Addressing the debate over the emancipatory potential of the internet, this article analyses the archival data of an electronic discussion group (e-group), Hong Kong Net (HKnet), to assess the use of the internet by a group of Hong Kong Chinese in the United States to engage in the construction of their own identity within the context of decolonization and the transfer of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty. The study adopts a Foucauldian perspective to examine not only the significance of the texts but also what marginal groups actually do with the text and the internet. The argument is developed that while the Hong Kong Chinese cannot not evade the power of the dominant discourses of the social networks within which they are located, they are able to confirm their own independent subjectivity for themselves in this specific local site through online practice at a specific historical juncture.
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