Hong Kong is defined by Cantonese, but must see the big picture on Mandarin and a rising China

Some members of the public – motivated by political reasons or not – misunderstood the main point Secretary Kevin Yeung Yun-hung was trying to make, which is the fact that Mandarin is the principal language of China, and Cantonese may not be as useful on the world stage. Although people might insinuate that this is just another way to “mainlandise” our schools, I take no such view and believe Mr Yeung was only speaking the truth in good faith.

When we tell our foreign friends that we are from Hong Kong and we speak Cantonese as our mother tongue, we feel unique. It helps us punch above our weight in the world and places us apart from mainland China, and I speak as someone who lived in Britain for 12 years.

As a result, anyone who promotes anything that might chip away at Hongkongers’ basic identity will unsurprisingly be met with wrath, from language professors to the man on the street.