Letters | Celebrate Hong Kong’s colonial past for Chinese people’s vim and ingenuity

Readers discuss embracing a painful part of the city’s – and the nation’s – history, the G7’s criticism of Chinese curbs on Japanese seafood, and the Hong Kong Consumer Council’s effective handling of a complaint

Reading Time:3 minutes

A visitor looks at artefacts collected in a museum on Hong Kong’s colonial past, on September 17 last year. The city’s colonial history isn’t just about the wrongs of the British Empire, but also about the endurance, work ethic and talent of the Chinese and other ethnicities that created Asia’s greatest city. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 11:30am, 9 Nov 2023

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As Hong Kong redoubles its efforts to strengthen patriotic education in the city, how should we look at our colonial history while being patriotic to our motherland?

Hong Kong’s pre-1997 history is a reminder of our nation’s “century of humiliation”. During that period, China suffered internal fragmentation, political turmoil and foreign interference. The UK occupied Hong Kong after defeating the Qing dynasty in the opium war through the unequal Treaty of Nanking.

Amid Sino-British tensions, some pro-Beijing politicians have suggested “decolonising” Hong Kong by removing reminders of the colonial government. Should we feel ashamed of our colonial history, or are there elements of our past that we should celebrate?

Colonialism represents exploitation, occupation and racism. Discrimination was rife in colonial Hong Kong. For example, Chinese were not allowed to live on the Peak. The localisation of the Administrative Service was prioritised only after the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984.

But our colonial history isn’t just about the wrongs of the British Empire. It is also about the endurance, work ethic and talent of the Chinese (and other ethnicities) that created Asia’s greatest city. Our past, our heritage, our unique selling points include our markets, our fortune-tellers, our temples, our churches, our forts that held out against the Japanese and much, much more.