How English can save Hong Kong from becoming ‘just another Chinese city’
Elbert Lee says the safest way to protect a culture is by preserving its languages. Hong Kong’s bilingualism, which includes Cantonese and English, is part of its unique heritage and will distinguish it from cities on the mainland
As we edge towards 2047, some of us live in perpetual fear that one day we will be completely assimilated into China, that our economy will be subservient, our political system controlled, and our culture and values replaced by those of the multitudes from the mainland.
The recent debate on Chinese customs stationed on Hong Kong territory is a case in point. It is seen as a move on Beijing’s part to exert its hold on Hong Kong. As is often the case with matters between Beijing and Hong Kong, distrust and fear morph into legal intricacies that ordinary people find baffling.
Continuing to stoke fear is the perceived pressure on Hong Kong to conform to the economic and urban development of the Greater Bay Area. A recent Post article argued that, to catch up, Hong Kong must allow for more immigrants and undertake more innovation and investment.
These can be seen as ominous signs that one day Hong Kong and mainland China will become one. Facing us is the double issue of identity and autonomy. The fear is real, but not in the sense that Beijing deliberately and strategically wants Hong Kong to be “just another city” for the ease of authoritarian governance. Rather, as economies merge and trade and lifestyle exchanges increase, the two sides will accommodate each other, diluting important differences. Of course, this will happen whether Hong Kong or Beijing wants it or not, given our open trade connections.
What constitutes our cultural identity? What’s so ‘Hong Kong’ about Hong Kong? Is it our history? Our lifestyle?
We must ask ourselves what we want to preserve, and what can be preserved and what cannot. What constitutes our cultural identity? What’s so “Hong Kong” about Hong Kong? Is it our history? Our lifestyle? Our legal system and core values, whatever they may be?
In the 70s, to protect its culture from being too influenced by the predominantly anglophone environment, Quebec passed Bill 101, making French the sole official language of the province. The protection of language cascades down to all aspects of life, from law to business practices and street signs.
People gather at a shop selling hot chocolate in Quebec City, Canada, last December. Quebec passed a law making French the sole official language of the province to protect against the creeping influence of English. Photo: AFP
Bill 101 suggests that the best way to protect a culture is to protect its languages. In a free business environment, cultural hardware, such as cinema houses and public space, can be bought and sold and cultural practices, such as food habits, can be displaced and replaced. But languages are living; as long as they are used and spoken by a population, they cannot be easily eliminated.
Languages are living; as long as they are used and spoken by a population, they cannot be easily eliminated
Further, most cultural practices are only meaningful and can be passed on across generations through language. For example, without its followers praying and using it, a temple is no better than a block of coloured bricks. It is only through language that the different aspects of cultural practice are woven together to give life to any particular form of culture.
