My Generation

My Generation

        The story began in 1841 with a war called “The First Opium War” between the United Kingdom and China. After that, Hong Kong became a colony of the U.K. for one hundred years until July 1, 1997. My father was born in British Hong Kong and had the experience of living in Hong Kong under the British government and Chinese government. Although the United Kingdom gave Hong Kong back to China, my father thought he was a British more than a Chinese. My father always told me the story about the life and government under the colonial period and taught me about freedom and democracy. However, the Hong Kong — Mainland conflict became serious when Hong Kong returned to China over twenty years ago. This change over has affected the way I identity myself and think about who I am.

        My father said the British government gave more freedom to the citizens. For example, they would not force citizens to learn their language, but my father still tried to learn it, because he said people who can speak English can have more opportunities. Thus, they gave citizens the freedom of speech, which is very important because no one could fight against the government in the past. When Hong Kong was under control of the British government, they created their own military, money and government. According to my father’s experience, he said during the colonial period, life was so hard because the salary was too low at that time. Therefore, he spent his holiday working when he was a student, but regardless, citizens still enjoyed their life under the British government. In addition, he said Hong Kong became an international city because of the British government. During the colonial period, many westerners immigrated to Hong Kong, because they thought Hong Kong was a part of the United Kingdom. They believe the government have a great system to develop this place. Meanwhile the Hong Kong economy was rising quickly. At that time, Hong Kong became a special region, because the city was near the water, and close to other Asia countries, like Korea and Japan, which means they could do business with them easily. That’s the reason why Hong Kong became an international city. People really enjoyed the success under the British government. Therefore, many citizens still identify as British.

        Then, on July 1, 1997 the United Kingdom decided to end their governance. According to the treaty, they gave Hong Kong back to China. When Hong Kong returned to China, many things changed, such as the government and policy. The Chinese government promised they would not change their routine, and they said they would keep the system unchanged. Therefore, they made a policy called “One country, Two systems”. In 1997, although many citizens missed the British government, some didn’t enjoy it, because they thought Hong Kong was a part of China, they didn’t want a western country to control their place. Therefore, they celebrated the day that Hong Kong returned to China. Then, the Beijing Olympics are coming in 2008, many people felt so proud because they were glad to be Chinese, and they could share the honour with their own country. Also, when Hong Kong returned, they made the transportation to link to the city called Shenzhen, and Hong Kong people could have the same citizen treatment whom are live in China. Therefore, most of them wanted to identify themselves as Chinese.

        In the past few years, I have heard a lot of voices of people trying to fight against the Chinese government. In fact, the Hong Kong government became worse after Hong Kong returned. Obviously, the Chinese government wasn’t keeping their promise to let the citizens vote for their own Chief Executive. One might say why this is important to let citizens to vote for their own leader. Because this is the part of democracy, and they can decide their future who can lead them better. Also, in the past few years, people heard a lot of news about the Chinese tourists that they didn’t respect the culture of other countries, and they don’t follow their rules. Even though the Hong Kong citizens know not all Chinese are rude, they are still afraid of getting punished by other countries. During that period, some shops put up signs that they don’t want Chinese coming to their shop and it happened in many countries. Therefore, when Hong Kong citizens travel, they will say they are come from Hong Kong, not China, because they feel embarrassed to be Chinese. In fact, last June, a big protest happened in Hong Kong. About two million citizens come out to fight against the government because they have created a law which is destroying the Hong Kong basic rights. After 1997, the citizens never work together, because people have different opinions about politics. But in this time, they grouped together and fought against the government. Since that, they identify themselves as “HongKonger” which means the people of Hong Kong.

        In conclusion, all this has helped me feel confused about how I identify myself. I can fully understand how Hong Kong succeeded to become an international city under the British government. Moreover, I don’t think becoming Chinese is a bad idea either. In those days, many things happened that affect me to think about my identity, like the Umbrella Movement in 2012, the protests in 2019, and I was born and brought up there. Therefore, I have made my own decision to identify myself as “HongKonger”.