Make HK residents feel at home, literally, to boost ties

People around the country observed on May 12 the 10th anniversary of the massive Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province. After the devastating natural calamity, along with fellow compatriots everywhere, Hong Kong residents thought of nothing but offering as much help as they could to those in the disaster areas. In just a few days they donated nearly HK$1 billion as individuals, organizations or enterprises, while the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government quickly won Legislative Council approval for an additional injection of HK$9 billion into a trust fund set up specifically for post-earthquake reconstruction in Sichuan. The Hong Kong Jockey Club alone donated HK$1 billion. In total, the HKSAR donated more than HK$10 billion to Sichuan for post-disaster reconstruction.

However, many public opinion polls conducted later that year showed the number of respondents who considered themselves “Chinese citizens” decreased sharply from just before the Wenchuan earthquake, while those who saw themselves as “Hongkongers” increased. Chiu Wing-kai, a chair professor with the Department of Social Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and director of the CUHK’s Hong Kong Institute of AsiaPacific Studies (HKIAPS), published an article in the Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao on April 19, 2016 sharing his view on the myth that “Hongkongers have had a change of heart”. In that article he wrote: “The turning point was 2008. A public opinion poll (conducted by HKIAPS) in April 2008 found 41.5 percent of respondents identify themselves as ‘Chinese’, the highest since 1998, compared with 51 percent as ‘Hongkonger’, the lowest since 1998, when the HKIAPS first launched this poll series. When the result of the second half of the year poll came out in October, we saw a sharp fall in the number of ‘Chinese’ to 33.8 percent. Although it bounced back a little in the second half of 2009, the number dropped again in 2010 and hit new lows repeatedly afterward, especially after the ‘anti-national education’ campaign in the second half of 2012. It hit the lowest point of merely 11.3 percent in October 2015, when ‘Hongkongers’ rose to 79.1 percent. And HKIAPS was not the only pollster that reported such results at that time.”

I published an article in May 2016 to share my view on why 2008 might not be the turning point in the “national identity crisis” myth as Prof Chiu maintained in his article. Prof Chiu duly responded to my opinion later. Today, as we observe the 10th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, I cannot but recall my public discussion with Prof Chiu two years ago and feel I have more to say. That said, I will not continue discussing Hong Kong residents’ “change of heart” over national identity here but will focus on ways to enhance the sense of family bond between Hong Kong and mainland compatriots.

Generations of Hong Kong residents have donated money to emergency relief efforts for mainland compatriots every time a major natural disaster struck and such gestures of compassion and good will have long been regarded as proof that blood is thicker than water when it comes to people’s feelings for one another. There is, in fact, another side of the phenomenon — Hong Kong’s economic development has been ahead of the mainland and Hong Kong residents’ average income has been significantly higher than that of mainland compatriots all these years. For decades, exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland were limited to farm produce and fresh water from the mainland to Hong Kong on a daily basis and donations flowing in the opposite direction, until China resumed sovereign rule over the city in 1997. Since then, Hong Kong’s economic integration with the mainland has been progressing while direct exchanges between people on both sides of the boundary have been growing, which has inevitably led to flashes of disagreement when different ideologies and lifestyles collided.

Problems between different ideologies and lifestyles must be fixed by better mutual understanding through increased exchanges.

One way to do that is mutual assistance instead of one-way aid from Hong Kong to the mainland only. And there are many ways for the mainland and Hong Kong to help each other.

For example, currently and in the foreseeable future, one of the most daunting challenges facing Hong Kong is shortage of land for affordable housing development. Since Hong Kong does not have many usable land lots left for public residential development, the SAR government can consider asking for central government permission to lease land in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong to build exclusive residential estates for Hong Kong permanent residents qualified to live in public housing units according to Hong Kong standards. It can also team up with private developers to build housing estates for Hong Kong youths who work on the mainland and do not own a home of their own yet. Since the SAR government is encouraging young people to seek career opportunities in the GuangdongHong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, there is no reason why it shouldn’t help them settle down there as well.

Another way to make Hong Kong residents feel included as Chinese citizens is to treat those who choose to live on the mainland the same way, or almost the same way, as the locals are, no matter where they live on the mainland. President Xi Jinping said in his speech at the ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Hong Kong SAR on July 1 last year that relevant departments of the central government will study and introduce measures specifically designed to make it easier for Hong Kong residents to receive education, work and live on the mainland, so they can achieve better personal development and better personal lives in general while contributing to the country as well as local communities.