore, I hear that there are some issues involving Hong Kong’s desire to become independent. Is this similar to the situation in Corsica, where the Corsicans consider themselves completely different from the French, and therefore claim their right to become independant?

Next, there are the immigrants. I have read that a large part of Hong Kong’s population is composed by immigrants from mainland China. What is their relationship with the original Hongkongers? Is there any social discrimination? Do they feel like they are part of Hong Kong, or somewhat rejected? I am curious because I know that the Algerian or Romanian immigrants who come to France looking for jobs often end up pick pocketing in the subways or cleaning the streets. So I am guessing that the immigrants in Hong Kong do not have the money to get their children a good education. But on the other hand, the immigrants in Hong Kong speak the same language, so they may not have as much difficulty as the Romanians in France.

So here are examples of things I would like to know about the identity of the Hong Kong citizen. Personally, I have known some disadvantages from having been raised in several cultures, but I also know there are far more advantages. If I ever get the chance to go to Hong Kong, I would like to make friends, sit down with them, have a drink and talk about their lives and Identity. Considering that the people living in Hong Kong all have different stories to tell and different backgrounds, I am prepared to have all sorts of reactions and feed-backs. And from those feed-backs of a personal level, I would like to have an insight on how the Hong Kong multi-cultural system works. For Hong Kong is said to be a huge economic power in Asia, and it should be very interesting to see if this cultural mixture has anything to do with it’s importance.

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