Asian deference towards westerners is endemic in Hong Kong. The attitude tinges the spectrum of relations between the two groups, from the legal to the romantic, and is a habit so ingrained that both givers and receivers may not even notice it. Those who are aware may choose to fight it, considering it a form of racism, partly imposed and partly self-inflicted. They may believe that this sort of relationship reflects badly on both parties and undermines the value of role models to which young people are exposed. Alternatively, they may see it as an inevitable dynamic in any social interaction between two culturally distinct or unequal parties.
Surprisingly, it is the westerner who is at the wrong end of the transaction in many respects. Why? Because giving 'face' puts the receiver at ease - an invaluable and advantageous social skill on the part of the giver. The subtle ego boost the westerner enjoys is fraudulent, at least on any level significant to the sort of relations we are talking about. Deference is attributable to personal qualities, yes, but only in so much as they associate a person with the power and wealth of the west.
I suspect pragmatism infiltrates even the rare cases of inferiority-based deference that play out between the groups. Yet, even among the most profoundly secure, one key identifier among Hong Kong's 'best and brightest' is a western education, lifestyle or connections. And if some high-achievers do not have that, they tend to do everything possible to make sure that their children do.
Perceiving success in foreign terms is hardly new, of course. At this point in history, Europe looks up to the US in the way that Hong Kong looks up to the west in general. The only difference is that Hongkongers play the deference card because it corresponds to their cultural vocabulary, while Europeans more grudgingly recognise the dominance of the United States, and pay their homage in a characteristic tone of cynicism.
Europeans also comfort themselves with the thought that the world's only superpower is part of the European story - a legacy of Europe's people and the social, political and economic systems they developed. So, Europe relates to America with a greater sense of commonality than exits in relations between Asians and westerners.
Asia, it seems, missed the boat technologically and economically and it has been paying the price ever since. China was well ahead of Europe in every way that mattered at the start of the Ming dynasty and by rights ought to have hosted the industrial revolution. But it dropped the ball.