Then & NowHow national anthems – first Britain’s, now China’s – have been used and abused in Hong Kong

Throughout human history, people have cheerfully died – and enthu­siastically killed each other – over symbols of national or group identity. Flags and anthems are the most obvious examples, providing ready flashpoints for conflict over opposing views; overheated quarrels with tragic consequences are commonplace.

In societies confident of their place in the world, disrespect of national anthems is generally regarded as little more than bad manners, akin to belching at the dinner table and then laughing about it, or wiping one’s mouth on the tablecloth. Any anthem – national, sporting or cultural – works only as a symbolic congealing agent for target populations if those expected to sing along feel part of the projected sentiment. Other­wise, an anthem is just another song, catchy or dull, according to taste.

Glory to Hong Kong , the unofficial church-hymn/anthem composed during last year’s unrest, appeals strongly to many young localists. March of the Volunteers, China’s national anthem, was originally a battle cry for the Communist struggle against the Kuomintang during the Chinese civil war. In 1949, the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, which has been regarded as a renegade province by the Communists ever since. Nevertheless, good numbers of Hongkongers relocate to Taiwan every year, including those who have come to fear political persecution in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s colonial national anthem, God Save the Queen, was met with wide­spread public indifference; the vast major­ity regarded it as foreign, therefore profoundly irrelevant and – given ingrained Chinese cultural chauvinism – beneath their acknowledgement. During the 1950s and 60s, when Hong Kong was crowded with mainland refugees, their general disinclination to stand during the national anthem at the end of cinema performances was interpreted by Hong Kong’s more blimpish European residents as rank ingratitude, as well as basic discourtesy.