What are the factors creating a sense of identity?
Nationality is not the only factor determining an individual’s sense of identity. Taking Hong Kong as an example, some Hong Kong residents consider themselves to be ‘Hong Kong citizens’ while some consider themselves to be ‘Chinese citizens’ or even ‘Chinese Hong Kong citizens’ or ‘Hong Kong Chinese citizens’. But Hong Kong residents include native Hong Kong people, non-Chinese foreign citizens ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for seven years or more, and also Chinese people holding a foreign passport.
Nationality and blood relationship are closely related to the sense of identity of residents, but they are not equivalent to each other. The sense of identity mainly depends on the individual’s knowledge and understanding of the place of long-term residence, and includes factors such as emotions, morals and laws.
Chinese people? Hong Kong people?
Most of Hong Kong population is ethnic Chinese. They share the same ancestral origin with mainland residents, and are connected to the mainland in geography. But not all ethnic Chinese residents recognize themselves as Chinese people. Historical and political factors affect the tendency of Hong Kong residents to identify themselves as either ‘Hong Kong people’ or ‘Chinese people’.
The complexity of sense of identity of Hong Kong residents is due to the long-term British colonization as well as the openness towards Western countries. This results in foreign immigrants living in Hong Kong, causing permanent residents to include persons not of Chinese nationality. The availability of foreign nationality also causes permanent residents to include Chinese people who do not have Chinese nationality. Moreover, as Hong Kong had not been under Chinese rule for a long time, differences in geography, politics, the economy and society caused a separation between Hong Kong and China. The differences in development direction and residents’ emotions led to changes between the identities of ‘Hong Kong people’ and ‘Chinese people’.
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Events affecting Hong Kong people’s sense of identity
1842 – China ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain
1949 – The People’s Republic of China was established
1989 – ‘June Fourth Incident’
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