Hong Kong still wary of Chinese rule

Hong Kong on Thursday marks the 100th day since its reversion to China. But people here remain uncertain about their new identity and have been debating even the smallest signs of the Sinification of Hong Kong.

A week ago, China's National Day on October 1 was celebrated in Hong Kong with a two-day holiday, flag-raising ceremonies and fireworks over the harbour.

On the surface, it seemed that raising China's red flag has become part of the Hong Kong landscape. Indeed, this former British colony was awash with the red, five-star flag, which adorned most public buildings.

However, the debate the even provoked in the local media and particularly in radio phone-in shows indicated that Hong Kong people still found odd the overt display of Chinese patriotism. There was much discussion about whether there were too many flags being displayed, said N G Ming-I Am, host of a popular Chinese-language phone in programme.

Many questioned the announcement, made two days before National Day that the Chinese flag would be raised every morning outside the Convention Centre from October 1 onwards.

A popular photograph in many newspapers here was one of a flag hung upside down outside a major bank -- widely seen as symbolic of Hong Kong's ignorance of things Chinese. Similarly, a survey showed that few Hong Kong school children knew what the five gold stars on the red flag stood for, although unlike their parents they were enthusiastic about the flag-raising itself carried out in many schools.

Many Hong Kong people said they were merely pleased to have an extra holiday and others said they had no feelings about National Day. Frankly speaking.

"I don't know much about National Day," said Betty Chan, 37, who works at an insurance company. "I was born and educated in Hong Kong. I feel I am a Hong Kong more than a Chinese, and I believe many people feel so," she said.

Such sentiments should not come as a surprise. A Hong Kong university survey last week showed that 60 per cent of respondents did not feel proud of being Chinese citizens following the handover on July 1. Just over a third saw themselves as Hong Kong citizens. And less than half that number saw themselves as Chinese citizens.

The official flag-raising ceremony outside the harbour-front Convention Centre was carried out by police rather than the People's Liberation Army as is the case throughout. This is an indication that Beijing too, realises that Chinese patriotism does not go down well in Hong Kong and that a Chinese identity needs to be built up gradually.

Nonetheless, China is not willing to rack down on its principles. Three teenagers were arrested on October 1 for pulling down Chinese flags. They were the first to be charged under the new laws which came into being after the handover. The new strictures make it an offence to desecrate the national flag.

Meantime, many are matching with keen interest over how far the Hong Kong authorities will got to stop the small enclave of pro-Taiwan supporters here from displaying the Taiwanese flag in celebration of the Taiwan National Day on October 10.

Prior to the handover this was a regular event in Hong Kong, where many Kuomintang sympathisers fled in advance of the communists in 1949. After the communists won the Chinese civil war, the Kuomintang or nationalist forces withdrew to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. For the majority of Hong Kong people the waving of the Taiwanese national flag is more a question of freedom of expression than of patriotism.

Under the new post-handover laws, police can prohibit the flying of any flags, banners or emblems at a public gathering if they believe the display may cause a breach of the peace. For the same reason they can also stop owners or private premises from displaying such flags.

Steering a delicate middle ground, aides to Hong Kong's chief executive have been negotiating with the pro-Taiwan groups here to keep their flags hidden indoors. No police action would be taken as long as they are not displayed in public, officials say.

Nonetheless, some pro-nationalist hotheads may be unwilling to comply. Analysts note that while Hong Kong is unlikely to sympathise with pro-Taiwanese forces politically. They will not approve of then being targetted merely for displaying the Taiwan flag, an act they had been free to do for so many years. Another telling debate was a controversy over playing the Chinese national anthem, 'The March of the Volunteers' in Hong Kong cinemas for two minutes before each film showing.

Last month an official from Beijing's propaganda ministry told a local television station that the anthem would be played before all films produced on the mainland as part of a move to foster a stronger sense of national identity.

The Hong Kong university survey showed that only 29 per cent of people wanted the anthem played in cinemas but more than a third were neutral or undecided. The reasons behind the resistance may differ. But it is clear those who want the anthem to assume more prominence are still a minority, said political consultant Andy Ho.

More than two week after the news first broke, the Hong Kong and Macau affairs office of Beijing's state council issued a statement saying the anthem would not, after all, be played in Hong Kong's cinemas.

Still, Ho noted, much of Hong Kong residents deep-seated sense of alienation from the mainland had already been exposed. Christine Loh, a former legislator who now chairs the citizens party, notes that clearly Hong Kong people remain "uncomfortable with communism and the mainland style of politics".