According to the continuing survey conducted by HKUPOP, in terms of identity, importance or identity index, the proportion of people who identify themselves as “Hong Kong citizens” continues to rank first among all identities, but the identity index has dropped to 79.5 marks, while the identity index of people who identify themselves as “Chinese citizens” has not gone up, only remaining at 54.9 marks. The identity index of self-identification as “Chinese” has not increased, but only remained at 54.9 marks, while the importance rating of “Chinese” is only 5.4 marks, a record low since 2008. Scholars in charge of the survey estimate that the implementation of the “Hong Kong National Security Law” has made young people feel they have no future, and has also led to an increase in the number of immigrants, resulting in a decline in Hong Kong people’s identity.
According to the latest announcement of the British Home Office, 424 people were naturalized in the first three quarters of this year, close to the number of last year, but with more than 200 people naturalized in each quarter, the number of people naturalized in the UK this year will not be less than 500, which is certainly the highest in the past five years. In addition, the number of people applying for asylum in the UK has also surged since the fourth quarter of last year, and there were 44 cases in the first three quarters of this year, more than twice as many as the 13 cases in the whole of last year.
HKUPOP interviewed a random sample of 1009 people in the first half of this month, and the results show that if the identity of “Hong Kong people” and “Chinese people” are put in opposition to each other, and people are asked to choose the identity they most identify with among four expressions, the identity most people most identify with is The most popular identity was “Hong Kong citizens” with 44%, followed by “Chinese Hong Kong citizens” (25%), followed by “Chinese citizens” (15%) and “Hong Kong Chinese citizens” (14%). Chinese” (14%). In other words, nearly 70% of the respondents consider themselves to be “Hong Kong people” in the broad sense, down six percentage points from six months ago, while only nearly 30% consider themselves to be “Chinese people” in the broad sense, up five percentage points from six months ago.
If asked as an independent, the results show that whether ranked by identity, importance or identity index, the identity of “Hong Kong people” still tops the list. The identity index of “Hong Kong people” is 79.5 marks, followed by “Asians” (70.1 marks), “global citizens” (66.5 marks), and “(60.7 marks), “Chinese” (54.9 marks) and “People’s Republic of China citizens” (49.3 marks). Compared to six months ago, only the indicators of “Hong Kong Citizen” status have dropped significantly.
Regarding the drop of 3.6 marks in the identity index of “Hong Kong citizens” compared to six months ago, Dr. Edwin Chung, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinion, who attended the press conference, estimated that the most significant event in Hong Kong in the past six months was the implementation of the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, which made young people under 30 years old feel that they have no future. It is believed that political factors and the National Security Law are the reasons for the decline in the identity of Hong Kong people.
He also pointed out that in 2008, when the survey was conducted, the proportion of people who identified themselves as “Chinese” was slightly higher than the proportion of people who identified themselves as “Hong Kong people”, but more than a decade later, not only has the situation reversed, but the proportion of people who identify themselves as “Hong Kong people” is already higher than that of those who identify themselves as “Chinese” by about 25 percentage points, which is the result of the rejection caused by the opposition between the two identities by the regime and its controlled media.
Another associate professor of the university, Chung Wai-keung, who attended the same press conference, also pointed out that it is worth noting that the identity of “Hong Kong people” and “Chinese people” is generally a complementary phenomenon of one up and one down, but this time is an exception, while the identity of Hong Kong people is declining, the identity of Chinese people is not rising. But this is an exception. However, he was reluctant to speculate on the reasons for the decline in Hong Kong people’s identity.
Recent Comments