Opinion | Eight years on from Beijing 2008, an Olympic summer of love has turned sour in Hong Kong
Gary Cheung says given the growing ranks of Hong Kong youth disillusioned with China, banning independence talk in schools can only fan the antipathy
The year 2008 should be remembered as a watershed in the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland.
In May of that year, thousands of residents poured onto the streets in Hong Kong to cheer the Beijing Olympic torch rally. A month later, 51.9 per cent of Hong Kong people identified themselves as Chinese, according to the University of Hong Kong’s public opinion programme, the highest percentage recorded since the survey started in 1997. That year, many Hongkongers took pride in China winning 51 gold medals at the Games, surpassing America’s 36. In the summer of 2008, mainland officials were right in saying that the majority of Hong Kong people were patriotic.
Hongkongers’ post-1997 identity crisis at the heart of youthful mistrust of government
But things quickly went downhill. In 2009, the writer and activist Liu Xiaobo ( 劉曉波 ) was convicted and jailed for subversion after he co-authored Charter 08, a manifesto calling for democracy. The treatment of Liu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year for his two decades of non-violent struggle for civil rights on the mainland, sparked an outcry from some Hong Kong people.
The subsequent jailing of activist Zhao Lianhai, who sought redress for the 300,000 victims of tainted milk powder produced by Chinese dairy companies, as well as the mysterious death of Hunan (湖南) pro-democracy activist Li Wangyang, reinforced negative perceptions of mainland authorities.
In more recent years, the influx of mainland travellers to Hong Kong also stirred local anxiety about competition in nearly everything, from seats on MTR trains to property, further fuelling antagonism.
In 2012, the pushback against the introduction of a national education curriculum reflected a deep-seated distrust of Beijing. Its officials’ heavy-handed approach in handling Hong Kong’s electoral reform further alienated the city’s younger generations, many of whom now want nothing to do with the mainland. Unsurprisingly, the proportion of Hong Kong people identifying themselves as Chinese had dropped to 30.7 per cent by June this year.
