Chinese pride in Hong Kong hits record low of 33pc
Hong Kong people's sense of pride in being a Chinese national has dropped to a record low of 33 per cent, according to a poll that has been running since 1998, the year after the handover.
The level has dropped four percentage points compared with same period last year, ahead of the 16th handover anniversary on Monday. The poll also registered the first negative value since 2004 - two percentage points - for views of Beijing's Hong Kong policies.
Results also showed that the younger the respondent, the less proud they feel about being a Chinese national and also the more negative they feel about Beijing's Hong Kong policies.
More than 1,000 people were interviewed between June 20 and 25 in the telephone survey by the public opinion programme at the University of Hong Kong. The maximum sampling error was +/- 3 percentage points.
A political scientist at Chinese University, associate professor Ma Ngok, said that the result was not surprising.
"There is still widespread corruption and oppression of human rights in mainland China, which will affect Hongkongers' general sentiment towards the central government," Ma said.
Meanwhile, blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng , who was visiting Taiwan, said that Beijing's intervention in Hong Kong had reached a "dreadful" degree, that and "one country, two systems" had not been fully implemented.
He also said Hongkongers should be more proactive in the fight for universal suffrage.
"If Hong Kong people's reactions are no longer strong enough, the previous efforts will be wasted," he said.
