After 140 years of British rule, which transformed it into a world city of 6 million, Hong Kong embarked upon a fundamental transformation as the 1984 Sino-British agreement mandated the end of British colonialism and the sovereignty retrocession to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. The China factor has ushered in the related processes of decolonization, localization, internationalization, and democratization. It also provoked a rising identity consciousness among the local populace as Chinese. Instead of receiving credit for these potentially positive and creative transformative processes, the China factor has become a disturbing and destabilizing negative force underlining the imperfect transition and the crisis of confidence in Hong Kong. The Sino-British struggle for pre-1997 control and the PRC's intolerance of local democratization and liberalization have intensified the Beijing-Hong Kong-London discord, reducing the prospect for a successful China-Hong Kong reintegration toward 1997 and beyond.
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References
1.
1. Peter Wesley-Smith , Unequal Treaty 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong's New Territories (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980).
2.
2. Hu Sheng, Imperialism and Chinese Politics (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1981), reflects the PRC's view on the negative historical effects of imperialism in China.
3.
3. James T. H. Tang, “World War to Cold War: Hong Kong's Future and the Anglo-Chinese Interactions, 1941-55,” in Precarious Balance: Hong Kong Between China and Britain, 1842-1992, ed. Ming K. Chan (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1994), pp. 110-114.
4.
4. Ibid., pp. 117-24.
5.
5. Macau will return to PRC sovereignty on 20 Dec. 1999 under arrangements similar to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
6.
6. James Tang and Frank Ching, “The Maclehose-Youde Years: Balancing the `Three-Legged Stool,' 1971-1986,” in Precarious Balance, ed. Chan, pp. 157-160.
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7. Ambrose Y. C. King, “Administrative Absorption of Politics in Hong Kong: Emphasis on the Grassroots Level,” in Social Life and Development in Hong Kong, ed. A.Y.C. King and Rance P. L. Lee (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1981), pp. 127-146.
8.
Ming K. Chan, “Hong Kong in Sino-British Conflict: Mass Mobilization and the Crisis of Legitimacy, 1912-26,” ibid., pp. 27-57.
9.
9. Peter Wesley-Smith, “Anti-Chinese Legislation in Hong Kong,” in Precarious Balance, ed. Chan, pp. 91-106.
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10. Ming K. Chan, “Labor vs. Crown: Aspects of Society-State Interactions in the Hong Kong Labor Movement Before World War II,” in Between East and West: Aspects of Social and Political Development in Hong Kong, ed. E.Y.Y. Sinn (Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, Center for Asian Studies, 1990), pp. 132-146.
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11. Ming K. Chan, “Stability and Prosperity in Hong Kong: The Twilight of Laissez-Faire Colonialism?”Journal of Asian Studies, 37(3):589-598 (May 1983).
12.
12. Integration between the PRC and Hong Kong has been particularly intimate between Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong Province. See Ming K. Chan, “All in the Family: The Hong Kong-Guangdong Link in Historical Perspective,” in The Guangdong Link: Partnership in Flux, ed. Reginald Y. Kwok and Alvin Y. So (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1995), pp. 31-63. See also other essays in ibid.
13.
idem, “Hong Kong in 1993: The Struggle Intensifies,” ibid., 34(1):55-63 (Jan. 1994). See also Suzanne Pepper, “Hong Kong in 1994: Democracy, Human Rights, and the Post-Colonial Political Order,” ibid., 35(1):48-60 (Jan. 1995).
14.
14. Ian Scott, “Political Transformation in Hong Kong: From Colony to Colony,” in Guangdong Link, ed. Kwok and So, pp. 189-223.
15.
15. On pre-1997 public sector reform, see Jane Y. C. Lee and Anthony B. L. Cheung, eds., Public Sector Reform in Hong Kong: Key Concepts, Program-to-Date, and Future Directions (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1995).
16.
16. Ming K. Chan, Global Dimensions of Hong Kong's Transition Toward 1997 (Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin-Marquette University Center for International Studies, 1995), pp. 12-18.
17.
17. Ming K. Chan, “Democracy Derailed: Realpolitik in the Making of the Hong Kong Basic Law, 1985-1990,” in The Hong Kong Basic Law: Blueprint for `Stability and Prosperity' under Chinese Sovereignty? ed. Ming K. Chan and David Clark (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1991), pp. 3-35.
18.
18. See Ming-Kwan Lee, “Community and Identity in Transition in Hong Kong,” in Guangdong Link, ed. Kwok and So, pp. 119-132.
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19. For the impact of the events of 4 June 1989 at Tiananmen Square on Hong Kong's democratization, see Chan, “Democracy Derailed,” pp. 17-25.
20.
See also Khun Eng Kuah, “Negotiating Emigration and the Family: Individual Solutions to the 1997 Anxiety,” this issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
21.
See also Chan, Global Dimensions, pp. 8-10.
22.
22. Chan, Global Dimensions, pp. 16-18.
23.
See also idem, “Decolonization Without Democracy: The Birth of Pluralistic Politics in Hong Kong,” in The Politics of Democratization: Generalizing East Asian Experiences, ed. Edward Friedman (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), pp. 161-181.
24.
Pepper , “Hong Kong in 1994.”
25.
Sin Tao Daily, 19-20 Sept. 1995.
26.
“Hold Your Ground: Colony Protests China's Efforts to Trim Bill of Rights,” ibid., p. 36.
27.
See Far Eastern Economic Review, 9 Nov. 1995, p. 36, on Hong Kong's inadequate welfare provisions.
28.
28. Dorothy Y. C. Liu, a Hong Kong member of China's National People's Congress, coined the term “old batteries” to describe these “colonial turncoats” that staffed the SAR Preliminary Working Committee. Her sentiment is well received by the local populace.
29.
29. Tse-han Lai, Ramon Myers, and Wou Wei, A Tragic Beginning: The Taiwan Uprising of February 28, 1947 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991).
