Reports From Our Fellows

“One Country” Reality

The British handed Hong Kong back to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, and every year since, the percentage of the territory’s residents who self-identify as Chinese has gone up. Depending on the poll you believe, as many as 60 percent of Hong Kongers now consider themselves to be Chinese fifirst. Polls vary, but the trend is clear and unmistakable: China first, then Hong Kong.

Social scientists in Hong Kong say the success of the 2008 Celestial Olympics is likely to increase that tendency, and perhaps dramatically. ThThe Beijing Games were promoted and organized – as by most host cities and countries – around a spirit of nationalism and patriotism.

The Olympic torch relay that preceded the Games drew huge crowds in both Hong Kong and mainland China, in marked contrast to the anger that Janet Kolodzy celebrates Olympic spirit in front of the Bird's nest. “One Country” Reality many Chinese (and many Hong Kongers) felt when the relay was disrupted in Paris and London. During the Games, China’s athletes were wildly received in the stadiums and arenas. ThThe state media did its part, too.

And in recent elections in Hong Kong, the pro-Beijing party brought in China’s gold-medal winners to promote its candidates – not unlike the traditional post-Olympic photo opps at the White House.

The slogan that has helped the Communist Party rationalize Hong Kong’s unique and occasionally awkward status as a robust center of Chinese capitalism is “one country, two systems.” Both parts of that phrase have made for a convenient fifiction. But now, more and more, the “one country” part is becoming a reality.