Vibrant, unique Hong Kong is still key to China’s development, and Beijing should be grateful for the city’s distinct status

As chief financial filter, Hong Kong was key to China’s economic miracle. Now, the city and its unique culture can give China’s soft power a much-needed boost, and be a test bed for the freedoms the mainland’s middle classes will sooner or later want

Brian Olsen

Published: 10:15am, 15 Dec 2019

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“Hong Kong is a spoiled child who doesn’t recognise its privilege.” “Hongkongers have a superiority complex, and aren’t willing to accept their city becoming more ordinary amid China’s gargantuan economic expansion and growing worldwide influence.” Such criticism is common enough to seem stereotypical. And, like most stereotypes, there is some truth in them but they are far from the whole truth.

Hong Kong is a distinct society in the Chinese sociocultural world, and deserves recognition for that. It has evolved on a braided pathway of cultural traditions, colonial experience and global interaction, which have produced a unique template of societal values and mix of institutions.

The legacy of its history is a population with several strongly held expectations about both the economy and society. Expectations of freedoms include those of expression in word and in print, and of association for religious and political purposes. A legal system free from corruption and independent of government interference. A press free to praise and criticise all aspects of society.

And, importantly, there are expectations of an increasingly reciprocal relationship between the populace and its government. This sophisticated outlook is a treasure which should not be overlooked – let alone suppressed.

Added to this mindset, Hong Kong’s mode of expression is also unique, as seen through its politically inspired and determinedly vibrant art scene, and its socio-generative use of Cantonese. Hong Kong’s Cantonese is a distinct variety of a language with over 60 million speakers, and is the heart of the territory’s cultural identity. Not only is it the most commonly heard tongue on the streets, it is also the most prevalently used language for official and education purposes, unlike the rest of China where Mandarin prevails.

Beyond the recognition of its distinct status and culture, Hong Kong deserves gratitude. China could not have come into being in its current form without the exceptional abilities and influence of Hong Kong. No place has been more key to China’s development because of its interface between the mainland and the outside world, and its provision of investment, expertise and personnel.

Some measure of acknowledgement of Hong Kong’s historically transformative role and uniqueness could help assuage a good portion of the fears and resentment fuelling unrest in the city.

Encouragement by a truly self-confident and diversity-celebrating government could even reinvigorate recently eclipsed pop-culture industries. Canto-pop and the local film industry once had global appeal, and were inspirations for the cultivation of indigenous entertainment industries across Asia.

Such development could offer new career avenues for local youth, and be a potent adjunct to China’s soft power, which languishes at 27th place out of 30, according to Portland Communication’s Soft Power 30 report.

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Beijing needs this supplement to provide an appealing, trendy image of Chinese society, and offer an alternative avenue of influence to its stridently government-driven, ham-fisted attempts to shape the international narrative on Hong Kong protests and treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang.

Perhaps most vitally, Hong Kong’s example as an open, cosmopolitan society with Chinese roots could provide Beijing with important insights into pathways towards social liberalisation.

In the 1980s and 1990s, China judiciously used the special economic zone model to experiment with limited economic reforms, and then gradually applied them in an increasingly broad pattern, first to other limited jurisdictions, and then more fully across the country.

Hong Kong is a perfect candidate for a special political zone, in which current and gradually increased freedoms could be tested, with an eye to their appropriate modification and transfer to other regions around the country.

China needs a plan in upcoming decades to satisfy latent demands from a burgeoning and internationally aware middle class, who will eventually expect adaptations in governance to bolster the economic liberalisation that brought sudden prosperity to society.

Steady political accommodation could help reinforce a sustainable sense of trust, and maintain confidence in a rapidly changing nation. More practically, such changes are a historically proven best bet for China to avoid falling into the middle-income country trap.

Beyond its status as the chief financial filter between China and the wider world, Hong Kong still has much else to offer. Because of its distinctness, it continues to be a place of immense value. Forward-looking leadership should celebrate that, and tap its potential.

Brian Olsen is a global studies and communications instructor at Chinese University of Hong Kong, and teaches summer courses at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver

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