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Letters | Why Hong Kong should value its Chinese identity and not seek democracy at all costs

  • Hong Kong’s natural role is as a melting pot for Western influences and China’s proud ancient civilisation
  • It should take pride in this role, and not wish for what it doesn’t have. Democracy, after all, doesn’t solve all problems

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Pro-China demonstrators rally at Hong Kong’s Tamar Park on December 15. Photo: May Tse

Why do so many Hongkongers not have a sense of belonging to their own nation, the People’s Republic of China?

This is a difficult question to answer. Some blame it on the lack of  patriotic education .  Others believe it is the less-than-perfect socialist political system in China, and its differences with the British colonial political system in Hong Kong, that has sparked the adamant opposition many Hongkongers now display towards mainland China.

Many feel that China should align its political system with that of its foreign counterparts. They will not refrain from protests until they have the right to vote for their own city’s leader and, ultimately, the leader of their own country.

However, it is perhaps easy to forget that even democracies exist with national boundaries. At the end of the day, Hong Kong and China belong to the same camp, and no foreign country is charged with any responsibility as to the well-being of Hong Kong.

China stands as one of the few ancient civilisations with history extending into the Stone Age. The literary, scientific, philosophical and other sociocultural elements that form the identity of what it ultimately means to be Chinese also serve to build a national pride that unifies the Chinese people.

The number of eminent Chinese ancestors that have walked upon this same land and breathed the same air are innumerable. In an age of increasing globalisation, it is perhaps easy to forget what sets us apart as uniquely Chinese.

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